Between Engagement and Miracle Cure: Art, Education and Solidarity

Between Engagement and Miracle Cure: Art, Education and Solidarity
(Zwischen Engagement und Wunderheilung: Kunst, Bildung und Solidarität)

Künstlergespräch mit Raphael Vella (Malta)

10.November 2022, 19.00 Uhr

ACHTUNG: Das Gespräch findet auf Englisch statt.

Between Engagement and Miracle Cure: Art, Education and Solidarity
Artist talk with Raphael Vella (Malta)

November 10th, 2022, 7 pm

 

 

Künstlergespräch mit Raphael Vella (Malta)

ACHTUNG: Das Gespräch findet auf Englisch statt.

Kunst ist kein Wundermittel. Und Bildung auch nicht. Aber sie sind möglicherweise die einzigen Dinge, auf die wir uns beziehen können, wenn wir uns ernsthaft mit den vielen Bedrohungen des demokratischen Denkens und unseres Überlebens auf diesem Planeten auseinandersetzen: sei es extremer Nationalismus, Hassreden oder der Klimawandel. Raphael Vella wird bei SCOTTY darüber sprechen, wie Kunst ihn gelehrt hat, wie eng künstlerische Praxis, Kuratieren und Bildung miteinander verwoben sind und die unterschiedlichen Ebenen des kritischen Denkens, Verbindungen zu der Lebensrealität anderer oder auch Solidarität zum Vorschein bringen. Raphael Vella wird eine Handvoll neuerer Arbeiten und kuratierter Projekte präsentieren und Formen des sozialen Engagements am Beispiel eines aktuellen, internationalen Projekts erörtern, an dem er beteiligt war, Acting on the Margins: Arts as Social Sculpture. (An den Grenzen arbeiten: Kunst als soziale Skulptur).

English version:

Art is not a miracle cure. Neither is education. But they may be the only things we can turn to in order to begin engaging seriously with many threats to democratic thought and our very survival on this planet: from ultranationalism and hate speech to climate change. Raphael Vella will speak about how his journey in the field of art taught him how artistic practice, curating and education are woven into each other, each bringing different layers of critical thought, connectivity with the lives of others and solidarity to the table. He will discuss a handful of recent works and curated projects and discuss forms of social engagement in a recent international project he has been involved in, Acting on the Margins: Arts as Social Sculpture.

Raphael Vella is an artist, curator and educator based in Malta. As an artist, he works mainly in drawing, focusing on political themes related to democracy, identity, migration. In recent years, he has also worked in video animation and participatory arts projects. He has exhibited his works in several international exhibitions and venues, and has curated many group and solo exhibitions in Malta and internationally. He was a founding member of the Maltese artists’ group StART in the early 2000s. Raphael Vella was Fulbright scholar in 2001 and is currently Professor of Art Education at the University of Malta since 2003, where he coordinates postgraduate degrees in art education and socially engaged arts. In 2012-13 he was Artistic Programme Director for Valletta 2018 Foundation, the entity responsible for the European Capital of Culture in 2018. He has published numerous articles and books about contemporary art, culture and education and initiated many artistic projects, educational ventures and international exchanges that have helped to transform the cultural scene in Malta, like Divergent Thinkers, the Curatorial School, the Valletta International Visual Arts festival (VIVA). In 2017, he was co-curator (with Bettina Hutschek) of the Malta Pavilion at La Biennale di Venezia.  Between 2020 and 2023 he is coordinating a University of Malta team working on Acting on the Margins: Arts as Social Sculpture (AMASS), an international research project on socially engaged arts.

The recording of the talk ‘Between Engagement and Miracle Cure: Art, Education, and Solidarity’ may be found on this webpage: https://www.kreattivita.org/en/

Fotos: Kiki Gebauer