How did this grant contribute to the realization of your project in regard to artistic exchange, local cultural development and/or the promotion of cultural diversity?
During my project, I met and interviewed local workers, artists working on the street, residents, institutional bodies and passengers. Further, I connected this project to the University of Malta, Dance Department. With their kind support, I was allowed to use their studio space to give a workshop as a means to find performers for my project. Putting all that together, I organised street performances that took place on Strait Street. I combined the documentation of the performance together with footage from the interviews to produce a documentary film about the current situation of Strait Street, departing from its history but also reading its presence and contributing to an artistically strong future.
How does exchange, networking and international contacts contribute to the development of your artistic and cultural project?
It has been a rich contextual experience to see how the proposed material was read and received by the maltese audience both in term of support and participation, and how I was influenced by that as performance maker and choreographer. The possibility of new collaboration in the future with Strada Stretta and University of Malta helped me to further my practice and research by speculating possible dialogue between maltese heritage and site specificity through my own practice. All people that I met and talked to during this residency and project have become part of the project and been included in the final work.
Can you elaborate on the learning and knowledge you have gained and shared throughout this experience?
The knowledge I have gained has to do with combining opinions and facts on film. As narrator, I felt the responsibility of not only giving voice to as many bodies as possible but also putting them in dialogue through my questions and position as an artist from abroad coming to work on the specific site.
Please indicate a link to your current work (website/facebook page)
http://www.astarti-athanasiadou.com
