Re-processed is the name of an exhibition of visual arts installations using recycled material being held at the Upper Barrakka Gardens. Five works of art will be created for this show with the participation of eleven Maltese and foreign artists. A variety of media will be used to interpret the subject.

This year, Atelier has chosen the theme of recycling and new processes for this exhibition in the belief that the concept of recycling is both creative and ethical. The aim is to inspire and promote awareness. Whilst re-processing these different materials and objects, the artists want to engage, provoke, and denounce, whilst demonstrating that apparently useless items can offer an opportunity for creativity.

Sure Creative Lab, a group of six Italian artists, will be participating in Re-Processed with a 2.5 metre high GA (Guardian Angel) built with waste and re-cycled materials, collected and assembled in Malta. The GA project aims at re-discovering the concept of the Guardian Angel according to which everyone has a Guardian Angel who protects his or her life. The concept acquires a contemporary meaning when the GA assists individuals to be more ethical and to adopt an environmentally conscious way of life.

An awareness of pollution together with the constant disruption of nature invite a special interest in several exhibits. Romina Delia and Enrique Tabone with their work Junk Jungle goes into the sea and out again want to create awareness of the polluted world we live in and also remind people that we can recycle, be original and create artworks with used objects.

Patrick Fenech chooses to interpret this theme from a more metaphorical perspective in his installation of light and water.

Portrait of an Upsidedown Tree’ stands as a metaphor for the interference with nature within the context of a universal disorder as a consequence of global warming and the ultimate depletion of trees. In this video projection, Ruth Bianco evokes an environmental statement through the “tree” as an archetypal signification for the cycle of life.

Christopher Saliba utilizes a common and re-used window frame in Looking Inside in which the abstract painting becomes a spiritual landscape that proposes a non-representational and non-allusive dimension. Rather than looking outside the window, the observer comes to realise that s/he is actually looking inside an intimate and personal view that the artist is willing to share.

As an organisation, Atelier wants to generate development and innovation through culture and the arts. Its aim is to create a synergy between the cultural sector, public and private entities and the corporate sphere, where culture becomes an effective and viable vehicle for economic growth and social development.