I WILL FOLLOW THE SHIP: Malta’s Pavilion at Venice Biennale gears up to launch this week
The highly-anticipated week for all art lovers from near and far is finally here! The 60th edition of the international art exhibition at La Biennale di Venezia is set to open to the public this week, with Malta’s Pavilion gearing up for the long-awaited launch.
This year is one which marks many firsts for Malta’s National Pavilion, as solo artist Matthew Attard will present the first-ever solo show by the Maltese islands in the participation of this prestigious event. Apart from that, Elyse Tonna is the first-ever female Maltese curator to be co-curating at the Venice Biennale, and this year’s team is the youngest ever to be representing Malta at the international stage. The project is also co-curated by Italian-American Sara Dolfi Agostini, and project managed by Maria Galea and Galleria Michela Rizzo.
Commissioned by Arts Council Malta, I WILL FOLLOW THE SHIP, located within the national pavilion at the Arsenale, will take the form of a multi-layered and complex installation, that merges physical and digital realms. The installation draws inspiration from ancient ship graffiti—vernacular iconographies etched into wayside chapels that narrate local Mediterranean stories of faith and deliverance.
Matthew Attard, who recently obtained a PhD from the Edinburgh College of Art focused on drawing with eye-tracking technology, collaborates with an eye-tracker, a cutting-edge device that records his eye movements and converts them into digital data. In this way, Attard co-authors his work with an eye-tracker: a sophisticated technological device which captures his eye movements and then transforms them into data points. The title of the project playfully references the dual interpretation of ‘I’ and ‘eye,’ reflecting the personal and observational dimensions of Attard’s work.
In an era marked by climate change, rising sea levels, and debates over human roles in an increasingly technological world, the simple symbols of hope depicted in I WILL FOLLOW THE SHIP gain new symbolic significance. At the Biennale Arte 2024, the Malta Pavilion serves as a forum to explore concepts of authorship and image creation in art, prompting a critical reassessment of agency and coexistence as we venture through the uncharted territories of the information society.
Follow I WILL FOLLOW THE SHIP on Instagram, Facebook, and check out the official website here.
Stay tuned as we bring you a complete Venice takeover and live updates as we document the prestigious event.
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