In a collaboration between Blitz, Valletta and Culture Zone Wrocław, an exciting artist residency exchange is taking place throughout the month of April. Following an open call for applications in both countries, Malta-based artist Letta Shtohryn is currently at the AIR Wro residency, Wroclaw, and in exchange, Natalia Pośnik is in Malta as part of the Blitz Residency Programme, which is supported by the Valletta 2018 Foundation and part of the European Capital of Culture programme.

This exhibition is taking place  on Thursday 26 April, 7.00pm–9.00pm, (opening night) and will be open to the public on Friday 27 April, 1.00pm–5.00pm. Location: Blitz, 68 St Lucia Street, Valletta. Entry is free

ARTIST’S STATEMENT
How not to fight with city?

There had been unusually strong waves in Valletta. They had fished a drowning man out of the water, whose kids were crying on the seashore. The Valletta/Sliema Ferry has not been sailing either, as the sea is the city – you do not fight. Alternatively, you get to the lifeboat, drift a little further away so the waves don’t hit you against the rocks, and then calmly return when the storm has settled. Let us bide our time in the city and wait patiently for a good opportunity to ‘live’. The ubiquitous economic boom, speculative bubble, tourism, and new investments, are hitting us now against the rocks. Tomorrow, the ferries will be sailing again. […]

The human being is constantly burdened with subsequent changes in city life and the need to adapt to a different reality. Adaptation in this case does not mean compromise or acceptance of the unwanted, but it gives the possibility of a conscious choice. Opportunism and short-term vision for profit, contribute to he changing image of Valletta and its surrounds. New decisions result in a new future. The city’s architecture changes the same as its inhabitants change. It adapts to new functions, often hiding behind the historical facades. The evolution of the city from ‘liveable’ to ‘alive’, after which there is a longing for change from being simply ‘alive’ to ‘liveable’ again.

This linear dependence system based on the form of a circle is a kind of limitation with which society tries to fight. As a result, it pushes towards new creative solutions which aim to answer the question “How not to fight with the city?”

Natalia Pośnik, April 2018

Natalia Pośnik combines her education in architecture with the medium of photography to dissect and discover the character of a city, and to explore the relationship between space and time. Her project, ‘How not to fight with the city?’, attempts to characterise a city which is multi-layered both in history and in the cultures of its inhabitants.

 

ABOUT THE PROGRAMME

The Blitz Residency Programme is a core strand of its artistic and public programme, created to facilitate a long-term, international artistic cultural exchange, while fortifying our role as cultural incubator and advocate organisation for contemporary art practice in Malta. Now in its third year, the programme will support four incoming and two outgoing artist residencies in 2018. The Blitz Residency Programme is supported by the Valletta 2018 Foundation. Blitz is supported by Arts Council Malta through a Cultural Partnership Agreement. The Artist In Residence Programme AIR Wro is a legacy programme of the European Capital of Culture Wrocław 2016, and is supported by Culture Zone Wrocław.