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In Limbus

The piece plays with an almost pornographic dislocation caused by the mismatch between the audio and the images. The title of the piece refers to two key aspects that define the reality of immigrants in Malta: on the one hand, the perception of the island as a pre-European frontier space that embodies its transitoriness as a permanent condition; On the other, the feeling of disillusionment and frustration the immigrants feel once in the island due to the precarious legal status they have.

Malta as an unexpected destination in an otherwise idealized Europe. In fact, the majority immigrants come to Malta by mistake, as a result of shipwrecks, as a result of ambitious initiatives of rescue or Institutional U.E policies of asylum and refugee seekers relocation programs. Malta then, becomes an intermediate state, a permanent limbo, where immigrants are trapped.

In Limbus symbolically reflects this double Maltese (and European) discourse on the current ties between immigration and the construction industry, neglecting their presence and participation as labourers in the building industry, which makes possible the Maltese economic boom and also their absence in the discourse about who is welcome and recognized as a value for the island. By extension the piece It symbolizes the general situation as new unwanted comings in Europe.

Video stereo. Singe channel. 4’9’’
Original language. English
Malta, 2018
Shown at: BLITZ, Spazju Kreatttiv, Biennal d’Art de Girona 2019
Award Biennal d’Art Girona 2019