The Search for a Space
Duration
Vault 14 , Valletta, Malta
2007
Ruth Bianco, Vince Briffa, Ann Kathrin Greiner, Jed Lind, Peter Maltz, Mark Mangion, Jaume Sabater I Garua, Chris Sant Fournier, Martina Schmuecker
Duration brought together a group of artists working with photography, film, projection, and moving image to investigate the relationship between time, light, and perception. Installed within the darkened interior of Vault 14 in Valletta, the exhibition examined the illuminated image as both a physical phenomenon and a conceptual condition, positioning light itself as the primary material through which images emerge and meaning is constructed.
The exhibition focused on the unique status of projected imagery. Unlike static objects occupying physical space, photographs, films, and slides depend upon illumination for their existence. Light activates the image, transforming darkness into a site of appearance, while simultaneously defining the temporal conditions through which viewers encounter the work. The exhibition proposed the darkened gallery not merely as a backdrop for projection, but as an active environment in which image, space, and duration become inseparable.
Across the exhibition, artists employed different approaches to photography and moving image, yet each work remained connected through a shared concern with temporality and presence. Images appeared, dissolved, flickered, lingered, and disappeared, emphasising the transient nature of visual experience. The projected image became a fragile event rather than a fixed object, existing only for as long as light continued to activate its surface.
The title Duration refers both to the temporal unfolding of the works and to the act of sustained looking. Rather than privileging instantaneous consumption, the exhibition encouraged viewers to inhabit time differently, allowing images to reveal themselves gradually through attention and immersion. The experience of the exhibition was therefore shaped not only by what was seen but by the length of time spent with each work.
Installed within the atmospheric architecture of Vault 14, the exhibition heightened the sensory relationship between darkness and illumination. The surrounding space functioned as a field of potentiality, where images emerged from and returned to obscurity. Projection became an act of temporary occupation, producing shifting territories of visibility within the darkness.
As part of The Search for a Space exhibition programme, Duration continued an investigation into the conditions through which art is encountered and understood. While earlier projects focused on process and artistic production, Duration turned its attention towards perception itself, exploring how light, time, and space shape the experience of the image.
Ultimately, the exhibition proposed illumination not simply as a technical requirement of photography and film, but as a metaphor for the fragile and temporary nature of perception. Through works that unfolded across time and within darkness, Duration invited viewers to consider the image as an event—something continually appearing, disappearing, and becoming.
