Arcangelo Sassolino

Diplomazija Astuta

Padiglione Malta La Biennale d'Arte di Venezia 2022

Photography, Video, Documentation
Home > Art

Photo: Agostino Osio
Photo editing: Marco Dabbicco
Year: 2022

About the exhibition

Diplomazija Astuta reimagines Caravaggio’s seminal Maltese altarpiece The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist as a kinetic, sculptural installation. Through induction technology, molten steel droplets fall from the sky into seven rectangular basins of water, each representing a subject in The Beheading. By transposing the Oratory of the Decollato’s Zeitgeist onto Malta Pavilion, Diplomazija Astuta resituates Caravaggio’s immanent themes within modern life, prompting viewers to negotiate an immersive space where the tragedy and brutality of Saint John’s execution is experienced in the present day, injustices of the past are reconciled, and shared humanist principles are upheld in the future.

From press release
Arcangelo Sassolino, Diplomazija Astuta