The Malta Pavilion, set up within the long route of the Venetian Arsenal for the Venice Biennale Visual Arts 2024, dedicates its first solo exhibition to the young artist Matthew Attard. This time, the ‘marvel’ of technology represents a doorway to the richness of tradition in a layered play of contamination, a journey into the relationship between man and machine, tradition and modernity, science and religion.
I WILL FOLLOW THE SHIP, as it titles Attard’s project, brings together the most advanced technologies and tradition, such as the one of graffiti which are part of the Maltese islands’ seafaring culture and in which are written the history of multicultural encounters, hope and faith. The tradition of drawing, of engraving graffiti on stone, and all they embody are ‘re-drawn’ by Attard through a symbiotic relationship between the human eye and technology, enhanced by the technology of eye-tracking, in a performative gesture which is both delicate and powerful.
Ship graffiti, engravings on stone depicting boats, are vernacular iconographies, tales of faith and salvation around the Mediterranean, traces imprinted by sailors on the façades of the most diverse buildings – from administrative venues to fortifications, from private houses to chapels, these last spaces not only having religious significance but also political immunity.
These graffiti recount cultures that have alternated since prehistoric times on these islands – islands at the crossroads of the central Mediterranean. This layered history is now transposed to another chapter of modern Malta, where cultures also meet ‘in’ and ‘with’ a sea of information; a place where traces of people’s cultural roots, confrontation and contamination are often lost in the increasing homogenisation.
As said earlier, the graffiti are ‘redrawn’. And the roots of the project can be found in ‘how’ Attard redesigns these engravings. He makes use of eye tracking, a process of measuring eye movements which determines the object of a subject’s gaze. This is how Attard ‘redesigns’ these Maltese ex-votos (votive offerings). The most sophisticated technologies are accompanied by man in a symbiotic gesture.
Rationality and irrationality are both ‘inscribed’ in the action of eye tracking, where some unintentional traces seem to ‘mimic’ the same ones as those encountered in the process of graffiti engraving. The oldest of traditions continues in technological progress. Science, faith and hope are inseparably linked. Words like ‘trust’ and ‘hope’ continuously recur in scientific and technological fields. They are also themes and titles of the latest editions of the Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, one of the most important festivals that has been investigating the relationships between culture, technology and society since the late 1970s.
With the same magic as an island emerging from the seas, culture, awareness and reflections can be seen in the Malta Pavilion. The extremely strong sense of belonging to local roots and tradition that the artist conveys in his work radiates in a kaleidoscopic way, touching on all the cultures to which visitors belong. These, after all, have crossed and inhabited the Maltese islands over time and we can find a part of ourselves in them.
Matthew Attard. WILL FOLLOW THE SHIP, co-curatori: Elyse Tonna, Sara Dolfi Agostinim, Project Managers: Maria Galea e Michela Rizzo, Padiglione Malta, Arsenale, 60th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, 20 April – 24 Novembre
images: (cover 1) Matthew Attard, «Eye-tracking study (I WILL FOLLOW THE SHIP)», 2023, Eye-tracking drawing, 3D scan, Pen drawing 29x42cm © Matthew Attard and Galleria Michela Rizzo. (2) Matthew Attard, «Study 1 (I WILL FOLLOW THE SHIP)», 2023. Eye-tracking drawing, 3D scan. Digital image – Variable dimensions © Matthew Attard and Galleria Michela Rizzo (3) Matthew Attard, «Stone wall study (I WILL FOLLOW THE SHIP)», 2023 – Eye-tracking drawing, Globigerina Limestone, 56x24x3cm © Matthew Attard and Galleria Michela Rizzo (4) Matthew Attard, «Generative study (I WILL FOLLOW THE SHIP)», 2023. Eye-tracking drawing,. Generative algorithm Digital image – Variable dimensions © Matthew Attard and Galleria Michela Rizzo (5) Malta Pavillion- Margaret Press Images, Space.jpg (6) Matthew Attard,«Generative study (I WILL FOLLOW THE SHIP)», 2023, Eye-tracking drawing, Generative algorithm Digital. image – Variable dimensions © Matthew Attard and Galleria Michela Rizzo
