A new collective exhibition delving into the elusive nature of time is opening at Christine X Art Gallery, in Sliema, this evening.
Curated by Emma Weller, Brief and Never Ending evolved from the first edition of an online creative project and international networking platform for artists, LateNightPrompts.
In AI, a prompt is a description or set of instructions that guides a system in generating an image, translating words into a visual outcome. In the case of LateNightPrompts, this concept is applied to a group of artists rather than a machine, creating a process that echoes AI-generated image-making while remaining entirely human-led.
For this edition, Weller, who is also the project’s founder, selected 10 local and foreign artists and connected them through Instagram. Once the group was formed, a central prompt was agreed upon: ‘The Passing of Time’.
“After the project launched, the artists were given six weeks to create an artwork or series in response to the prompt, while also sharing their thoughts and creative process throughout. Following this initial stage, they had an additional three months to expand their body of work if they wished, which most participants chose to do,” Weller says.
While curating the exhibition, she wrote a short essay identifying six key points of enquiry through which the works could be understood in relation to the prompt. These included the use of materials and animals as metaphor, the examination of ways of being, time as a practical method, ideas of legacy and the apparent indifference of time as it continues to move forward.
The essay, which is available to the public in the catalogue booklet for the show, touches upon the essence of the present moment, the palpable, fleeting “now” that “can feel both brief and immediate, yet also endless,” Weller says.
This explains the exhibition’s title.
“I felt Brief and Never Ending captured the different ways we experience and register the passage of time, reflecting how time can be both transient and enduring, depending on our perspective,” Weller notes.
The exhibition features a wide range of media, including industrial materials such as metal and concrete, cyanotype chemical printing, traditional media such as paint and graphite, and textiles, including fabric and beads.
“Each material and method of application held significance within the individual artist’s process and response to the theme,” the curator points out.
Weller, who is based in Gozo, is also exhibiting an artwork. Titled Long Lost, her painting depicts a stationary figure locked in a tense, strained posture, overwhelmed by the anxiety of time slipping away.
“Frantic lines flicker from its side, as though moments are breaking off and escaping, visually amplifying its inner unrest. I chose to create this image because I feel that many of us experience a deep anxiety as we move through life, fearing that time is slipping away while we try to make every second meaningful and work towards our goals,” she says.
“In today’s fast-paced society, where productivity and high-quality output are often expected in increasingly short amounts of time, this work reflects a struggle that feels especially relevant.”
Brief and Never Ending also features works by Hallgrímur Helgason, Jessica DeMers, Joana Simaes, Kika Sroka-Miller, Maria Wrona, Martina Vassallo, May Franzen, Nathan Portelli, Shanice Farrugia and Eric Attard.
The exhibition opens today at 7pm at Christine X Art Gallery at Tigné Street c/w Hughes Hallet Street, Sliema. One may view the exhibition until May 23 from Tuesday to Saturday from 10am to 1pm and 4 to 7pm. For more information, visit www.christinexart.com.
For those interested in participating in the next round of LateNightPrompts, which will be launched in November, get in touch with Emma Weller via Instagram.
