The installation will show at the Victor Pasmore Gallery until January 3
Arts Council Malta, under the patronage of the Ministry for Culture, Lands and Local Government, has unveiled the next chapter in Retold, the year-long series marking the Council’s 10th anniversary. Following the successful opening of the programme earlier this year, this new presentation brings to Malta an adaptation of one of the most internationally recognised Venice Biennale projects: Burning Waters – Diplomazija Astuta by Arcangelo Sassolino.
The installation was originally conceived for the Malta Pavilion at the 59th La Biennale di Venezia, and was curated by Keith Sciberras and Jeffrey Uslip. It can now be experienced by Maltese audiences in its new iteration at the Victor Pasmore Gallery in Valletta.
Retold forms part of Arts Council Malta’s commitment to making internationally presented Maltese work accessible at home, ensuring that projects developed for major cultural platforms remain part of a wider national conversation. The series is part of ACM’s ongoing strategy to widen cultural participation and to support artists who are shaping Malta’s creative landscape in their own ways.
Dr Luke Dalli, Executive Chaiman of Arts Council Malta, stated that this new presentation demonstrates how a work that first emerged on an international platform can continue to evolve when placed in dialogue with Malta’s artistic heritage. He highlighted that the shift from molten steel meeting water to molten steel meeting paper introduces a new and deliberate fragility, giving the piece an unexpected expressive force. He added that creating the space for such reinterpretation lies at the heart of effective cultural policy, made possible through close collaboration between artists, curators and institutions.
Sassolino’s work captured global attention for the way it reimagined the material limits of metal sculpture. The original installation was set within the scale and atmosphere of Venice’s Arsenale, staging a dramatic encounter between molten steel and water. The piece takes its inspiration from the blood in Caravaggio’s Beheading of St John the Baptist, using that image as a way into broader reflections on human suffering and endurance.
Its Maltese reiteration – retitled Burning Waters – Diplomazija Astuta, is curated locally by Keith Sciberras.Through it, Sassolino presents a series of works on paper formed directly through the forces that shaped the installation. Molten steel striking paper leaves unpredictable scorch marks, perforations and rapid, radiating patterns that document the collision between heat, gravity and material.
Earlier this year, Retold brought other internationally acclaimed, homegrown projects to Malta. These included showings of Urban Fabric at the Mdina Ditch; Revisiting Maleth at the National Museum of Natural History; The Ship (Unseen) at the Inquisitor’s Palace; and Homo Melitensis: An Incomplete Inventory in 19 Chapters at MUŻA. Burning Waters – Diplomazija Astuta will run till the beginning of January 2026.
For more information visit https://artscouncilmalta.gov.mt.
