It was an amazing two weeks full of outdoor events, theatre, performances, music, film, dance, visual arts, silent disco, and various meetings and discussions. This was the motto of this year’s edition: “For Love!”
Unfortunately, the 24th edition of the iconic Poznań Malta Festival had come to an end. This year’s edition lasted from September 7 to 15, so for the entire two weeks you could take part in attractions scattered throughout the city. Morning yoga, music concerts, exhibitions, performances, installations, street theatre, film screenings, opera, debates, dance workshops, visual arts, and art workshops.
“Dotyk nadziei. Dla kobiet i dla planety!” (“The Touch of Hope. For Women and the Planet!”) at Malta Festival
This year, the Malta Festival was not just a celebration of art. The event became a space for the free exchange of experiences and ideas. A striking example of this was, among others, the exhibition “A Touch of Hope. For Women and the Planet!”, which showed how a small factory from Nepal can change the world. During the event, visitors could broaden their horizons, learning about the traditions and superstitions that discriminate against and harm women in Nepal. Chaupadi – is a menstrual taboo that prohibits women during menstruation from participating in family life. It is forbidden by law but is still cultivated in strongly traditional communities. Being on their period, women are not allowed to stay at home. For this reason, they are forced to sleep in forests or huts, often with small children. This has terrible consequences for their health, not to mention the lack of access to sanitary products during menstruation.
In addition, Nepal is one of the ten countries most affected by climate change, which causes environmental pollution. The main branch of the country’s economy is banana farming. A Banana tree dies after the harvest, and the waste from its cutting additionally pollutes the environment. Fortunately, the German-Nepalese non-governmental organization NIDISI came up with the initiative, with the support of the Kulczyk Foundation. This is how the Sparsa project was created, within which ecological pads from banana fibers are produced. NIDISI in translation means “touch”, so during the exhibition, it was possible to touch “raw” banana fibers and the material made from them, which is the main component of pads.
SUN&SEA
The last weekend of the festival was an amazing spectacle, SUN&SEA. The performance is classified as an atmospheric opera. It had its first world premiere in Venice in 2019, where it was awarded the Golden Lion for the Lithuanian pavilion. Finally, Poland also had its premiere at this year’s Malta Festival. We owe this wonderful, unearthly experience to three Lithuanian artists – Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė, Vaiva Grainytė, and Lina Lapelytė.
Viewers looking down on the performance from the mezzanine watched the assembled figures, who appear to be a typical group of beachgoers of different ages and backgrounds, dressed in colorful swimsuits and basking in the sun on a mosaic of towels. Viewing this moving image from a vantage point reminiscent of the sun, viewers are reminded of the fragility of the human condition.
As the libretto unfolds, we meet each character in turn, in their solo parts (performed lying down), which reveal private concerns, from trivial worries about sunburn and plans for a future vacation, to nagging fears of ecological catastrophe, which emerge as if from the depths of the heroes’ and heroines’ restless consciousness. Frivolous micro-stories, sung on a crowded beach, give way to broader, more serious themes, which transform into a global symphony, a universal human choir addressing issues of a global scale; tired bodies are a metonym for tired planet (…) – describes the performance SUN&SEA curator Lucia Pietroiusti.
Visual Arts Exhibitions at Malta Festival
The organizers prepared several exhibitions, especially for lovers of visual arts. Their mottos were similar to the main premises of this year’s edition of the Malta Festival – love, women, and nature.
The exhibition “FOR LOVE!” WORKS OF MICHAEL ZIELIŃSKI AT MALTA could have been admired at the Festival Club at Plac Wolności. As a visual artist, Zieliński draws attention to the need to return to nature, direct interpersonal relations, and social community. He creates in oil, combining natural ingredients with elements found in public spaces. His works include objects from islands, oceans, beaches, garbage cans, second-hand shops, old cellars after deceased owners, and the Białowieska Forest. In addition, the artist uses materials intended for disposal, giving objects a second life.
The next exhibition is (FE)MALE, FROM INTIMACY TO SOCIETY by Agata Ciesielska-Shovkun. Its ideas are gender and interpersonal relations. The exhibition consists of the artist’s series of works, made in traditional and digital techniques. All works are the fruit of Agata’s ten years of experience. However, the main idea that guides the exhibition is that the source of conflicts and division in society is often gender. To be more clear, it is about the division into male and female genders and the way of experiencing masculinity and femininity, which influences our everyday lives.
Article and photos: Kateryna Shmorgun
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