In Search of Line
A new space for the Victor Pasmore Gallery will be launching very soon with its first exhibition titled IN SEARCH OF LINE.
Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti, a non-profit voluntary organisation, have been setting-up exhibitions since the early 90’s, with the aim of sharing and safeguarding the artistic and cultural heritage of the Maltese Islands, locally and internationally. It’s forte lies in its connection and collaboration with a fascinating network of private collections, and its ability to bring together ‘hidden’ and largely unknown treasures to the viewing public – as an artefact staged in an exhibition or a more lasting impression in a catalogue. This has gradually given rise to a sense of national pride, both in the viewer and the private collector. Following a few decades of numerous objets d’art curated exhibitions, of which the Foundation has become synonymous with, FPM now finds itself exploring new territories, in search of something beyond the tangible, in search of new lines.
IN SEARCH OF LINE is FPM’s latest exhibition project which has been in the works ever since ‘Music in Malta – From Prehistory’ to Vinyl’ was taken down back 2019. Through research and conversation, the endless support and generosity of our private lenders, as well as the collaboration with public institutions, this exhibition will see one of history of art’s greatest subjects of exploration; the line. Both on the page as well as into space and time, the line has manifested itself in many ways, from drawing to weaving, writing, mark-making, singing and storytelling. IN SEARCH OF LINE will explore these fascinations and break down ‘line’ to its core elements, exploring the artist’s drive to create and represent images, meanings and emotions through line.
Whilst the line may present itself to be a rather ambiguous subject, reluctant to stay within the confines of the obscure classification on which we rely, it’s open nature, complexity and radical transformation have seen the often overlooked medium create an infinite number of works of art. The line is often a trace of a manual gesture, a trace of the free expression of artistic thought, the expression of the artist’s ideas and impressions. Till today, artist’s question and challenge the line, it’s meaning and representation, it’s linearity and its culture.
FPM is in collaboration with contemporary artists and academics, whom have been invited to engage with various aspects of the curatorial narrative, both within and outside of the exhibition space. The project will also see the creation of an exhibition catalogue which will include reflective writings inspired by the artworks by Richard England, Vince Briffa, Michael Zammit, Matthew Attard, Giulia Privitelli and Robert Brewer Young. In October of 2022, the exhibition project was officially launched via a collaboration with The European Graduate School and a three-day seminar titled THE MUSICAL LINE. The event brought together Christopher Fynsk, Dean of the European Graduate School, Michael Schmidt, Robert Brewer Young, luthier, and musician Antonin Stahley and culminated in a performance at The Casino Maltese in Valletta. The drawing and music in this performance are expressions of interconnected harmonies. Heirich Biber’s Passacaglia weaves four central, descending notes on the violin into layers of proportional consonance. These have counterparts in the Euclidian composition of lines drawn on the floor. The golden ratio and the geometric section, here expressed in chalk and fundamental to architecture and design, have music in their lines and relations.
More recently, FPM has collaborated with dance artist Florinda Camilleri, taking the line of flight as a departure point and together asking the question what happens when the straight line we associate so much with rational thought, intellect and modernity, is refracted and diffracted through affective, sensorial pathways? MOVING IN LINES: Mapping Affective Geometrie, a live-composition performance emerging through somatic and sensorial encounters, presented an invitation to reflect upon our material environment and consider alternative perspectives. The performance saw a collaboration with sound and audiovisual artist Niels Plotard and light artist Andrew Schembri.
Following these events, the exhibition is now set to open on 27th September 2023 and will also see the launch of the new Victor Pasmore Gallery in Valletta. Further to an agreement with the Victor Pasmore Foundation in December 2020, the Pasmore collection was handed over to FPM for permanent display at St Paul’s Street, Valletta. The gallery will continue to research, promote, and display Pasmore’s important cultural legacy that impacted Malta and his Maltese contemporaries. Through the works of Maltese artists from the twentieth century, along with works from FPM’s collection of Pasmore himself, IN SEARCH OF LINE will take us out for a walk, just as Klee’s line does, to freely explore and understand the vast spectrum which is line.
For more information visit www.victorpasmoregallery.com
