Projected visions : Malta

Abstract

In contrast to other forms of visual expression proliferating the Maltese islands, the moving image practiced outside the cinematic context and particularly video art know a fairly recent history which only dates back to the mid-1990s; to a small number of artists who had initially decided to embrace the video medium within their existing practice and not as their sole channel of expression and articulation. Contrary to Europe and the United States, where since the early 1960s video has not only helped shape a diverse range of artistic and performative expression, but was also considered an instrumental tool for the proliferation of political and social activism, the Maltese video art scene came to existence much later mainly due to the strong artistic presence of the more traditional arts, which translated into an initial resistance towards video art practice by the indigenous art scene and also the scarcity of professional video production equipment in use by the broadcast industry but not made readily accessible to the artist. Ironically, video works by such artists as Norbert Francis Attard, Ruth Bianco, Vince Briffa, Austin Camilleri, Mark Mangion and Pierre Portelli who instigated a sensibility toward the moving image as artistic practice were many times given their first showing in exhibitions abroad and later ‘re-imported’ back to Malta’s shores. The advent of the digital and the explosion of desktop video have helped the medium gain widespread accessibility and through the sustained practices of the said artists amongst others, it has steadily gained the recognition it deserves within the Maltese art scene.