Dr Vince Briffa

Dr Vince Briffa

Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Media and Knowledge Sciences

Vince Briffa is a researcher and multi media artist. He produces gallery and site-specific artwork, objects and installations which integrate drawing, painting, text, photography, sculpture and the moving image. He is also a curator of contemporary art exhibitions, guest writer for various local and international publications and organiser of discussions, exhibitions and art residencies. He was awarded a PhD by the University of Central Lancashire in the UK in 2009 and an MA in Fine Arts with distinction from the University of Leeds in 2000. He was also artist in residence at the Edinburgh College of Art, Scotland in 1996 and is also a recipient of the Civitella Ranieri Fellowship, with residency in 2018.

Having studied drawing and painting as well as digital media, he investigates the integration of digital media and traditional artistic practices to establish a vehicle that seamlessly communicates the artistic concept. Apart from notions that draw from contemporary artistic and aesthetic concerns, his trans-mediatic work often integrates approaches and concerns from the areas of sociology, advertising, film studies, literature and philosophy.

Over the past thirty five years, Briffa’s work has been exhibited in some of the world’s most prestigious museums and galleries. He has also been chosen to represent Malta in many international exhibitions, including the Venice Biennale (1999) amongst others, and his work forms part of many local and international private and public collections.

As an academic, he is an Associate of the Electronic and Digital Arts Unit (EDAU) of the University of Central Lancashire, an affiliate of the Centre for Moving Image Research, University of the West of England, Bristol, and a visiting academic at the Visual Institute of the University of Kaposvár, Hungary. He is also the external examiner for the Bradford Film School, Teesside University, UK.

Since his appointment as Head of Department of Digital Arts within the Faculty of Media and Knowledge Sciences in 2011, Vince has written, taught and led a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Digital Arts and a Bachelor of Fine Art (BFA) in Digital Arts. He also supervises PhD candidates, Practice-based Master’s Projects and Dissertations, Master’s by Research candidates and Undergraduate dissertations. He also lectures on the MaKS Bachelor of Communications (Hons) undergraduate degree, on the Foundation Diploma in Design of the Faculty of Built Environment and on the B.Ed. (Hons) course of the Faculty of Education. In 2011, Briffa also introduced and organized the DigiMaks, practice based evening lectures for the Faculty which is now also in its fifth year.

Vince Briffa has been involved in the creative industries for the past thirty years and was instrumental in launching computer graphics for television broadcast in Malta in the late 1980s.

Research Interests: Contemporary Conceptualism, Art and Design Practice and Theory, Video Art and Interactive Media Art, New Imaging Technologies and Screen Culture

www.vincebriffa.com

Three-Dimensional Audio – RIDT funded project

PERSONAL EXHIBITIONS

  • Kiss the Sky – Pjazza Teatru Rjal, Valletta, Malta (2014)
  • Logos – Sta. Barbara church, Valletta, Malta (2013)
  • Merry-go-round – Interactive Sculpture, Larnaca Airport, Larnaca, Cyprus (2012)
  • Terrain Vague – St. James Cavalier, Centre for Creativity, Valletta, Malta (2011)
  • Heterotopia – Gallery No. 68, Valletta, Malta (2009)
  • Body of Glass – After Caravaggio – Auberge d’Italie, Valletta, Malta (2007)
  • Playing God – The Preston Minster, Preston, England (2007)
  • Body of Glass – After Caravaggio – The “Johanniterkirche”, Feldkirch, Austria (2006)
  • Hermes – Galerie der Schwarze Punkt, Konstanz, Germany (2006)
  • re:public – The Vision Centre, Cork, Ireland (2005)
  • Immigrant – Villa Manin Centre of Contemporary Art, Udine, Italy (2004/5)
  • Immigrant – Queen Street Gallery, Belfast, N. Ireland (2004)
  • Immigrant – Only Atelier, Vienna, Austria (2003)
  • Space for Reflection – Salesian Oratory, Sliema, Malta (2003)
  • Immigrant – Museum of Fine Arts, Valletta, Malta (2002/3)
  • Nixtieq… – Attard Historic Centre, Malta (2002/3)
  • Hermes – The Sacristy, “Johanniterkirche”, Feldkirch, Austria (2002)
  • Amen – Nemmen – The “Johanniterkirche”, Feldkirch, Austria (2002)
  • ThreeHermes – St. James Cavalier Centre for Creativity, Valletta, Malta (2000)
  • Pieces – The outer building, Museum of Modern Art, Vaduz, Liechtenstein (2001)
  • Merry-go-round – An interactive sculpture – The University Campus, Tal-Qroqq, Malta (1999)
  • 48th Venice Biennale – Malta Pavilion, Le Tese dell’Arsenale, Venice, Italy (1999)
  • Tabernacle for Voyeurs – Museum of Fine Arts, Valletta, Malta (1999)
  • Relics – Museum of Fine Arts, Valletta, Malta (1998)
  • Works – Gallery Glage – Konigstein, Germany (1995)
  • Voyage – New Gallery, Auberge de Provence, Valletta, Malta (1994)
  • Selected Paintings – Galerie Annelise, Valletta, Malta (1992)
  • Selected Works – Museum of Fine Arts, Valletta, Malta (1991)
  • Early Works – B.H. Gallery, St. Paul’s, London (1985)
  • Graphic Works – The American Ambassador’s Residence, Attard, Malta (1979)


Selected Collective Exhibitions:

  • I am my photograph – Cologne Off 2016, India (2016)
  • Terrain Vague – MADATAC 07 – Madrid Videoart and New-Media Audiovisual Art Festival (2016)
  • Virtuoso – Studio 104, Valletta, Malta (2015)
  • The Culture of Ageing – St. James Centre for Creativity, Valletta, Malta (2015)
  • Identita’ – AZAD, Republic Street, Valletta, Malta (2014)
  • Stemperando – Torino, Cosenza, Roma, Italy (2012-3)
  • Wiċċ imb Wiċċ (Contemporary Self Portraiture) – St. James Centre for Creativity, Valletta, Malta (2012)
  • Festival Rues d’été – Graulhet, France (2011)
  • I fought the X and the X won – National Museum of Fine Arts, Cluj, Romania and National Museum of Fine Arts, Valletta Malta (2011)
  • With Love? From Me to You – The James Taylor Gallery, London (2010)
  • hello… @ ART PRAGUE 2009 – Art Prague, Prague (2009)
  • The Life Model – Between Nude and Naked – Gallery No. 68, Valletta, Malta (2009)
  • Ten – Gallery No. 68, Valletta, Malta (2009)
  • Sounds and Visions – Tel Aviv Museum of Modern Art, Israel (2009)
  • Eighteighteen – Malta Contemporary Art, Marsa, Malta (2008)
  • Scent – St. John’s Cavalier, Valletta, Malta (2008)
  • Sea Dreaming – St. James Centre for Creativity, Valletta, Malta (2008)
  • Watch – Museum of Fine Art, Valletta, Malta (2008)
  • Analogue and Digital – Fieldgate Gallery, London, England (2007)


Selected Publications and Talks:

  • The Poetics of Poiesis – Austin Camilleri & Pawl Carbonaro exhibition catalogue – Münchner Künstlerhaus, Munich, 2009
  • Projected Visions – Video Art in Malta – Apollonia, 2009
  • The (inter)national (inter)face of (inter)action – a look at some of the technologically interactive works at the 52nd International Venice Biennale, Art In-Sight: Artists’ Film, Video and Installation, Filmwaves, Issue 35, Obraz Productions Ltd., Spring 2008, pp. 14-18.
  • Choosing Malta’s photographers for the “Rencontres de la Photographie d’Arles”, Lensculture, Photography and Shared Territories, Summer 2008.
  • Ebba’s Sketchbook, Ebba von Fersen Balzan, Choppy Books, 2008, p. 177.
  • No. 68 Redprints: The house that is destined for memories and the memories that are meant for a house, Alexandra Pace: Redprints exhibition catalogue, 2008.
  • Amid the Mundane and the Extreme, NY Arts Magazine, Vol 13 No. 11/12, Nov. 2008, pp. 98-99.
  • The body we own and the body we are – Quoting Caravaggio – Exhibition Catalogue, The Malta Council for Arts and Culture, Malta 2007
  • Alternative Journeys – Paper Presentation – Crossings Conference – The University of Amiens, France, 2007
  • Playing God – On interactive database video narratives – Paper Presentation – The Electronic and Digital Art Unit, The University of Central Lancashire, Preston, UK, 2006
  • Digital Discourse – Curator’s Introduction – Exhibition Catalogue, St. James Centre for Creativity, Malta 2005
  • Contemporary Practice – a Presentation of Work – The Unit for Contemporary Art Practice, The University of Leeds, UK, 2005
  • Absence as Presence – Reflections on the body of work entitled Immigrant – The Queen Street Studios, Belfast, Northern Ireland, 2004
  • Maltese Contemporary Art – Paper Presentation – Artists in Transit Conference; Rotterdam, Holland – Oct 2004
  • The A to Z of Family Planning – An Introduction – Exhibition Catalogue, St. James Centre for Creativity, Malta 2004
  • Nixtieq… On Fine Art and the Advertising Billboard – Exhibition Catalogue, Attard, Malta 2004 I Feel Guilty – An Introduction – Exhibition Catalogue, St. James Centre for Creativity, Malta 2004
  • Immigrant – Exhibition Catalogue, Museum of Fine Art, Malta 2003/4
  • Memory, Sight and Expectation – The Moving Image as Continuous Memory – M.A. Thesis Dissertation, Leeds University, UK, 2000
  • The Art of J. Michael Anderson – Exhibition Catalogue, Museum of Fine Art, Malta 2000