If you are a creative practitioner and are thinking about developing a new artistic concept or simply need some time to stop the frenzy and work on the development of your practice, then make sure you do not miss this next session!
During the next ACMlab session we will be discussing the definition and relevance of practice-based research. We will be exploring the subject through practical examples of research projects, a presentation of the relevance of artists residencies for such work and also through a brief presentation of the fund managed by Arts Council Malta.
Here are the speakers!
Sean Buhagiar and Jimmy Grima will be speaking about the project Song of a Bird and how the research funded through the Research Support Grant will lead to a performance produced by Teatru Malta.
Sean studied theatre, film, communications and creativity in Malta and Poland and is a graduate of the Malta National Drama Centre. Today he works a professional producer, actor, artistic director and theatre practitioner. He is also very active in contemporary circus and arts festivals. His experience at the Malta Arts Council also led him to be involved in European Cultural Policy. Sean is the artistic director at Teatru Malta.
Jimmy Grima is a theatre maker and a graphic artist currently based between Malta and The Netherlands. He is an artistic director and co-founder of the rubberbodies collective (2009) and Tiny island studio (2010).
Pierre Portelli and Georgina Portelli will be presenting their project Rel-ink, explaining the research done and how this informed the development of the project.
Georgina Portelli PhD (Lond) is a specialist in concept formation, language representation and multilingualism. She has worked extensively in Education, Culture and the Arts as a researcher and curator with a special interest in Information Systems, Diaspora and Memory studies, culture and social inclusion and creative partnerships between Art, Science and other disciplines.
Pierre Portelli, artist/curator based in Malta. He works mainly in conceptual art and site specific installation art. Studied Design at Swindon School of Art and Design in England. A founding member of 'START', a Maltese contemporary art group, and ISTRA, a contemporary art and research foundation. He lecturers at the Faculty of Education and the Faculty of Media and Knowledge Sciences at the University of Malta.
Ann Laenen will be giving an overview of artists in residences and their potential role in practice-based research.
Ann Laenen studied Arts and Theatre Science at KU Leuven and reached PhD level at the University of Leeds in 2007 on Audience Development: Why Opera Education? Five Cases of views in a European Context. In the mean time she gained experience as project coordinator and cultural manager at several (inter)national projects and organisations. In 2009 she became the co-ordinator of the Communication Media Design – programme at the Media & Design Academy in Genk. October 2010 she became the Head of Department at that institution and two years later she was appointed Dean of the Faculty of the Arts (LUCA School of Arts / KU Leuven). At present she lives in Malta. Currently she is teaching Active Design Processes and Design Thinking at the Department of Digital Arts/Faculty of Media and Knowledge Science (University of Malta). She combines her academic work with project coordination, and consultancy at strategic as well as service design level within the arts, culture, creative industries and education. As such she is co-ordinator of the Meeting Point Strand including the Artist in Residence programmme for Valletta 2018 Cultural Capital of Europe.
Join us for this ACMlab session on the 22nd February at 18:30 at Blitz, St. Lucy Street, Valletta. To book your place call us on 23397020 or send us an email on
fundinfo@artscouncilmalta.org.
Places are limited and are reserved on a first-come first-served basis.
