Archive | Media RSS feed for this section

Reflections on being a higher arts education educator today

17 Nov

51lqjn0vjVL._SX331_BO1,204,203,200_This week the book The Leader Reader – Narratives of Experience arrived in Malta. It brings together more then 100 essays/reflections of educators around the world. What reads through all narratives if each writer’s passion for teaching. We were asked for a very personal view on our Leadership moment in lecturing/teaching … From that came my reflection on my experience as a lecturer in arts education. The challenges, but also the strengths the arts have in relation to other disciplines in education and in society.

You can find my essay here.

Curious to read other experiences? You can order the book here.

 

Thank you John for introducing me to the editors.

 

Tags: , , , , ,

Exchange in Time and The Island Indoors on Kultura News

5 Sep

Kultura News made a short item on last weeks exchange in Valletta and in introduction to the exhibition that will take place in Ekeren in November.

If you are around, come and join us. The exhibition opens 9 November and runs till 30 November. We have a discussion and meet & greet planned on the 10th. So plenty of time to meet the artists then.

Tags: , , , , , ,

Exchange in Time as part The Island Indoors – notes and outcomes

2 Sep

40160038_10156778959351289_2271774671491825664_n

A 2-day intensive discussion on art and art education on 27-28 August 2018, hosted by the School of Art in Valletta. Exchange between Flanders and Malta as part of the exhibition project ‘The Island Indoors” (supported by Arts Council Malta through the Cultural Export Fund and 252cc, and endorsed by Valletta 2018). Bringing together 2 art teachers and their (ex)-students.

The notes and outcomes can be found here. Some of the topics will be further developed at the Meet and Greet session on the 10th of November in Ekeren … and hopefully also later on in Malta 😉

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

The Island Indoors

23 May

 

IMG_2877

Pleased to announce that the exhibition project curated by Stefan Kolgen and myself the support of Arts Council Malta through the Cultural Export Fund and got endorsed by Valletta 2018. The project has been developed in partnership with 252 CC (the cultural centre of Ekeren) and evolves in close collaboration with the participating artists: Caesar Attard, Matthew Attard, Aaron Bezzina, Ryan Falzon and Marc Thiron. Theatre wizzard Martin Baarda will help us with the installation of the exhibition in Hof De Bist.

The concept is based on a room in a castle/palazzo. Sunday roast is served. A typical Maltese dish is prepared. At first sight it looks like a normal dining room with images on the wall, a big chandelier and a couple dining. But when you look closer you will notice that nothing is what it seems. The couple at the table is only there in our perception and makes you wonder what they are talking about, while a peculiar soundscape accompanies their discussion.The longer we absorb the scene the more it becomes clear that this is not just a dining room, but an installation that tells a story. The objects present challenge us in our perception and open a critical dialogue with us the viewer. From that new thoughts, ideas might appear. Nothing is as it seems to be …

The exhibition runs from 10 to 30 November. Opening night 9 November. Discussion and meet & greet with the artists, 10 November afternoon (14:30-17:00).

The Island Indoors: in collaboration with 252CC – Cultural Centre Ekeren/Antwerp and Malta School of Art, supported by Arts Council Malta, endorsed by Valletta2018.

Tags: , , , ,

25 years later

14 Jan

No New Year’s Resolution. Just a short reflection.

Recently I came across the poster promoting Antwerp 93. The tagline for the year questioned whether art can safe the world. Well it might not be able to safe the world, but it does make the world a better place. Over the past years I learned that one can make small differences through art and culture, so yes we can never have enough of it.

Honestly, it was not a coincidence bumping into that poster. Next week Valletta 2018 European Cultural Capital will kick off and exactly 25 years ago I had the pleasure to be part of Antwerp 1993 European Capital of Culture. Back then I just graduated and was one of the guides leading guests and visitors through the city and through all exhibitions related to the cultural capital year. It was an amazing year for a fresh graduate, as I had the opportunity to discover Antwerp’s cultural institutions on all levels. It was also the start of an art-full career. Since then I can be only grateful for what happened on my professional path.

When I left Belgium in 2015 I could not have imagined that I would again be working on an international inspiring level connecting with artist worldwide, since apart from other things, I’m again involved in a European Cultural Capital adventure. I’m honoured to be able to develop together with fantastic colleagues an artist in residence programme for Valletta 2018 that wanders towards expected and unexpected paths, connecting all art forms, science, education and health. The journey started two years ago and I hope it will leave something sustainable after the 2018.

Ready to roll and continue the story.

I wish you all an inspiring 2018 !!!

 

Tags: , , , , ,

Open Call Artist Residency at Esplora

30 Dec

Curious to know who will be the artist residing at the new science centre here in Malta. The Valletta 2018 Foundation together with Esplora Interactive Science Centre and the Malta Council for Science and Technology set up a residency programme for 2018 and invites artists to apply for an immersive Artist-in-Residence (AiR) experience.

This residency seeks to bring arts and science closer together through the art of storytelling and encourages productive interaction between international creatives and local creatives; between international creatives and communities, as well as, physical and virtual environments.

The Residency will be held at Esplora Interactive Science Centre, Triq il-Marina, Kalkara, Malta between April 2018 and May 2018 and will run for 6 weeks.

More information on the residency and the link to the application form can be found on the Esplora website. The call is open till the end of January.

Tags: , , ,

Challenging Times

3 Dec

Screen Shot 2017-12-03 at 15.46.11

During the parallel session Challenging Times of the Valletta 2018 conference Living Cities, Liveable Spaces: Placemaking & Identity, Colleagues Pamela Baldacchino and Dr. Benna Chase gave insight of our ongoing research linked with the Deep Shelter Project at the Sir Anthony Mamo Oncology Centre. Honoured to be part of this research.

Together with the other presentations during that session, it was an inspiring and rich morning at the conference. Thanks go also to Prof. Franco Bianchini for moderating it so well and to the conference committee for bringing such interesting papers together in this session.

Screen Shot 2017-12-03 at 15.56.06

Tags: , , , , ,

open call Artist Residency at the Oncology Centre in San Gwann

19 Aug

Open Call SAMOC

Very pleased to announce that as part of the 3 year residency programme Deep Shelter Project taking place at the Sir Anthony Mamo Oncology Centre (SAMOC), the Valletta 2018 Foundation now launched a call for an immersive Artist-in-Residence experience.

The residency will take place at the centre between January 2018 and February 2018 and will run for 6 weeks.

It will be a unique experience giving you the opportunity to work with passionate professionals.

The successful artist will create a site-specific work for the Oncology Centre and will work closely with project coordinator and artist in residence Pamela Baldacchino, as well as Dr Benna Chase, Principal Psychologist at SAMOc

The call is open until 14 September 2017.

More information on the residency and the way to apply can be found here

Tags: , , , , , ,

Malta Land of Sea

27 Feb

image_provider

At present the exhibition Malta Land of Sea is taking place at BOZAR in Brussel. This event is part of the Cultural calendar of Malta’s Presidency to the EU. Malta Land of Sea showcases the rich cultural diversity and cultural heritage of the Islands in the middle of the Mediterranean, and illustrates the complex dialogue between land and sea. If you are in Brussels go and see it. The visit might possibly trigger you to visit Malta because of its rich culture and its specific place in the Mediterranean sea.

I was honoured to write with Paul Dujardin a more cultural policy orientated article about Malta for the catalogue. We moved to Malta about 17 months ago and realised that a lot was going on here.  In ‘A Fresh Maltese Breeze‘ I tried to pin down the current cultural dynamics one recognises when visiting the the Maltese Islands today.

screen-shot-2017-02-27-at-11-37-50

 

Tags: , , , , , ,

mapping accessibility in the Biccerija area

16 Dec

Last week residents and participants of Design4DCity came together to pilot the “mapping for change” – project run by Wendy Jo Mifsud and Antoine Zammit (Build Environment – University of Malta) and in collaboration with Valletta 2018 Foundation. The project wants to empower residents and visitors to share important information about daily challenges and opportunities in Malta’s capital city. As urban planners/designers one can have a broad idea of these issue, but only the ones living in the area can provide you with the right information. The pilot looked at possibilities/opportunties of how to engage people. The online map is very user-friendly, but we realized that for some the online tool might be a barrier, therefore it is good to have alternatives to proceed the online work, which could be a consultation session or like we did, take time to do a paper mapping first. The paper mapping focussed on pedestrian and vehicular accessibility in the Biccerija area.  I had the honour to guide the paper mapping session for which I used the MAP-it tools developed by my former colleagues of the  Social Spaces research group. This mapping tool can be fine-tuned to every situation. One can mix labels/text and icons to trigger discussion and ideas through simple task/questions.  The results of this session where then later implemented on the online map.  As such the paper session complemented perfectly the online map. But the mapping has just started. All online input is welcome to give planners and designers a beter insight of what a liveable city needs to be.

Tags: , , , , , , ,

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →