As a field of practice Art Activism is placed in the liminal space between art and social practice, art activists are both artists and social actors who through their practice attempt to shed light, criticise, facilitate and enable social change. Whereas many consider the practice important in contemporary society it has also been criticised for glamourizing social issues.
During the session we will explore these concerns by delving deeper into the practice of three art activists; Caitlin Gleeson, a UK independent theatre maker and researcher, Margerita Pulè, a Maltese artist, curator and cultural manager whose interest are deeply rooted within social issues and 2019 Artivist Sheldon Saliba who through the support of the Artivisti programme by Arts Council Malta and Aġenzija Żgħażagħ has staged a site specific arts intervention around various localities in Malta.
Speakers
Margerita Pulè
Margerita Pulè is an artist, curator, researcher and cultural manager, with a Master’s degree in Fine Arts from the University of Malta. She is founder-director of Unfinished Art Space, an independent and nomadic space showing contemporary art in Malta. She is also a founder-member of the Magna Żmien Foundation, which digitises 20th century analogue home archives, and is currently a researcher on the Horizon 2020 project Acting on the Margins Arts as Social Sculpture (AMASS). Between the 2017 – 2019 she was Outreach Manager at Spazju Kreattiv, and previously was Programme Manager for Valletta 2018, programming the cultural programme of Valletta’s title as European Capital of Culture 2018. Recent curatorial projects include the exhibition-project Strangers in a Strange Land at Malta’s national community museum MUŻA (2020), group show Hackable Animals (2019) at Casino Notabile in Mdina, and Daily Bread (2019) in collaboration with the Gabriel Caruana Foundation in Birkirkara.
Caitlin Gleeson
Caitlin Gleeson is a theatre maker, facilitator, producer and writer based in Manchester, UK. Her work includes solo performance, interactive theatre and community arts, and often explores autobiography, gender and place. She has worked with organisations including Contact, the Octagon Theatre, the Royal Exchange, the Lowry and Oldham Coliseum, where she is a supported artist. She has also worked as a researcher and evaluator, and teaches at the University of Manchester. She is currently touring Pour and Serve, a site-specific solo performance on the language of sexual harassment. In development is Vera, a collaboration with Ross McCaffrey which uses the story of a pioneering astrophysicist to ask why we believe some people more than others; and A Show About Plants, a performance about care, queerness and nature as resistance against capitalism. Photo by Shaun Conway.
Sheldon Saliba
Sheldon Saliba is a 20-year-old emerging artist and student reading for a Bachelor of Art (Honours) in History of Art. His themes of research are still everchanging and range from interpretations of traditional cabinets of curiosities, to exploring the use of land and how this can be divided into built and unbuilt spaces, as well as notions of destructive escapism.
The same thing could be said for mediums he makes use of, though Sheldon’s preferred medium would have to be photography. He frequently enjoys breaking off from traditional photography by using beat up analogue film cameras and manipulating rolls of exposed film, as well as exploring other mediums, like sculpture, installation art and on site interventions.
Join us on Monday 8 February at 18:30 at Pjazza Teatru Rjal Green Room.
Kindly note that due to Covid-19 restrictions this event is limited to 14 people.
Book your place here.*
*Upon attendance, patrons will be refunded the €5 within a maximum of 15 working days.
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