Alexandra Mara Camilleri

The APS Mdina Cathedral Contemporary Art Biennale, now in its second running under the directorship of Dr Schembri Bonaci, has posited importance on the essence, meaning and definition of space. As the name of the biennale denotes, the holistic space is, and will be, Malta's old capital city, Mdina. Space in the art world denotes a sense of relation and reconciliation between the physical (the material), mental (the concept) and the communal (the reception).

Space matters differently to different people. It has been, for perhaps most of philosophical history, an aspect of discussion and thought. Applying a Lefebvrian strain of thought, space can be essentially divided into the three aforementioned aspects: the physical, the mental, and the societal. Each realm denotes a different significance, relating both to the personal baggage of the individual, and the communal spirit of its ceremony. Contemporary art, in all its nihilistic attempts, still remains part of a ritualistic experience. It is in this vein that space, in this case art spaces, function along this tri-pronged argument. The physical aspects are apparent to most - the architecture of the building, the material used, the placement of the work and even how light streams through the space is all part of this. The mental aspect denotes the conceptualisation of the object, the way it relates personally to the viewer, as well as the way it is represented. The final node, the communal, relates to the way society thinks, acts and reacts to this space, and how this in turn effects the personal. Applying this to an art space, it can become altered yet constant throughout. Taking a whitewashed gallery as an example, the expectations of the viewer are met within a certain scope, yet these can become challenged when met with an unorthodox space. These aspects were explored within the past APS Mdina Biennale as art works were exhibited within living spaces, functioning rooms and became part of the daily ritual for some.

The ritual of everyday life is mostly expressed in dramatic theory, with exponents like Eugenio Barba emphasising the 'extra-daily' as a technique used by the performer. While this may seem extraneous to art theory, space remains a fundamental, yet often times overlooked aspect of the art world. It is in this sense that scholars find the need to import theories from ancillary subjects to better define certain aspects. In The Paper Canoe Barba explains that 'the first aspect is individual, the second is common to all those who belong to the same performance genre [while] the third concerns all performers from every era and culture.' A correlation between Lefebvre's delineation of space and Barba's explanation of this technique can be felt. The 'individual', as expressed by Barba, denotes the personal and social persona of the individual, with the added baggage - artistic, cultural, spiritual - creating an individual response in a single moment of time. The second relates to the traditions and cultural-appropriate heritage that one might find in common with other art pursuers. Taking Malta as an example, the Lilliputian aspects of the art scene become more apparent and a sub-community is created through this shared appreciation. The third aspect deals with the general history and knowledge this sub-community may have, garnered through years of experience and knowledge.

How does this apply to the APS Mdina Biennale? Taking the Cathedral as an example, within its normal daily functions, it somehow encapsulates all three aspects of Lefebvrian space: we are aware of its physical space as an architectural work; the mental is evoked through the silent participation of the individual, while the social space is the communal spirit of the event. The art exhibited within the cathedral became part of this daily ritual, forming a bridge between the day-to-day and the uncommon. The communers therefore are part of the spectacle, whilst also becoming the audience. Barba's anthropological slant given to the three aforementioned factors (the personal, the communal, and the cultural) is in turn contracted in becoming a definition to the way an individual, whilst forming part of a larger network, functions, in accordance to the surrounding space. A churchgoer expects to find a certain sequence of events and motions within a mass, irrelevant in which country or language it is being held. Consequently, the works exhibited by Gor Chahal, Richard Shields and Victor Agius, to name a few, therefore became spectators and props within this same space. The interaction with this works, whether deliberate or not, became part of the daily ritual.