APS Mdina Biennale 2020
Regaining a Paradise Lost: The role of the arts

The third edition of the APS Mdina Cathedral Contemporary Art Biennale will deal with the relationship between spirituality and the environment, focusing on the links with the protection of the planet, all species, human or otherwise, and the notion of spirituality within this seminal debate.
In the 1960s and 70s, Malta was at the forefront of globalising this question with its radical policy on the Common Heritage of Mankind pursued by Maltese ambassador to the United Nations, Arvid Pardo, today a concept enshrined in International Law. This crucial historical fact has today been buried by the neoliberal objectives of contemporary society that exploit the planet and negate the question of the continuity of humanity's home.
Life, death, genocides, massacres, genetic engineering, globalised information technology, mass appropriation and destruction of habitats, are a reality of our modern surroundings. How are artists confronting this radical and real apocalyptic threat?
Can art play a role in this conflict between materiality and nature, and if so, what role? Is spirituality a neglected consideration, or is art still preoccupied with suprahuman matters?

For the exhibition, artists will be exhibiting video, sound, light, and virtual reality artworks that contend with the above notions on the relationship between the human species and its role in generating, regenerating, or destroying its own existence on our unique planet.

To accompany the exhibition, the APS Mdina Biennale will be publishing a hard cover book featuring essays by academics, researchers, and curators whose work engages with the project theme outlined above. The APS Mdina Biennale is welcoming the submission of proposals that debate this topic of contemporary global significance.

Interested applicants must send an abstract of around 250-300 words, together with a recent biography or CV, to infomdinabiennale.com by 31st August, 2019.

Final essays are to be around 2500 words in length, and are to be written in English.

Further information may be found on the official website: https://www.mdinabiennale.com/
Any queries are to be sent to infomdinabiennale.com.