Secrets – Solitude – Society

 Until: Sunday 3rd July 2016
Venue: Downstairs Restrooms, St James Cavalier

If there is anything humans do by default, is think. No matter how dull, bright, exciting or depressing, for good or for worse, humans think.

From the mind of the writer Malcolm Galea comes Communal Thoughts, an innovative installation that brings art and the collective consciousness flooding into St James Cavalier’s most visited and private place – the downstairs restrooms.

What’s all this about?
Well, our lives rush by at a breakneck pace with a varied multitude of daily concerns, deadlines, and desires clogging up our minds. Hours, days, weeks and years melt into one another creating a common pattern of ambition, anxiety and disenchantment – studded with the moments of hope, exuberance and contentment that can make it all worthwhile.

Like it or not, we are also a social species and interaction with others (or the absence of it) shapes our lives. The only time that we are ever truly alone is during the few minutes a day that we spend in the bathroom. It is here that we allow our minds to override the autopilot and entertain our innermost thoughts – no matter how trivial or tragic they may be.

Communal Thoughts will keep your own ponderings at bay by exposing you to the thoughts of the person who was in the restroom before you. This ever-increasing collection of monologues is written by Malcolm Galea based upon the actual thoughts of a series of anonymous respondents. The monologues are then interpreted by actors, recorded, and replayed into the space for others to hear and contemplate upon.

People can contribute their own thoughts to the project by anonymously answering this questionnaire and leaving an indelible imprint of their current frame of mind. Communal Thoughts is supported by the Malta Arts Fund.