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New European Bauhaus
Project

Fuse

Art and storytelling as a vehicle to strengthen a community's legacy and future. That's the main premise behind fuse.

fuse © European Union
fuse
© European Union, 2021

Art and storytelling? as a vehicle to strengthen a community's legacy and future. That's the main premise behind fuse.

The collaborative venture located in Malta is a visual arts and research exhibition with a community-driven and interdisciplinary artistic vision. ??️✨

Created in 2019, fuse's scope is to explore, investigate and implement within the communities surrounding the Valletta Design Cluster (also known as old Biċċerija) a series of art installations focused on the legacy, identities, and stories of the people who lived in one of the country's oldest buildings.

The proposal is part of the hundreds of applications submitted to the New European Bauhaus award prizes in the "Mobilisation of culture, arts and communities" category.

The purpose of fuse is to boost a World Heritage site's cultural and social fabric by adding visually appealing works to an organically rich historical material.

The collaborative artworks allude to and portray activities and artifacts from the communities' history, present, and future. fuse became a collective emblem, representing what the community lacks, needs, or wants.

The contemporary art exhibition, created in direct collaboration between the cluster's curator and the artists, comprises eight public art interventions that include sculptural pieces and a variety of performances. ?????

These include the area's untold history of bakers, its ties with Carnival, the history of street games and sellers, and various current-day challenges exposing community traits such as gentrification, ownership, and appropriation.

By employing a non-invasive and sensitive approach, the works immerse themselves in the area, merging with the space and the underlying and related narratives of the place. Each intervention thus unlocks and builds on collective group identities by sensitively disclosing qualities, characteristics, customs, and typologies, revealing what makes them unique.

The community-driven initiative is based on the following principles:

?Inclusion
?Safeguarding of intangible living heritage
??Creative placemaking
?? Community engagement
♻️Sustainability

? © European Union