Matthew Attard (b. 1987, Malta).
Matthew is currently the solo artist representing the Malta Pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennale, with the project I WILL FOLLOW THE SHIP, commissioned by the Malta Arts Council and co-curated by Elyse Tonna and Sara Dolfi Agostini.
Matthew’s practice investigates images as social and cultural constructs and he is strongly interested in situating his practice within the realm of contemporary drawing through a multimedia approach that highlights drawing’s versatile, performative, and time-based nature. His interest in understanding the gaze as a form of drawing – its perceptual, physiological and cultural dimensions – were the focus of his practice-based PhD research at the Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh, funded by the Malta Arts Scholarship scheme.
Raised in Malta, in 2009 he moved to Venice and collaborated with the Peggy Guggenheim Collection and the USA Pavilion at the Biennale Arte 2009 and 2011. Later, he came back to Malta where in 2018 he obtained his Masters by Research Degree from the Digital Arts Department of the University of Malta. He first exhibited his work in a double solo show organised in 2014 at Galleria Michela Rizzo in Venice. Since then, he has exhibited in Venice, Rome, Valletta, Genoa, London, Beijing and Los Angeles among other cities. Also, in 2017 he was selected for the 3rd edition of the ‘Le Latitudini dell’Arte‘ Biennale, at the Palazzo Ducale, Genoa, while in 2018 he was awarded the Under 30 Euromobil Prize at ArteFiera, Bologna.
He was selected three times to show in the context of Ten Artists to Watch at LACDA (Los Angeles Centre for Digital Arts) and in 2019 he was invited to participate in Artissima Telephone at the OGR spaces in Turin. In 2020 he was part of the online project: Re-Index. Recently, he was shortlisted for the Lumen Prize 2021. Rajt ma rajtx… naf li rajt is one of Matthew’s major solo shows, curated by Elyse Tonna at Valletta Contemporary in 2021. In 2022 he was commissioned the work Here’s How I Did Not See What You Wanted Me To See as part of the OPEN digital residency at Blitz, Valletta. His most recent solo show, Ship of Fools, took place in March 2023 at Galleria Michela Rizzo, Venice.
Selected projects:
November 2023 – All These Fleeting Perfections – EXPOSED in partnership with Artissima – curated by Domenico Quaranta, Biblioteca civica Alberto Geisser, Turin
October 2023 – Press launch for I WILL FOLLOW THE SHIP – Malta Pavilion for the 60th Venice Biennale, Arts Council Malta
October 2023 – Premio Montani Tesei – Art Verona 2023, Galleria Michela Rizzo Stand
September 2023 – In Search of Line – curated by Sarah Chircop – Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti, Victor Pasmore Gallery, Valletta, Malta
September 2023 – Fragments of a Legacy – curated by the Malta Society of Arts, Valletta, Malta
June 2023 – BOLOH – curated by Studio Solipsis, Rabat, Malta
May 2023 – Between Sea and Land – curated by Jo Baring, MICAS digital
March-May 2023 – Ship of Fools – Galleria Michela Rizzo, Venice
October 2022 – On Reefs And Eroded Lands We Danced – Stage Design for ZfinMalta
October 2022 – Europe doesn’t fall from the sky – Fondazione Imago Mundi, Treviso
July-October 2022 – Here’s How I Did Not See What You Wanted Me To See, OPEN Digital Residency – Blitz, Valletta
May 2022 – Translate – curated by Gianluca Cappellazzo, Associazione 21, Lodi
March 2022 – Re_g(u)ard_e – curated by Dr. Irene Biolchini and Sofia Baldi, Spazio Gamma, Milan
January 2022 – Art in Metaverse – curated by Artscloud, Seoul, Korea
November 2021 – Artissima – Galleria Michela Rizzo Stand
October 2021 – Still Image Category Finalist – The Lumen Prize, London
September 2021 – Ħars fuq ħars – collaborative project curated by Margerita Pulè, Valletta Contemporary, Valletta
September 2021 – rajt ma rajtx… naf li rajt – solo show curated by Elyse Tonna, Valletta Contemporary, Valletta
May 2021 – Twilight Zone – between Analogue and Digital Media – curated by Alicja Panasiewicz, Spazju Kreattiv, Valletta
October 2020 – Premio Combat 2020 – final exhibition for the drawing section, Museo G. Fattori, Livorno
September 2020 – Be the difference with Art – curated by Moira Mascotto, Awarded the Premio Rotary 2020, Musei Civici, Bassano del Grappa
June 2020 – Se il Tempo Sta – curated by Gianluca Cappellazzo, SharEvolution, Genoa
June 2020 – Assembramenti – Galleria Michela Rizzo, Venice
April 2020 – Re-Index / Space and time during isolation – curated by Elena Forin, Online project, Galleria Michela Rizzo, Venice
December 2019 – DINAMOGRAMMI – curated by Viana Conti, Galleria Michela Rizzo, Venice
November 2019 – Imprint Biennale – curated by Christian Attard, Malta Society of Arts, Valletta
November 2019 – Artissima Telephone – curated by Vittoria Marini, Spazio OGR, Turin
October 2019 – ArtVerona Art Fair – Galleria Michela Rizzo Stand
September 2019 – AMuSE Final Exhibition – curated by Roderick Camilleri, Malta Society of Arts, Valletta
September 2019 – Vienna Contemporary Art Fair – Galleria Michela Rizzo Stand
September 2019 – Contemporary Istanbul – This is Blitz Stand
September 2019 – Ten artists to watch – curated by Joel Ferree, LACMA, Los Angeles Centre for Digital Art (collective exhibition)
September 2019 – Sogli e Limiti – curated by Elena Forin, Galleria Michela Rizzo, Venice
June 2019 – Music in Malta: from Prehistory to Vinyl – A Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti Project
May 2019 – Premio Rotary Finalist – Torre delle Grazie, Bassano del Grappa
April/May 2019 – Artistic Residency, Lithuania – curated by AMuSE project, lead by the Malta Society of Arts
March 2019 – Ten Artists to watch curated by Meghan Doherty (LACMA) and Leigh Gleason (California Museum of Photography) Los Angeles Centre for Digital Art (collective exhibition)
March 2019 – Equivocality, Galleria Michela Rizzo, Venezia – Italy (Project Room)
November 2018 – The Island Indoors curated by Ann Laenen, 252cc – Hof de Bist, Ekeren (collective exhibition)
October 2018 – Ten artists to watch curated by Joel Ferree, LACMA, Los Angeles Centre for Digital Art (collective exhibition)
October 2018 – ArtVerona, Galleria Michela Rizzo Stand
28th September 2018 – Science in the City AR Installation Triton Fountain, Valletta (collective artwork)
September, 2018 – Remembering The Future: Digital Arts in Malta curated by Vince Briffa, Spazju Kreattiv (collective exhibition)
June 2018 – Here and Now curated by Norbert Attard, Valletta Contemporary, Valletta (collective exhibition)
April 2018 – Visual Acoustics curated by Zsolt Gyenes, VIVA Curatorial Festival, Valletta (collective exhibition)
February 2018 – ArteFiera Bologna, Galleria Michela Rizzo Stand – Winner of Euromobil Under 30 Award
October 2017 – ArtVerona, Galleria Michela Rizzo Stand
July 2017 – Biennale “Le latitudini dell’arte” 3° ediz. curated by Virginia Monteverdi, Palazzo Ducale, Genoa
March 2017 – InTransit curated by Vince Briffa, NRW-Forum, Dusseldorf (collective exhibition)
October 2016 – Bodyless curated by Glen Calleya, Maritime Museum, Birgu (collective exhibition)
September 2016 – In-Human, NO.ME studio, Valletta
November 2014 – Line Drawings, Environment Showroom, Los Angeles
May 2014 – We are all Posers, ArtDate, Residenza Casarotto, Gamec, Bergamo
April 2014 – You are a Poser!, Canal|05, Brussels, Belgium (Project Room)
March 2014 – In Between curated by Dario Pinton, Galleria Michela Rizzo, Venezia – Italy (bi-personal show with Rashad Alakbarov)
December 2013 – Collective Exhibition, Galleria Michela Rizzo, Venezia – Italy (collective exhibition with V. Acconci, H. Fulton, F. Mauri, Muntadas, M. Sartori & F. Vaccari)
October 2013 – In Between the Lines curated by Viana Conti, Galleria Silvy Bassanese, Biella – Italy (bi-personal show with Mauro Ghiglione)
February 2013 – Line Drawings, Galleria Michela Rizzo, Venezia – Italy (Project Room)
December 2012 – International Painting and Calligraphy Exhibition, Olympic Water Cube, Beijing – China (collective exhibition)
October 2012 – Premio Celeste Finalist, Spazio Ex-Gil, Rome (collective exhibition)
July 2012 – Atelier in Esterno Exhibition, Forte Marghera, Venice (collective exhibition)
August 2012 – Creative Cities Olympic Fine Arts Exhibition, Barbican Centre, London (collective exhibition)
January 2012 – BxHxME, A+A Gallery, Venice (collective exhibition)