FirstSnail by Edward Allington. A Changed World Joseph Paul Cassar A Changed World is an exhibition brought people in the medical fieldand other disciplines about through the initiative and assistance of complain that they cannot keep up with the lat­ the British Council in Malta, and it focuses on est developments in their respective areas and the various transformations that many are those who are uneasy and suspicious British sculpture has undergone that change is out of control. over the past 40 years. It presents We live in a world ofobjects and commodities the concept of change as the that have been designed for instant death. It is process by which the future clear now that the acceleration of change has invades our lives, for change is reached such a rapid pace that it is possible ongoing without which time to open your eyes one morning to see a world would stop. totally new. The exhibition is about the In my opinion, the whole point of this exhi­ fantastic intrusion of novelty bition is that in the past one rarely saw a fun­ and newness into our exis­ damental change in an art style within a tence. This is the story of how man's lifetime. A style or school endured as we learn to adapt - or fail to a rule, for generations at a time. Today, the adapt - to the future. Each pace of turnover in art scarcely has time to change brings with it a need for new learning, forin us, there (Continued on opposite page) is the power to shape change. Out of this Many of us have a World by vague feeling that things are moving Anthony faster nowadays. Gormley Computer pro- · grammers and technicians, First important international art exhibition at St James (Continued from opposite page) abstract poetic language as in his piece coloured paper became a reality. Boys and Girls come out to play(1982). The works of Anish Kapoor (b.1954) From cheap popular material the consist ofshapes laid on the floorcoated see a school develop, learn its language, work gains a new meaning of inter­ with brilliantly coloured chalk dust. understand it and develop it fully, for locking sensuous forms.There is a feel­ This idea was imported from theIndian beforeyou know, it vanishes. ing that the work is the fruitof great markets he had seen in 1979. His sculp- · This exhibition features some of craftsmanship. Hig work is the opposite ture is sensuous art, rich in surfacetac­ Britain's most important exponents in ofsolid materials such as stone or wood. tile qualities and extremely fragile. the field of sculpture such as Anthony His sculpture is concerned with the sur-· The figures of Antony Gormley Caro, Tony Cragg, Ian Hamilton Fin­ face skin of form and not its mass. (b.1950) are also the fruit ofcasts simi­ lay, Barry Flanagan, Gilbert and On the other hand,Woodrow (b.1948) lar in principal to the works of George George, Antony Gormley, Damien does not stop at retrieving and utilising Segal, but Gormley prefersto overlay on Hirst, Anish Kapoor, Tim Lewis, found material but he also intervenes his own bodysheets of lead in order to Richard Long, David Nash, Eduardo by cutting into the existing manufac­ eliminate the particular individual , Paolozzi, William Tucker, Shirazeh tured articles and finishesin the end by details. Houshiary, Rachel Whiteread and Bill creating a new object. In this process he On handling the work out of its huge i Woodrow among others. comments on consumerism and recy­ squarish box I realised that the work is ': Eduardo Paolozzi (b.1924) is repre­ cling material as is the case of his Long made oflead that encloses the figureas sented with two works, one of which Distance Information (1983) which in in a suit of armour similar to the ones records a technique that this artist itself is a document and a specimen of we have at the Palace Armoury with evi­ developed by casting small bits of contemporary archaeology. dent joints that forma kind of grid all mechanical gadgetry or defunctelec- The work of Rachel Whiteread .over the body. , trical circuits. These casts served as the (b.1963) is the product ofcasts that she Cornerto Kasimir(1992)is not a cru­ basis of making sculptures in bronze. makes of differentthings ranging from cifix as many visitors thought, but is a The result was generally an animal, books to a whole room. Her exhibit, referenceto the artist Kasimir Malevich a head, or a figure (as is the case in Black Books (1996-7), is reminiscent of who produced corner reliefsinspired by Diana as an Engine 1 of 1963-66) inte­ her Holocaust Memorial· in Vienna the icons in Russian homes which were grating into a new whole these clusters which consists of a cast in concrete of a generally placed in special corners of of specific details which already had a whole library of anonymous books. reverence. previous life.The finalwork represents It is already very clear in the exam­ Thanks to the British Council, the the inside machinery of the body ples cited above that this new genera­ Maltese public has been lucky to meet exposed on the surface. tion of artists rejected traditional mate­ Edward Allington, one of the artists Anthony Caro's (b.1924) Pink Stack rials and methods. Moulding and who was brought to Malta forthis occa­ (1969) follows on Davis Smith's .use of constructing replaced carving and mod­ sion'. He gave a guided tour of the exhi­ welded steel. In the process the sculp­ elling. Colour, which pertained only to bition at St James Cavalier last Sunday ture's base has been eliminated with painting, became an integral part of the and delivered a lecture at the Art Unit the introduction of colour which neu­ works as much as it is manifested today of the University ofMalta·to art history Diana as an Engine 1 tralises the industrial effectthat is gen­ in product design. The prophecy of students. One is also grateful for the by Eduardo Paolozzi erally associated in the works of the Henri Matisse of cutting through availability of the curators Diana Ecc- American.artist Smith or the Spaniard ,,.,,--=-----: less and Joanna Gutteridge of the Gonzalez. His formsextend to the sides ------,�----------::-,,...-.,......,,-,,,..--,-.,......,,:-:�-,,,-----, British Council's Visual Arts Depart- like some insect crawling sharing ment in London who put up this stimu­ human scale. Its placement on the ter­ lating and thought-provoking exhibi­ race of St James Cavalier by the exhi­ tion. bition curators enhances its sense of The idea of having A Changed World occupying and dominating space. concurrently with the Art in Malta Spring Circle( 1992) by Richard Long Today exhibition has been a rewarding (b.1945) consists of stones laid on the decision which has not only put the local gallery floornext to one another in the artists' work in a more international form of a circle. His minimalist context, but It has served as an invita­ arrangement is the fruitof his personal tion to strengthen the process ofchange experience oflandscape. Long literally so vital in art production. brought landscape within the art Both exhibitions in different ways gallery by installing naturally found point to the need of renewal and stones that echo the activities of quar­ appraisal which is the majorchallenge rying and stonecutting. that St James Cavalier Centre for Cre­ Other artists like Tony Cragg, Bill ativity is facingin forgingits own inter­ Woodrow and Richard Deacon used national identity. foundobjects for their sculptures. Dea­ A Changed World is an exhibition that con (b.1949) made use of thrown away augurs well in strengthening further the patterned linoleum to create a new Spring Circle by Richard Long links between Malta and Britain. .