https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/8105 Tue, 10 Nov 2026 02:46:25 GMT 2026-11-10T02:46:25Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/150777 Title: The orgasmic beauty of the art of reading art Authors: Schembri Bonaci, Giuseppe Abstract: This essay proposes an interdisciplinary methodology for reading artworks that moves beyond positivist formalism and reductive empiricism. It argues that form is not merely a visible contour but the manifestation of dynamic, often invisible, force fields—dialectical tensions that shape artistic creation. Drawing on thinkers such as Florensky, Pound, Adorno, Deleuze and Panofsky, the essay develops a conceptual toolkit that integrates pareidolic-apophenic perception, syntagmatic-paradigmatic analysis, parataxis and hypotaxis, and montage theory. These methodological strands enable a critical "X-ray" of artworks, revealing latent structures of meaning embedded within form, memory, and historical context. The study further situates artistic production within geo-political and socio-economic frameworks, particularly examining the tension between cosmopolitan hegemonies and insular or peripheral artistic cultures, with specific reference to Malta. It critiques vertical models of cultural domination and advocates for complementary horizontal analyses among Mediterranean and other marginal hubs. Ultimately, the essay contends that reading art is an active, creative act in which seeing becomes knowing and remembering. By uniting formal, philosophical, historical and socio-political inquiry, the proposed methodology seeks to restore art scholarship as a site of critical theory, conceptual innovation and emancipatory thought. The creative act cannot be explained by, or be constrained into, a scientifically determined equation. Thus, this essay does not attempt to give some kind of medical prescription or guide to reading art and experiencing its beauty. Rather, it offers particular milestones and anchors without which one will not succeed in truly understanding works of art. For the uninitiated, such anchorage might seem sporadic. It is not. Thu, 01 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/150777 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/150767 Title: Stone : between quarry and landscape Authors: Thake, Conrad Abstract: For centuries, it was virtually the islands’ only natural mineral resource that could be readily extracted and used for construction. The lower globigerina limestone is millions of years old, the product of successive layers of marine sediment that gradually consolidated into sedimentary rock. Globigerina limestone is the second-oldest rock formation exposed on the Maltese Islands and constitutes approximately 70 per cent of their surface area, weathering to form the broad, gently rolling landscape characteristic of much of Malta. [excerpt] Thu, 01 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/150767 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/148534 Title: John Loughborough Pearson and the Lady Hamilton Gordon chapel (1893–94) : Gothic Revivalism and eclecticism at Ta’ Braxia Cemetery, Malta Authors: Thake, Conrad Abstract: The subject of this contribution is the Lady Hamilton Gordon chapel at Ta’ Braxia Cemetery, Malta (1893–94), designed by the Victorian architect John Loughborough Pearson (1817– 97). Although Pearson’s ecclesiastical works in England, spanning an architectural career of over six decades, are well known, his memorial chapel in Malta, which together with St John’s Cathedral in Brisbane (1901–2009) constitute his only overseas works, has to date not been comprehensively researched. This contribution sheds light on the chapel’s historical origins, contextualising them within Pearson’s extensive corpus of Gothic Revival churches in England, while citing the Royal Mausoleum at Frogmore and the basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna as potential architectural models. A closely knit familial network featuring Lady Hamilton Gordon’s brother, George Shaw Levefre, his brother-in-law Arthur Hamilton Gordon, and the architect John Loughborough Pearson was the catalyst for the commission, design, and execution of the Ta’ Braxia chapel. This Shorter Notice also challenges but does not resolve the traditional attribution of John Loughborough Pearson as the sole designer of the Ta’ Braxia chapel. As the chapel was designed a few years before Pearson’s death, it could well be the case that his son, Frank Pearson (1864–1947), played a leading role in its design. This argument is further buttressed by drawing upon architectural similarities between the Hamilton Gordon chapel and Frank Pearson’s St Matthew-in-the-City Church, Auckland (1902–04), completed a few years later. Thu, 01 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/148534 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/145942 Title: Pawlu Grech : a Cosmos of Art Authors: Schembri Bonaci, Giuseppe Abstract: The publication pays homage to pioneering Maltese multidisciplinary artist Pawlu Grech (1938–2021). It documents a three-part project consisting of a concert, an exhibition of his visual works from 1949 to the 1980s, and a scholarly essay. The text explores Grech’s "talent trinity" as a musician, artist, and thinker, focusing on his innovative use of atonal compositional language, "sonic hieroglyphs," and the interrelationship between musical and visual structures. Thu, 01 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/145942 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z