Arbang

The premise of arbanġ (“inanimate, animate, all is one”) serves to describe the aim of the project – to understand the hidden synergy which we, as living organisms, share with all others – both animate and inanimate.

At its core, it is an exploration into the pleomorphism of all that is, the self-similarity of nature and the associations between the observable and that which is hidden. The project questions the very nature of life. A herd of organisms? A system of organs? A bundle of cells? A group of organelles? Aggregates of macromolecules? Atoms chemically joined together? Electrons surrounding a positive nucleus? Is there a distinct cut-off point at which inanimate matter morphs into animate forms? If an inanimate system has the potential for animate growth, is it not, by the argument from potential, an animate system? If an inanimate system is able to support a fledgling number of animate forms, are these organisms not an intricate part of the said system, arising from, and composed of, inanimate? arbanġ also questions the material. The exhibition consists of a series of mixed-media works, separated into different rooms, which embody the eventual morphosis of the elemental and the material, into the animate; and the eventual realisation that all is one. David Grima makes use of photographs, radiographic imaging and thread, the fusion of which is an analysis, a critique and a hopeful reproach. Literature by Clifford Jo Zahra will accompany the works.

The project is supported by Arts Council Malta – Malta Arts Fund and is part of the Spazju Kreattiv season programme.