Matthew Attard’s work currently being exhibited at Fondazione Imago Mundi amongst world-renowned artists
Established artist Matthew Attard’s work was selected by the curators at Fondazione Imago Mundi, and is currently on show in Treviso for a collective exhibition, “Europe doesn’t fall from the sky”, running until Sunday 11 December. Matthew Attard’s artwork “Eye-tracking drawing of my passport” (2022) is being featured amongst other works by world-renowned artists.
The exhibition Europe doesn’t fall from the sky, and of the public program that will accompany it, aims to reflect what it means to be European today and what idea of democracy, social and civic life Europe embodies. The title of the exhibition is a direct reference to the book that collects various interventions by Altiero Spinelli, considered the father of European federalism, in which he exposes his reflections on the vicissitudes and evolutions of what will later become the European Union. The exhibition does not claim to define what future Europe or the European Union may have, but to address, through contemporary art, important issues such as borders, identity, sense of belonging, shared values, which reflect on the multiplicity of cultures, languages and traditions, or show the result of dissonances and conflicts.
Matthew Attard (1987, Malta) currently lives and works between Edinburgh and Malta, and he works primarily with drawing in many forms. Through his works, the artist explores themes such as optical perception, the transformation of everyday life into data, and creativity expressed through technology.
In one of his practices, Matthew draws-with an eye-tracker, that is used scientifically to study a sighted person’s degree of attention, emotional reactions and cognitive processes. In many of these works he measures the degree of attention, pupil movements and pauses in scrutinizing an object, then downloads the data and translates it into a drawing.
The work on view in Treviso “Eye-tracking drawing of my passport” (2022) consists of a drawing of the artist’s passport made with his eyes. This work is a reflection on the legal value of this type of document, on the mobility it grants or denies depending on the nationality represented, and adds to ongoing conversations about migration in Europe.
Matthew Attard‘s practice investigates images as social and cultural constructs. His interest in the mechanisms of vision – its perceptual, physiological and neurophysiological dimensions – are the focus of his practice-based PhD research at the Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh, funded by the Malta Arts Scholarship scheme. Raised in Malta, in 2009 he moved to Venice and collaborated with the Peggy Guggenheim Collection and the USA Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. Later, he came back to Malta where in 2018 he obtained his Masters by Research Degree from the Digital Arts Department of the University of Malta. He first exhibited his work in a double solo show organized in 2014 at Galleria Michela Rizzo in Venice. Since then, he has exhibited in Venice, Rome, Valletta, Genoa, London, Beijing and Los Angeles among other cities. Also, in 2017 he was selected for the 3rd edition of the Le Latitudini dell’Arte Biennale, at the Palazzo Ducale, Genoa, while in 2018 he was awarded the Under 30 Euromobil Prize at ArteFiera, Bologna. He was selected three times to show in the context of Ten Artists to Watch at LACDA, Los Angeles Centre for Digital Arts, and in 2019 he was invited to participate in Artissima Telephone at the OGR spaces in Turin. Recently, he was shortlisted for the Lumen Prize 2021. Rajt ma rajtx… naf li rajt is Matthew’s most recent solo show, curated by Elyse Tonna at Valletta Contemporary in 2021. He was recently commissioned the work Here’s How I Did Not See What You Wanted Me To See as part of the OPEN digital residency at Blitz, Valletta, curated by Sara Dolfi Agostini.
In all twenty artists have been selected for this exhibition ; Matthew Attard, Gabriele Basilico, Maurizio Cattelan, Jasmina Cibic, Braco Dimitrijević, Claire Fontaine, Olexa Furdiyak, Marco Godinho, Dan Halter, Emilio Isgrò, Yurii Ivantsyk, Annette Lemieux, Richard Mudariki, Santiago Sierra, Arcangelo Sassolino , Giulio Squillacciotti, Slavs & Tatars, Giuseppe Stampone, Paolo Ventura, Dominique White.
Each of the 4 sections of the exhibition are exhibited in 4 cultural spaces in the historic center of Treviso, seeks to shed light on different aspects of European current affairs; Gallerie delle Prigioni, Ca’ Scarpa, Casa Robegan, Museo Bailo.
Fondazione Imago Mundi is a non-profit institution born in 2019 in Treviso as an evolution from the Imago Mundi Collection, with the aim to act as a new catalyst for artistic expressions and cultural exchange in a highly interconnected world.
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