Il-Kamra ta' Barra
2018
In collaboration with Parking Space Events
In collaboration with Parking Space Events
The kamra ta' barra holds an important place in the traditional Maltese household. It plays the role of the salott, or 'parlour', and allow the household to show its best side to the outside world.
In 'Ambivalent Europeans', anthropologist Jon Mitchell refers to the threshold of the household as "the boundary between the opposed categories of ‘inside’ and ‘outside’, ġewwa and barra". The salott was "generally reserved for special quests such as priests, doctors or politicians", and was the measure of respectability of a house. Maltese are familiar with this room; filled with valuable furniture (often covered in plastic to protect it when not in use), a linfa , an arloġġ tal-lira, and plenty of status-affirming knick-knacks.
At the same time, the old neighbourhood of Sliema which houses many of these parlours is under attack from rapid over-development, with little regard for quality of life or neighbourhood aesthetics. Bare concrete walls have replaced elegant facades, while behind them, kmamar ta' barra are obliterated to make way for car-parks.
Il-Kamra ta' Barra attempts to reinterpret the aesthetic of the kamra ta' barra into the outside world. It recreates the atmosphere of respectability and elegance alongside one of these building sites, literally bringing the kamra (room) barra (outside).
Jon Mitchell saw that "Those ta’ ġewwa - of the inside - are either members of the household, close kin from outside the household, or particularly friendly neighbours. At a practical level, the category refers to people who can turn up uninvited, and be welcomed into the house, be they members of wider kin-groups, or close friends.". This project invites everyone - Slimiżi, passers-by, curious residents and tourists to become ta' ġewwa, and enter the parlour setting.
At the same time, as reconstruction projects set in, each space undergoes its personal journey, from private, to painfully public, to potentially open and public, to semi-public - as it is worked on - and back to extremely private again. Borders - first a stone wall, then sometimes nothing, then a metal cage, then a green mesh, sometimes a breeze-block wall, then back to a closed brick or glass wall all play a role in this intimate process.
Il-Kamra ta' Barra is a collaboration with Parking Space Events, moving from their usual haunts in Valletta, across to Sliema, exploring possibilities around the now ubiquitous building sites that dot the area.
In 'Ambivalent Europeans', anthropologist Jon Mitchell refers to the threshold of the household as "the boundary between the opposed categories of ‘inside’ and ‘outside’, ġewwa and barra". The salott was "generally reserved for special quests such as priests, doctors or politicians", and was the measure of respectability of a house. Maltese are familiar with this room; filled with valuable furniture (often covered in plastic to protect it when not in use), a linfa , an arloġġ tal-lira, and plenty of status-affirming knick-knacks.
At the same time, the old neighbourhood of Sliema which houses many of these parlours is under attack from rapid over-development, with little regard for quality of life or neighbourhood aesthetics. Bare concrete walls have replaced elegant facades, while behind them, kmamar ta' barra are obliterated to make way for car-parks.
Il-Kamra ta' Barra attempts to reinterpret the aesthetic of the kamra ta' barra into the outside world. It recreates the atmosphere of respectability and elegance alongside one of these building sites, literally bringing the kamra (room) barra (outside).
Jon Mitchell saw that "Those ta’ ġewwa - of the inside - are either members of the household, close kin from outside the household, or particularly friendly neighbours. At a practical level, the category refers to people who can turn up uninvited, and be welcomed into the house, be they members of wider kin-groups, or close friends.". This project invites everyone - Slimiżi, passers-by, curious residents and tourists to become ta' ġewwa, and enter the parlour setting.
At the same time, as reconstruction projects set in, each space undergoes its personal journey, from private, to painfully public, to potentially open and public, to semi-public - as it is worked on - and back to extremely private again. Borders - first a stone wall, then sometimes nothing, then a metal cage, then a green mesh, sometimes a breeze-block wall, then back to a closed brick or glass wall all play a role in this intimate process.
Il-Kamra ta' Barra is a collaboration with Parking Space Events, moving from their usual haunts in Valletta, across to Sliema, exploring possibilities around the now ubiquitous building sites that dot the area.
The project challenges popular concepts of quality of living - what actually makes a neighbourhood a good place to live? It looks at beauty and other aesthetic qualities in a neighbourhood, both outside, and inside. What defines a beautiful wall? And what makes a space a public or a private space?
We’ll be inviting passers-by and guests into our kamra ta’ barra and asking them how they feel about what’s happening in their neighbourhood. We’ll invite people to cross the non-existent boundary between ‘outside’ (ie the street) and ‘inside’ (our temporary sitting-room), and to sit and enjoy a coffee with us. Feel free to join us, start a discussion (no partisan politics please!) and if you like, bring some small item of furniture, or an ornament or wall-hanging with you to add to our salott.
In his book Walking Art Practice, Ernest Pujol suggests that a locality has the right to make ethical demands of artists who move out of the studio and interact with it; "Sites have the right to make such demands" he says. This project moves us out of the studio, into our neighbourhood. The project will - we hope - listen to the neighbourhood; to its people, its streets and its stone houses, and to the demands it has to make.
References:
Mitchell, John P., Ambivalent Europeans; Ritual Memory and the Public Sphere in Malta, 2002, Routlege, USA & Canada
Pujol, Ernesto; Walking Art Practice, 2018, Triarchy Press, UK
We’ll be inviting passers-by and guests into our kamra ta’ barra and asking them how they feel about what’s happening in their neighbourhood. We’ll invite people to cross the non-existent boundary between ‘outside’ (ie the street) and ‘inside’ (our temporary sitting-room), and to sit and enjoy a coffee with us. Feel free to join us, start a discussion (no partisan politics please!) and if you like, bring some small item of furniture, or an ornament or wall-hanging with you to add to our salott.
In his book Walking Art Practice, Ernest Pujol suggests that a locality has the right to make ethical demands of artists who move out of the studio and interact with it; "Sites have the right to make such demands" he says. This project moves us out of the studio, into our neighbourhood. The project will - we hope - listen to the neighbourhood; to its people, its streets and its stone houses, and to the demands it has to make.
References:
Mitchell, John P., Ambivalent Europeans; Ritual Memory and the Public Sphere in Malta, 2002, Routlege, USA & Canada
Pujol, Ernesto; Walking Art Practice, 2018, Triarchy Press, UK