Malta Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, 2017.
Commissioned by Arts Council Malta, the exhibition explores the notion of national identity in the form of a complex installation that brings contemporary artworks, objects, and documents together in a nonhierarchical, achronological setup.
Works by Maltese artists and artists from the Maltese diaspora, works from local museums and everyday objects are interconnected in the poetic, associative space of a Cabinet of Curiosities.
Artist-curators of the exhibition: Bettina Hutschek, Raphael Vella
Participating artists: Adrian Abela, John Paul Azzopardi, Aaron Bezzina, Pia Borg, Gilbert Calleja, Austin Camilleri, Roxman Gatt, David Pisani, Karine Rougier, Joe Sacco, Teresa Sciberras, Darren Tanti, Maurice Tanti Burlò
Contributors: Heritage Malta, Ghaqda tal-Pawlini, Domus Pauli, Ghaqda Kazin Banda San Filep Zebbug, Karnival Ghaqda Marija Annunziata Tarxien, Richard Ellis Foundation
Graphic Design: Jon Banthorpe
Exhibition Architecture: Tom Van Malderen/ Architecture Project
‘Homo Melitensis’ – ‘Maltese Man’ – is an associative and often humorous investigation of Maltese identity and national imaginaries. Issues like territory, memory, religion and language find artistic re-imagining in the 19 chapters of the exhibition. The ‘inventory’ suggests a taxonomy that organizes life in custom-made arrangements, creating a seemingly decipherable order out of the exhausting chaos of reality. Homo Melitensis witnesses the transition from nation-state to an atomized, impenetrable existence, and is perplexed.
Catalogue: Homo Melitensis – Malta Pavilion 2017
Co-produced by Raphael Vella and Bettina Hutschek, the book Homo Melitensis: An incomplete inventory in 19 chapters was published by Mousse Publishing in 2017 to accompany the Malta Pavilion at La Biennale Arte in Venice. More like an artist’s book than an exhibition catalogue, the book includes many images of artefacts that were not included in the final curated selection in the pavilion, extracts from various texts and short essays purposely written for the publication by Bassam El Baroni, Godfrey Baldacchino, Sebastian Cichocki and Charlie Cauchi.