TOWNSQUARE - FROM MY CAFE TABLE

The Artist's Meeting Place ISSUE 1

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE CITY SQUARE - a message from my cafe table


by Dora Alden on January 28, 2010

This is the first installment of what I hope will become an interesting meeting place for anyone interested in art in Malta and abroad.
Just to get you acquainted with the location in this picture - It is Cafe Cordina(winter view) in Valletta, Malta. A great meeting place in all seasons - weather permitting of course...
Ahhh 'Humilissima Civitas' 'Valletta …a city built by gentlemen for gentlemen' or so Byron wrote…the fortified capital city of Malta…one of the most concentrated historic areas in the world'. This is infact where this blog will be written or at least in my mind's eye. I shall imagine sitting there, undisturbed with a lovely cafe latte and peacake, hot from the oven, pigeons and the Mediterranean sunlight blocked off by my large umbrella. So back to my blog... In hindsight I like to think of Valletta as the cultural centre of Malta. After all it has the highest concentration of art orientated buildings on the island, all located in one area. That is with its' renaissance and baroque architecture,mostly grand palazzos all housing the island's foremost theatres, galleries and museums it certainly quailfies as a hub on the island - hence attracting local intellectuals, artists', and the culture vultures of Malta. And so to my blog in Pjazza Regina...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valletta
http://www.cityofvalletta.org/cityofvalletta/content.aspx?id=46648

So why a blog and why this one - well I recently found myself wondering, more often than not, why we don't have an ART MAGAZINE and that there was a great void in this area where we needed to get Malta on the art map of the world. I have to admit that I also discussed this idea and discarded it several times over the last years but I believe that it has finally become an unavoidable fact that I have to do this before I give in to the nonchalance and laissez-faire attitude that one gets by ignoring these things after a while . I do appreciate that writing anything about anything is no easy task - unless you were born a writer, writing about this kind of thing can be intellectually draining. Still as I feel so strongly about it I pray that it will help to fuel my energy to get my thoughts down here from time to time and reach a few people who can appreciate what the island has to offer. This way I would be able to launch the local art scene, introduce many upcoming artists, musicians, actors, photographers etc., perhaps even galleries and events and at the same time offer the chance to meet with them here or at least discover their art or artists in Malta and those overseas. Eventually I hope to invite outside critque from foreign art critics and find a way to introduce constructive write-ups and some lively debates for art students, art enthusiasts and hopefuls out there. I do believe a standard has to be set as in art there has to be a bar to aim for and also because if I do not then the whole idea of my blog will have failed to reach its' aim.

"The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it. "

Michelangelo Buonarroti
1474-1564, Italian Renaissance Painter and Sculptor