Altofest is a project that explores experimental sociality through contemporary live art. Citizens host international artists in their houses, which then become venues that welcome audiences for diverse performances. Altofest will take place across four different regions in Malta, over four consecutive weekends. “Legendary People” is the theme behind Altofest Malta 2018.
How can art emerge from the community as its distinctive expression, becoming in the meantime an instrument of social growth, fostering the formation of a future cultural legacy? The narration of a place, of its inhabitants and of its possible future lives, needs to be inspired by the evocative power of myth and legends. The bright image of the democratic Athens is a mix of mythology and reality of historical documents. A new mythology to be founded needs heroes and legends.
A cultural project inserting itself in the life of the city, directly involving its community, creates a new mythology where heroes are among its citizens, deeply immersed in the landscape.
The hero we are referring to is the so-called “cultural hero”, according to anthropologists. He is the one who influences customs and traditions of his people inaugurating new rituals, bringing innovation and establishing a new collective identity. In this sense, Altofest Malta is a unique opportunity, the act of foundation of a new way of perceiving and living in the relationship between citizens and arts, especially live arts contemporary language. As it will originate a new condition, Altofest Malta 2018 will be the beginning of a new epic of the “cultural hero” citizen. He will accept the challenge of blending his/her everyday life with the revelation of artistic creation. 20 citizens in 4 different areas of the island will be the pioneers of an experience that will leave a cultural heritage.
The Structure
majestic city of Mdina. This town has a rich
history and archaeological sites. Its most
famous sites are its Catacombs of St. Paul and
St. Agatha, Saint Paul’s grotto, and the Roman
Villa. Nowadays, Rabat contributes to the
economy by its tourism and agriculture.
The Majjistral Nature & History Park, as it says
in the name ‘Majjistral’, is located in the
Northwest part of Malta and stretches to 6km
of protected coast. This is the only natural
park in Malta which includes the coastal cliffs,
a rich and diverse ecology, and a history of
countryside. Throughout this park, Maltese
ecological fauna and flora can be found
including Maltese Sea Chamomile,
Mediterranean Thyme, and Carob amongst
many others.
Rabat,
Majjistral Park | Manikata
April
19th | Public Talk
20 > 21 > 22
Performances
GO THE FULL MAP
Rabat, Majjistral Park | Manikata
Azul Teatro – Sentieri
SENTIERI is a multidisciplinary project, aiming to an innovative approach to the scenic research. It devises an original and unique performance for Park Majjistral, especially conceived and created for that place.
Sentieri is a workshop, a devising process and a performance moment. Participants will go through all these different steps, having the possibility to deepen their artistic research. It is the perfect occasion to come in touch with our composing method for site-specific creations. It is also a way to enlarge the reflection on site-specific performing art and its synergic, multidisciplinary possibilities. The creation will be a co-creation, as we invite participants to make propositions. Working within a group and mixing different arts and abilities will be an interesting challenge. Working in and for nature make us go back to a refined knowledge, the process leading to the “listening” and discovery of the park will at the same time enrich your “inner land”.
Upon arriving at a new place, we draw on our collective backgrounds in performance (music, visual art, dance) while opening ourselves to new exchanges. Our process begins by studying and listening to the space, and meeting with the local community. Our approach is collaborative by nature, and thrives off of new influences; therefore we integrate both professional artists as well as amateurs into our work, devising the different abilities in a common artistic process.
The connection between poetry, music and live performance is a strong element in our work. Our performing patterns will mainly be developed by the presence of the body (physical/visual action, dance) together with voice-music patterns. We like readapting props, using materials in a creative way, making the event unique both for the use of the space and for the tools that can only be found there. Finally, we work open to surprise and response.
The source of inspiration for the performing process is the space and the community we encounter. All local community is involved: it will voluntarily or involuntarily assist to the ongoing creation steps till the final event. In this sense, our project is both a production and formation project aiming to integrate artists and territory. The final event is inspired and created according to the given space and people collaborating with us. Our process begins with this “listening”.
Sentieri aims to revalue the site through performing arts. It means, for instance, the deep contact between participants and the place. As foreigners and as artists we cross the space with new eyes. This is the experience we aim to be done by the audience. Our creation is meant to be a moment of truce: visions arise where normally nothing happens. With a change of perspective, a change of sight, another side appears, a side that we did not perceive before. So we train our sight towards an elsewhere, we let ourselves discover other forms, other ways. This is what art teaches us, to maintain an awaken sight, curious and careful to the present moment. Towards a life asking to become a certain thing, certain rules, certain roles, certain attitudes, certain habits, we discover a splinter, a doubt, a ray. We discover ourselves having more perspectives than what we thought, the possibility to change, to choose, to sense, to transform. The audience will experience the place, which is part of its territory, in a different way, with different eyes.
In collaboration with
André Chapatte – Sublime Scum
“What was the last thing you rejected?” A loose narrative revolving around the common theme of ‘rejection’. The theme is pre- sented as a social subject as well as a universal force, and as such the relationship with the audience also plays an important role in the show.
Moments of interaction, questioning, and conversation intersect between the singing and dancing, allowing for a serious subject matter to be seen from many points of view in a light hearted and somewhat surprising manner.
Sublime Scum has been developed as a malleable and hybrid piece, integrating moments that resemble a concert, a TED talk, a modern dance, a seminar and even an evening at the café. Performed in English by Swiss artist André Chapatte, the show is a more or less 45 minute solo which focuses on the notion of ‘rejection’ and the elements which surround it and leaves the public questioning how they relate to the world by not paying attention to it.
Effetto Larsen – Stormo
With STORMO® we create the conditions to let collective intelligence emerge in groups of people. In 2014 we won the call for art&science projects by La Diagonale Paris-Saclay (France), in collaboration with the internationally renowned physicist Hugues Chaté.
In 2015 we developed a scientific session with a team of French scientists at the National Museum of Science and Technology “Leonardo da Vinci” to measure the harmony that the project creates in groups. In 2016 we won the call by the city of Milan for innovative educational projects.
STORMO® is a long-standing project based on the development of harmony within groups of people. Its core is an open workshop, during which the conditions created let collective intelligence emerge. In a short time participants find themselves spontaneously applying the same movement rules used by flocks of birds to migrate, by preys to survive and by large groups to organize. This process triggers a surprising physical joy in the participants and, as a consequence, wonder and involvement in the observers. The project tangibly develops active listening through nonverbal communication: a simple relationship mode, physical, immediate, that allows to look beyond the boundaries associated to roles, social classes, culture, language and nationality. STORMO® reveals resources buried in the memory of the body, allowing not only the individuals to discover themselves as part of a group, but also the group to perceive itself as a single self-regulated entity. we realized dozens of sessions in different countries: participation is open to all, no prior experience is required.
In collaboration with St. Paul’s Missionary College
In collaboration with the Mdina Knights FC
Claudia Fabris – Akis Calendar
What if you discovered nowadays that your life is revealing an ancient myth? Galatea is a visionary journey into the myth of Galatea, a map for the consciousness, and at the end you will discover that you are the revelation, and your body is the revelation and you accept it.
2003–Everything begins with a vision: the skin of a body dipped in a milky swimming pool, becoming a screen where it is possible to reveal what otherwise would be misty. It is our own body offering itself as the medium for the Revelation.
6th January 2008 -The deep texture between my life and Galatea’s Greek myth appears for the first time. September 2014 -During Alto Fest, the relationship between that first vision and the myth becomes clearer. I talk about it with Bassem, whom I met at the festival three years ago, and he agrees to help me and work with me to realize that vision through the myth now deeply mixed with my life. Luglio 2015 – AKIS CALENDAR
Lara Russo – Cre(a)te
The transformation of matter into the ceramics production cycle will guide the dancing body into a mantra in which the shape is molded and destroyed continuously.
Reminiscences of movements, as archaic as the working of clay, combined with the real experience of the artist Sue Mifsud (www.suemifsud.com), will be explored and customized for a dance that dialogues between fluidity and static, between echoes of deeds and uninhabitable entities.
Fabrizio Fedele | Raffaele Natale – Landscapes without boundaries
A sound journey. Seven unexplored landscapes… and return. Entirely created in two sessions in January 2018 with nothing written or tried before.
Played like in a single stream o consciousness with glimpses of the beautiful Malta in mind. Mandolins and all noises have been added in overdubs without editing the original tracks of the two acoustic guitars not to affect their spontaneity. Landscapes without Boundaries is the first step toward the composition of the musical dramaturgy of the site specific show Sentieri that will be played at the Majjistral Park in the frame of Altofest Malta.
Hamrun, Qormi, Santa Venera
Malta and found 2 miles away from Valletta.
Throughout the years Ħamrun transformed
into a large busy town seeing a lot of Maltese
people living in this town.
The ‘Okella Agius’ flats is one of the buildings
that will be showcased in Ħamrun.
This was built in the first round of the 20th
Century and these are known as the ‘slum’
social-housing estate within the Maltese.
Although this may be known as a poor area,
one of Malta’s best and prominent stylist who
styled Claudia Faniello (Malta’s Eurovision
winner) amongst others; Gaetano Busuttil,
was born and still lives here with his mother.
Qormi or Ħal Qormi (known also as ‘Citta’
Pinto’) is the largest town in Malta which
borders Ħamrun and Santa Venera.
Santa Venera is known for its Aqueduct that
crosses through this city that used to transport
water to the capital city of Valletta, while Ħal
Qormi is known for the Lejl f’Casal Fornaro
(Qormi Bread Festival), a tradition in which
several main streets of the town is filled with
shows, traditions, entertainment, folklore, and
of course, food.
Ħamrun, Qormi,
Santa Venera
April
26th | Public Talk
27 > 28 > 29
Performances
Giselda Ranieri &
Corps-Citoyen
GO TO THE CALENDAR
GO THE FULL MAP
Opera retablO – Lady Shakespeare
Lady Shakespeare is a project focused on female figures in W.Shakespeare’s work and more precisely on the relationship between women and power: the power exercised, the power suffered, the power coveted and the power fought.
Giselda Ranieri & Corps-Citoyen – Ho(Me)
HO(ME) it’s a dance-theatre and music based project in dialogue with local communities. Focus of HO(ME) is the concept of casa (home) not only in a physical, but also and mostly in a symbolic, iconic and intimate meaning. Referring to the casa’s concept, because of its complexity, we prefer to speak of ‘LOCUS’ that means a PLACE not only physical but also conceptual, literary or imaginary.
Dynamis – M² – in 50 minutes
After two years of research around the M² performance, Dynamis realizes a wider work developing the themes and the stage structure of the project The work wonders in a pragmatic way about the unit of measure from which it takes its name, the square meter.
Through the scenic device, it explores the border between human and inhumane that space assumes with respect to a context. The audience is the very essence of performance, the matrix of action that is orchestrated in a collaborative game between strangers.
Progetto Brockenhaus – Tal-Ilma
It is the darkness, the death before the rebirth, the unexpected, the profound, the problem and the difficulty, that we aim not to see, to deny and to avoid. The project deals with a suggestion coming out from an ancient Inuit myth, the Skeleton Woman. the performance proposes a vision and reflection about the path that a soul has to face in moments of crack, what happens when it drowns into an abyss.
Sparks of light emerge from the darkness, a body regains life after a dull thud, a chant regains voice at the awakening from a choked dream. Two women revoke passages of life, of maturation, of death and rebirth. Two bodies live in one place, they make way for each other, they go along, they loose and they meet again, as if it was one woman finding herself.
Phoebe Zeitgeist – Nick of the Abyss
The work is inspired by the mediterranean legend of Colapesce, that narrates the difficult choice of a young person with an extraordinary nature of inhabiting the deep sea. The show is conceived in the form of an underwater ballad and investigates, through visual and sound fascinations, the abyssal zones of being. The depth reveals to Cola the way to realize his own authenticity through the conflict with nature, authority and human being.
Antonino Talamo – A Thixotropic mixture like the blood of Saint Januarius
Cosaltro Esperimenti is a matrix that generates a different musical experiment each time, according to the location, relationships, and sound possibilities. A ritual sound-inspired by “yellow face” (San Gennaro patron of Naples), whose blood is owned by the Neapolitan people. Lava music. Scenery and costume by Federica Terracina. Historical and literary consultant, Francesco Andoli (journalist, “Identitá Insorgenti”).
Zejtun
town located in the Southeastern region of
Malta. Żejtun’s name comes from Phoenician
(‘zejtin’) and Semitic Arab (‘zaytun’) words that
mean the ‘fruits of the olive trees.’ This is
demonstrated through times as this town is
known for its production of the oil and its
cultivation during its Roman Times. The town’s
symbol is an olive tree with a cannon which
signifies peace without the utilisation of arms.
Żejtun is known for its several churches with
the oldest church founded in 1436. In the past
30 years, Żejtun flourished with new
infrastructure and recently the industry of oil
was re-introduced by organising
‘Żejt iż-Żejtun’, a yearly event organised by the
Żejtun Local Council.
Żejtun
May
3rd | Public Talk
4 > 5 > 6
Performances
GO TO THE CALENDAR
GO THE FULL MAP
Alessandra Asuni – Trilogia dei Riti
Accabai – Matrici – Sabi
Three crucial moments of one’s own existence, complementary one to each other, as the colors black, white and red which represent them, told in the outermost practices originated from an ancestral and mysterious land, as Sardinia is.
The project “Trilogia dei riti” (Trilogy of the rituals), was born in 2011, exploring the cycle life-death-rebirth through the feminine world. An experience that leads us back to the theatre.
“Accabai” is inspired by the figure of Femina Accabadora, the one that, until a few decades ago, when requested from the family, used to practice euthanasia to the dying person.
“Matrici” (Matrices) is inspired by the most sacred and common act of all, the act of birth.
The very last ritual, “Sabi”, is inspired by ancient treatments, either enchanted either of faith, where sickness is exorcised through a shared act of rebirth”. (quoting Nicole Jallin – http://bit.ly/2GrDnm0)
In 2011, Alessandra Asuni began an artistic journey with ACCABAI, a rite which gets her involved in an explorative project dealing with the cycle of life, death and rebirth portrayed by a female perspective. After the Antonio Landieri Award in 2013, her art grew stronger with the second rite, “MATRICI” ( the life), and the last one, SABI ( the rebirth).
This artistic wander evokes a ritualistic theatrical performance, with every rite holding each other while also being divisible and indivisible for the audience.
This work has both experimental and satirical characteristics: by acting it is possible to live, to bring an end to an experience and to think about the experience itself.
Asuni’s theatrical performance is closely linked with anthropology: her work touches ancestral feelings and develops into shapes and suggestions more “lived” compared to the simple act of staging.
The scene itself goes beyond the conventional space to envelop the surroundings: the “fourth wall” isn’t pulled down, it’s nullified “ex ante”.
Ohi Pezoume – Ushakova
This performance is part of the “UrbanDig_Ushakova” Project (2018) of OP inspired by prostitute Gabriella Ushakova (1916-1991) and current urban attitudes towards personal time in the city.
UrbanDig_Ushakova is a research/ artistic/ community project at Strefi Hill, in Exarchia – Athens. The project is inspired by the life of Gabriella Ushakova, an emblematic sex-worker, who used to live and work in Exarchia until the 90’s. «I have plenty of time», repeats Gabriella, suggesting a unique denial of the dichotomy between free time and work, towards the production of common time. The conception of common time lies in the heart of the project, while seeking its spatial expression. Strefi Hill is chosen as the terrain, where both space and time manifest certain discontinuities and cracks. Within these cracks UrbanDig_Ushakova explores and enhances the production of common time and space.
Giulio Escalona ft. Fiorella Camilleri – Hydropanic
Hydropanic: a liquid journey through the Panic, a specific feeling of intense participation with the surrounding nature.
Credits
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Bryophyta
Class: Bryopsida
Order: Rhizogoniales
Family: Altofest
Genera: Sonic Performance
Species: Giulio Escalona
Nomenclature: Hydropanic
Teatru Malta – Raymond ”Fight” Beck
Four roped sides. Three-minute rounds. Two men fighting – one winner. Raymond Beck would do anything for his family; or what’s left of it anyway. He returns to the ring in search of cash and glory. But his real aim?
To challenge Dyson “Tosa Inu” Cumbo for the ultimate Maltese Middleweight Championship. While training for the big fight in the confines of the ring, Raymond realises that there are other battles that exist beyond it and its four roped sides. Hooks and jabs can come from anywhere, better stay alert! Raymond must beat the count or prepare to throw in the towel. Written by talented young writer André Mangion, Raymond “Fight” Beck is a straight punch tale of what one is ready to give up; for those he loves – and for the sweet science that crowns him Champion.
Chiara Orefice – Renato Grieco – BACK PINK POEM: “for a cup of tea”
The base of creative process is the relation with the a domestic place: its concrete and architectural structure and the contact with its memories and spirit.
The registration of it’s reality in acoustical and physical sense produced some feedbacks and resonance in form of fragments that are selected, elaborated and transformed through the principe of repetition, loop, deformation, translation. Our aim is to allow the spectator to be an active part of a domestic landscape creating instability and estrangement, a trip of fades between the reality and the imaginary plane generated by living the space.
ph. Filippo Menichetti
ph. Filippo Menichetti
The base of creative process is the relation with the a domestic place: its concrete and architectural structure and the contact with its memories and spirit. ⧉_ReadMore
Valletta, Birgu, Bormla, Sliema, Gzira
known as: il-Port il-Kbir) has through the
years been a strategic importance for
the Maltese islands; from the time of the
Knights, the French rule and during the
British reign. It is considered as one of
the most important ports in the world
which crosses the city of Valletta,
Vittoriosa, Senglea and Cospicua.
Nowadays, it has a touristic importance
with its majestic fortifications and
views welcoming cruise passenger to
our shores.
Sliema and Gzira are coastal cities
which through the years have been
urbanized and transformed with
numerous shopping centres, cafes,
restaurants and leisure facilities.
Valletta, Birgu, Bormla,
Sliema, Gżira
MAY
10th | Public Talk
11 > 12 > 13
Performances
GO TO THE CALENDAR
GO THE FULL MAP
Lizzie J Klotz – To Suit
To Suit is an exploration into animal courtship rituals, drawing comparisons between humans and birds. Developed through an investigation into communication, To Suit comments on the social formalities of interaction through the use of body, voice and sound.
Her days are marked by ritual.
She showers twice,
once in the morning and once in the evening,
and brushes her teeth whilst washing her hair.
She likes the way the shower tickles her tongue when she washes her mouth out.
She drinks two cups of coffee,
one cup of tea,
and one glass of wine
coffee for the morning,
tea for the afternoon
and wine for the evening.
But tonight, tonight is different.
Matteo Marfoglia – Omertà
Omertà is a code of honor that places importance on silence, non-cooperation with authorities, and non-interference in the illegal actions of others. The performance “Omertà” is danced by a female cast, inspired by testimony of women’s experiences of living and dealing with South Italian mafia society.
Omertà is a work which brings awareness to the position and jobs of the female figure in South Italian mafia organisations and explores a route towards an unreachable freedom which some of those women look for all their life and sadly realising there might not be one.
My interest to create this work was to investigate deeper into the role of those women which is always characterised by its ambiguity and unclearness, and usually not acknowledged by the general public or the mafia organisation itself, but also to give them a platform to be heard and their stories to be told.
“It is a role that is always been characterised by its ambiguity and confusion, trapped in a tangled spider web of feelings and emotions”, Alessandra Dino (expert and researcher of mafia criminal organisations)
ph. Mark Douet
V XX ZWEETZ – Secret Sound Stories
Secret Sound Stories will explore the secrets behind the fading layers and the walled doors which once belonged to the glamorous days of Strait Street. Based on events which are told in George Cini’s “Strait Street, secrets and stories from behind closed doors”, local Maltese actors will present a a one-to-one performances of 10 minutes each on the glories, excesses and tragedies of “The Gut”, the most famous street in Valletta.
Secret Sound Stories is a interactive, intimate and personal journey for individual listeners. Our company writes stories inspired by images and works of art belonging to an exhibition space: they are told live by hidden actors who follow and observe the listeners without being seen. The actor’s voices are transmitted live into wireless headphones giving life to a unique story, a delicate fusion between poetry and sound which for a brief moment transforms the space into a parallel world of imagination.
In dialogue with:
George Cini
With author-actors:
Angele Galea, Bernard Satariano, Diandra Anne Mamo.
www.vxxzweetz.com
www.secretsoundstories.com
Foto: www.flickr.com/photos/zweetz/
Frantics Dance Company – Hype

The human body has gone through many changes during the story of time. In the Greek philosophy Aristophanes talked about what and whom we are nowadays and how this transformation happened.
In a body where our brain autonomously performs 90% of the actions in an unconscious mode and only 10% of our actions are taken in a conscious way, how would we reason if we managed to take more than 10% of our decisions consciously?”Are we aware of our self-conscious hero or our own hero is our conscious ?
Who is in charge and when?
//solucionesdramáticas// & Griselda Layño – Vivirè Aquì
It is a revelation, a trial against the audacity to request an explanation, and a dance with life and death. A tribute to The Trial of Joan of Arc, by Robert Bresson, taken as an ethical and aesthetical reference for the scene. A contemporary heroine is judged for questioning from love the order of nature.
The premature death of a mother is an unfair event.
It makes us think about time logic,
The order of nature
And the luck of those who are still alive.
Why does somebody die without having to die yet?
Why hasn’t one died already if it was meant to?
Where is the mistake?
Where lies the fault that has inverted the natural order of things?
Who is to ask for explanations?
Who can fix this injustice?
I WILL LIVE HERE
On stage: Griselda Layño and woman
Mise-en-scène: Javier Cuevas
Text and Dramaturgy: Griselda Layño, Javier Cuevas y Tamara Brito de Heer
Filming: Miguel Morales
Photography: Tamara Brito de Heer
Movement Assistant: Carlota Mantecón
Lighting and technical direction: Carlos Ramos
Customes: Amuhaici Luis y Victoria Villar Saucedo
Introduction text: Clarice Lispector (A breath of life)
Recording studio: SuperstereO Recording Studio
Production: //solucionesdramáticas// y Griselda Layño
On stage: Griselda Layño and woman
Mise-en-scène: Javier Cuevas
Text and Dramaturgy: Griselda Layño, Javier Cuevas y Tamara Brito de Heer
Filming: Miguel Morales
Photography: Tamara Brito de Heer
Movement Assistant: Carlota Mantecón
Lighting and technical direction: Carlos Ramos
Customes: Amuhaici Luis y Victoria Villar Saucedo
Introduction text: Clarice Lispector (A breath of life)
Recording studio: SuperstereO Recording Studio
Production: //solucionesdramáticas// y Griselda Layño
NG CHOR GUAN – Finding Malta
Finding Malta is a live performance show that combines the language of the environment and the one of technology. Finding Malta is a project featuring archival cycling process as well as audiovisual performance. During pre-production period, Ng Chor Guan the artist spend a minimum 5 days cycle through specific areas collecting audio-visual footages.
All footage collected will then be artistically processed through his professional attempt. The final presentation of the art piece shall include (but not limited to) an audio-visual stage performance featuring bicycle as a musical instrument. Audiences are invited to immerse themselves into this trasformative performance providing new and exciting sensory experiences enjoying their daily living area from a brand new perspective.