The second edition announced with open calls
POLAROIDS
The Helmut Newton Foundation in Berlin has opened its new group exhibition, Polaroids, as part of EMOP Berlin 2025. This showcase features works by Helmut Newton alongside numerous other photographers.>> Read more on page 15.
LISA GWEN
Dust to Oil
Pigs. Not coppers. Neither the hoofed mammal. But an anthropomorphic hybrid of the erect, clothed kind that sit at, and socialise, around a table, whilst engorging themselves on anything presented unto them. Because pigs, you see, will eat anything. They will crush, mince and butcher their food in a gluttonous frenzy. It is the ravenous, quasi-insatiable hunger, which is the defining characteristic here, the visible salivation, which lends itself so poetically to myriad situations that have voracious appetites as points of departure. You couldn’t portray a more direct or on the nose picture in representation of GLUTTONY. A pictorial depiction that is heavy, weighty, meaty. Clad with connotation and reference...
>> Read the full interview with CO-MA ahead of his upcoming exhibition at Spazju Kreattiv, on page 20.
Image: Helmut Newton, Amica, Milan 1982 (Polacolour) © Helmut Newton Foundation
SAHHARA | COMMODIFIED | 2023
| PHOTOGRAPH PRINTED ON HAHNEMÜHLE PHOTO RAG | 59.5CM X 42CM
C Contents / Highlights
April - June 2025
Drawing inspiration from Verner Panton’s playful modularity and spatial curiosity, Reform questions familiar design archetypes – like the chair or table – and reframes them through the lens of waste transformation and material innovation.
PAGE 08
Studio NiCHE represents Malta at the Venice Architecture and Design Biennale 2025
Exhibitors will share perspectives and solutions to some of the global issues that face humanity today, exploring areas from the urban environment to preservation of cultural heritage, environmental sustainability to post-conflict recovery.
PAGE 13
Malta participating at the London Design Biennale taking place at Somerset House in London this June, with a project titled Urna exploring the subject of cremation
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Nicholas Cutajar
... that is allure of CO-MA’s work – it leaves a lasting impression. Actually, it’s much more than an impression, it’s a mood, a feeling; his work takes you somewhere you can’t always precisely pinpoint through the written word.
PAGE 20
Interview with the artist ahead of his exhibition titled Every Saint Has a Past and Every Sinner Has a Future, at Spazju Kreattiv from 9 May 7-9pm
That’s when I began to deepen my research on ecology, emphasising the idea that we are all inseparable aspects of the same whole, an interconnected impulse.
PAGE 24
Interview with Zoë De Luca Legge, an independent curator, critic and writer based in Milan, whose practice weaves together art, ecology, and feminist studies
Featuring over 750 participants and who knows how many different kinds of technological wizardry, we can safely assume that this Biennale will be a particularly challenging and ambitious one.
PAGE 29
Erica Giusta finds out what we are to expect from the 19th Venice Biennale of Architecture
Writers + Contributors
Michelle Amato
Joanna Delia
Erica Giusta
Lisa Gwen
Eleonora Salvi
Featured Artists
Mario Abela
Norbert Francis Attard
John Paul Azzopardi
Aaron Bezzina
Austin Camilleri
CO-MA
Zoë De Luca
Charlene Galea
Richard England
Sasha Vella
Studio Niche
Galleries & Organisations
2B Gallery
Christine X Art Gallery
Crea Venice
Lily Agius Gallery
London Design Biennale
Malta Society of Arts
MICAS
Spazju Kreattiv
The Helmut Newton Foundation
Venice Architecture & Design Biennale
Victor Pasmore Gallery
Supported by AX Roselli Hotel
2B Gallery
AP Valletta Boca
Chemimart
Edwards Lowell iLab Photo
Light Design Solutions Maltabiennale.art
Mapfre MSV Life
MICAS MUZA
Myoka
Niche Workspace No.43
People & Skin
R Gallery
Risette
Society of Arts
Soho Workspace
Ta’ Lonza
Teatru Manoel
The Malta Society of Arts
The Phoenicia Hotel
Victor Pasmore Gallery
Valletta Contemporary
VeeGeeBee Art Supplies
Zfin Malta
News / Exhibition / Venice
April - June 2025
MALTESE ARTISTS PARTICIPATE IN GROUP EXHIBITION IN VENICE
CREA Cantieri del Contemporaneo is pleased to announce the opening of the exhibition 2570 Revolutions Around the Earth including the works of Maltese artists Sasha Vella and Mario Abela
ntil 27 April, the Legno & Legno space of CREA will exhibit works of the 39 artists selected by the International Jury: Albert Wrotnowski, Alessandra Carosi, Alessandro Gambato, Collectif Grapain,
Atieh Salari, Aurora Destro, Carola Cappellari, Chiara Peruch, Chiara Sorgato, Debashish Paul, Dorothy Cheung, Emma Windsor-Liscombe, Francesca Brigandi, Franek Wardynski, Hua Zheng, Irene Gris, Josip Pratnemer, Katrin Spranger, Keita Miyazaki, Konstantine Vlasis, Space Odyssey, Mario Abela, Marjo Postma, LineaUmida, Mohammad Namazi, Mohammed El Hajoui, Natascha Niederstrass, Niovi Kafantari, Noa Pane, Raffaella Yacar, Rosita D’Agrosa, Sara Pacucci, Sasha Vella, Schuyler Dragoo, Stefano Ogliari Badessi, Tony Heaton, Vanessa Soria Lima, Xintong Qin, Ziliä Qansurá are the artists featured in an exhibition that has decided to follow and undertake a strictly and strongly curatorial approach, rare, if not unique, within the panorama of art contest restitution exhibitions.
being launched into space, the dog Laika, the protagonist of one of the most iconic moments of the race to conquer the Cosmos and the Cold War.
At 2.30 in the morning on 3 November, 1957, Laika embarked on her space journey aboard the Russian spacecraft Sputnik 2 which, after 2570 orbits around the Earth, interrupted all communications and was probably destroyed.
www.creavenice.com #creaopen2025 VENICE
2570 Revolutions Around the Earth was born from an idea by Pier Paolo Scelsi and Ilaria Cera and borrows its title from a story as famous as it is distant in time: that of the first living
Studio NiCHE. to Represent
Malta at the Venice Architecture & Design Biennale 2025
Malta’s boutique design studio brings an immersive, sustainability-driven installation to the global stage.
Malta-based interior architecture and design firm Studio NiCHE. has officially been invited to participate in the prestigious Venice Architecture and Design Biennale 2025, one of the most anticipated events on the international cultural calendar. Held at the iconic Palazzo Mora, the studio’s installation will run from 8 May to 23 November 2025, positioning Malta’s voice within the global conversation on sustainability, innovation, and spatial design.
Titled “Reform”, Studio NiCHE.’s installation explores the powerful intersection between reimagining space and imagining waste. It presents
an immersive spatial experience that transforms discarded materials into design-driven narratives—challenging how we define value, beauty, and utility in a world facing material and environmental excess.
“At its core, this work is a critique of our increasingly disconnected relationship with physical space,” says Martina Fenech Adami, founder of Studio NiCHE. “We want to encourage a more intentional, tactile, and human engagement with our surroundings— where design is not just seen, but felt, interacted with, and questioned.”
Drawing inspiration from Verner Panton’s playful modularity and spatial curiosity, Reform shifts the focus to
The exhibition imagines a reality and a parallel history in which the “Space Dog” continued to travel in the cosmos, looking down on us from above, and observing us from her porthole. Encountering civilisations and making discoveries, transforming that journey of sacrifice, of a “one way” imagined by man for her, into a path of wisdom, into a high point of view from which Laika has returned to tell us what our society is really like: made of evolutions and involutions, of beauties and contradictions, of perennial and never resolved divisions,
of colonialisms, inequalities, social conflicts, of exploitation of the planet on which we live and of safeguarding and caring for it.
Read full feature on www.artpaper.press
sustainability, sensory engagement, and communal interaction. It questions familiar design archetypes—like the chair or table—and reframes them through the lens of waste transformation and material innovation.
The materials used speak volumes: searecovered plastics turned into fabric, joinery offcuts reborn as sculptural elements. All are remnants of the studio’s own process, now repurposed into a bold, environmentally conscious expression. The result is a space that’s both provocative and grounded—where
circular design becomes an experience in itself.
With a track record of visually compelling commercial and residential projects, Studio NiCHE. has earned recognition for its meticulous attention to detail, material expertise, and ability to weave timeless narratives through spatial design. Their Biennale debut with Reform marks a significant milestone—not just for the studio, but for Malta’s growing design presence on the world stage.
The Eternal Hunt, Oil on canvas, Mario Vella
The Illusion of Solitude, Sasha Vella. © circusmalta.com
April - June 2025
Transitions is an exhibition of artworks by Norbert Francis Attard that were produced amidst the artist’s major phases of artistic creation. Living and working between Malta, and Gozo, Berlin, Attard shifts his physical and creative life constantly in the pursuit to explore new or alternative modes of thinking and creating. The exhibition showcases these crucial, yet relatively unknown in-between phases undertaken whilst Attard was shifting his creative process from one period of his artistic development to the next. Each transitory phase manifests Attard’s experimentation with found objects and materials, forms, and themes, all of which led to a renewal of his practice. Transitions, curated by Nikki Petroni, starts from the beginning of Attard’s story as an artist, unearthing memories of former stops along the complex journey of evolution, pauses that were pivotal to each successive phase of work. It is a coming-of-age story as much
Transitions
as it is an art historical one, weaving together spaces, artefacts, artworks, photographs, music, relationships, and a lifetime of discovery. The works on display span across the years 1970 until 1999.
The exhibition runs until 29 June at June at Il-Hagar - Heart of Gozo Museum and Cultural Centre, Victoria, Gozo.
A solo exhibition by Norbert Francis Attard
NUDE I, Acrylic on canvas, 43 x 57 cm, 1973
WISDOM II, 1997
April - June 2025
CLEAN | CLEAR | CUT Malta Biennale 2026
CLEAN | CLEAR | CUT , the second edition of the Malta Biennale will launch in March 2026, with acclaimed international curator, Rosa Martínez as Artistic Director.
The conceptual framework of the second edition of the Malta Biennale was announcedduring a press conference at the National Museum of Archaeology in Valletta, on March 26, 2025, marking the official countdown to next year’s already anticipatedinternational exhibition. During the conference, three open calls were launched, inviting local and international artists to submit proposals for projects and exhibitions;for embassies to organise national and / or thematic pavilions, and lastly, for satelliteevents – a new component of the Biennale.
The Malta Biennale is organised by Heritage Malta. Mario Cutajar, Chairman of HeritageMalta, and President of the Malta Biennale outlined the national agency’s commitment to establishing the Malta Biennale as a significant platform for dialogue between contemporary art and cultural heritage, with a particular focus on the Mediterranean asone of the epicentres of global change. To expound on this vision, Rosa Martínez brings her extensive expertise in international biennials and thematic exhibitions, while supported by a curatorial team composed of Antoine Borg Micallef and Alexia Medici, both from Malta.
Rosa Martínez conceived the thematic and conceptual framework of the MaltaBiennale 2026 to evoke a sequence of thoughts and actions that call for an urgent transformation of the world we inhabit. The gap between proclaimed political andaesthetic ideals and the construction of false realities defines the conditions for a newform of global enslavement, where the distribution of wealth, the exploitation ofnatural resources, and the power to decide who lives and who dies remainconcentrated in the hands of a few.
A repetitive Mannerism permeates contemporary artistic practices, while theexpansion of the Western artistic canon fails to conceal the inequalities in the production, access, and enjoyment of art. Analysing the effects of the global economy, capital flows, human migrations, and data transmission technologies, reveals a troubling planetary scenario that demands a rethinking of our cultural consumption patterns. The toxic noise of misinformation and the ruthless exercise of power generate effective forms of alienation, making it necessary to: CLEAN: Stop environmental, ethical and aesthetic pollution. Purge, digest, expel; CLEAR: Discern, decipher, elucidate, understand; CUT: Break away, radically shift direction, open new paths. The limestone quarries and the process of extraction and transformation of thismaterial is engrained in the cultural landscape of the Maltese islands and animates thetitle of the Biennale.
The selected works and projects will relate to the history and narratives embodied inthe diverse heritage locations where they will be presented. These include Malta’s prehistoric temples, forts of the Knights of St John, the Grandmaster’s and theInquisitor’s palaces, the national museums of archeology, maritime and art in thecommunity, the Citadella in Gozo as well as ethnographic and natural places. Enlarging the notion of site-specificity, art will awake meaningful connections withdiverse audiences.
The Biennale will question how contemporary art can enhance critical awareness of our past and present, while fostering the experience and enjoyment of beauty. It will also address some of the most pressing needs of our time by promoting dialogues between the rich cultural heritage of the Maltese archipelago, contemporary thought and innovative artistic practices. By intertwining aesthetic narratives and forgingcritical connections between different cultures, biennials can create transgenerational, transdisciplinary, and multicultural encounters aimed at generating policies for thecommon good. The Malta Biennale 2026 will be inscribed in that line of action.
Open call for artists: 26 March to 30 June, 2025. Call for National Pavilions: 26 March to 29 Aug 2025. Satellite Events: 26 March to 25 July, 2025. All the calls can be viewed & accessed via: www.maltabiennale.art
THE GLASS COLLAGE
One of Emvin Cremona’s (1919–1987) most intriguing bodies of work is often referred to as the ‘broken glass series’, though Cremona referred to them specifically as ‘glass collages’. This distinction sets the tone and pace of the exhibition, as we transition from the idea of somethingbroken to something reconstructed, collaged, and pieced back together. The exhibition aims to uncover the artist’s intentions behind this fascinating series while also exploring the historicalpolitical-technological context in which he was working. The choice of glass is no coincidence. Cremona was deeply intrigued by matter and material, constantly seeking to express and experiment with their inherent qualities. His works not only reflect the tensions of the era in which they were created but also serve as an exploration of the tensions within matter itself, and the very processes of creation-destruction-recreation.
The Victor Pasmore Gallery invites viewers to explore this collection along with Cremona’s conceptual journey and Malta’s historical backdrop. The Glass Collage is the first in a series of exhibitions celebrating the Maltese Modern Art period. The collection will be showcased between 16th May and 12th July 2025 and will offer a space where visitors can contemplate the process from fracture to form and broken to whole.
The Victor Pasmore Gallery, APS House, 275, St Paul Street, Valletta. Tues to Thurs, 10am - 5pm (last entry 4pm), Fri 2 - 7pm (last entry at 6pm) and Sat 10am - 3pm (last entry 2pm).
Malta exhibiting at the London Design Biennale 2025 edition
On the 6th of March, London Design Biennale announced the first confirmed pavilions for its 2025 edition, taking place at Somerset House, which is celebrating its 25th birthday as a leading international arts destination in 2025, from 5-29 June. The theme of this edition of the Biennale, ‘Surface Reflections’, explores how ideas are fuelled by both our internal experiences and external influences.
The fifth edition continues the Biennale’s mission to demonstrate how design can better the world we inhabit whilst broadening our understanding of design’s role in addressing challenges and identifying solutions. Exhibitors will share perspectives and solutions to some of the global issues that face humanity today, exploring areas from the urban environment to preservation of cultural heritage, environmental sustainability to post-conflict recovery.
This edition’s Artistic Director, Dr Samuel Ross MBE, founder of A-COLDWALL* and SR_A SR_A, has set the theme of ’Surface Reflections’, which invites participants, through the medium of design, to explore how expressions of who we are, are shaped. Ross said, “Revelations in life are prompted by personal histories that inform who we are – our ideas are fuelled by both our internal experiences and external influences. Together, these form the multifaceted hues of human experience.”
Victoria Broackes, Director, London Design Biennale, said: “Since the last Biennale the global context has drastically changed and the need for collaboration and exchange in a peaceful context feels more important than ever. International design teams continue to demonstrate the possibilities of and their faith in, what can be achieved through design and design thinking. The Biennale reveals what is on people’s minds, across the world, right now. We will see exhibitors presenting design in all its forms - from futuristic urban planning to collaborative efforts to preserve environments.”
The first exhibitors announced are: Argentina, Hong Kong, Poland, Malta, Nigeria, Oman, Peru, Japan, Uzbekistan, Lebanon and Romania. A number of independent projects have also been announced: Rachel Botsman will unveil ‘Roots of Trust’, Melek Zeynep Bulut will present ‘The Recursion Project’, Eco-Vision Plan will share a film ‘Rainforest Succession – Lamiam’, Oparanze Congress will showcase ‘The Forever Now’ and World Monuments Fund Britain and English Heritage will present ‘Coastal Connections’. The first Eureka projects to be announced include a collaboration between Northumbria University and UCL as well as presentations from King’s College London and VCUarts Qatar.
‘URNA’, The Malta pavilion at London Design Biennale 2025 is commissioned by Arts Council Malta. London Design Biennale, ‘Surface Reflections’, 5 - 29 June, Somerset House, London. https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/
ACCRA
AP Valletta win the Architectural Review Future Projects Award with regeneration proposal in Accra
The Osu Salem Presbyterian School in Accra, Ghana has been recognised as winner of the New and Old category and highly commended in the Overall category at the 2025 AR Future Project Awards. The entire team has worked behind-thescenes on gathering momentum for its conservation and reconstruction. As part of the wider Valletta Accra study, its redesign champions a researchbased, context-driven approach to heritage regeneration. Image credits: AP Valletta.
AP Valletta’s Osu Salem Presbyterian School in Accra, Ghana, designed in collaboration with David Kojo Derban has been named a winner at the Architectural Review Future Project 2025 awards. The design is a culmination of the mutli-displiciplinary project ‘Valletta Accra’, headed by AP Valletta, David Kojo Derban and Ann Dingli, as an encompassing research methodology for heritage regeneration design based on parallel observation and evidence gathering. The school has been named winner in the New and Old category, and highly commended in the award’s Overall category, therefore being recognised as one of the best three projects in all categories.
The Osu Salem Presbyterian School design is based on the findings and principles of the wider Valletta Accra study, and stands as testimony to an interdisciplinary way of making places.
“This win is important to us because it strengthens our ongoing work and research in an area we define as ‘future heritage’, by which we mean moving beyond heritage regeneration as a static, purely monumental exercise and towards the conservation of the everyday.” says Erica Giusta, one of the recently appointed associate partners at the firm. “The Osu Salem school is a crucial part of Accra’s built and social history. It once stood as a model of pedagogy, becoming the prototype for education in Ghana. We hope this award will increase awareness around the importance of saving it.” added Ghanaian architect and architectural historian David Kojo Derban.”
Once a mainstay of the historically marginalised Osu community in Accra, the Osu Salem Presbyterian School now lies vacant and decaying. The re-imagining of this 19th-century building will incorporate new uses, initially through a programme of repair of the original two-storey structure. The partially collapsed pitched roof has been compromised by rainwater, weakening the adobe infill walls and damaging the timber framework. The restoration will enable the introduction of new flexible spaces, including a multipurpose hall, library, archive and hall of fame honouring the school’s prominent alumni.
As stated by London-based writer Ann Dingli, “this win gives legitimacy to our belief that making architecture is not a singular practice or process. This was a fully research-driven design, backed by first-hand learnings that were gathered on site within the heritage contexts. It purposefully moves away from ‘foreign’, didactic design and insists on a collaborative method.”
The remodelling aims to set wider precedents for restoring and reusing heritage structures across Accra. The project’s success will be contingent on its capacity to encapsulate and express the cultural life of the Osu community.
Read full feature on www.artpaper.press @apvalletta
‘URNA’ challenges conventions and inspires dialogue on death, ritual and remembrance, anticipating cremation’s future cultural significance in Malta, following its legalisation in 2019. It replaces traditional burial-practice with sculptural, spherical modules that embody collective cosmic connections and diverse, evolving interpretations.
April - June 2025
BERLIN
POLAROIDS
On March 6, the Helmut Newton Foundation in Berlin opened its new group exhibition, Polaroids, as part of EMOP Berlin 2025. This showcase features works by Helmut Newton alongside numerous other photographers: Thorsten Brinkmann, Lucien Clergue, Barbara Crane, Alma Davenport, Toto Frima, Maurizio Galimberti, Luigi Ghirri, Erich Hartmann, Sally Mann, Sheila Metzner, Arnold Newman, Charles Johnstone, Marike Schuurman, Stephen Shore, Jeanloup Sieff, Pola Sieverding, Christer Strömholm, Oliviero Toscani, Ulay, William Wegman, and others.
The Polaroid process revolutionised photography in the 1960s. Those who have used Polaroid cameras often recall the distinctive smell of the developing emulsion and the magic of watching an image materialize instantly. Depending on the camera model, some prints developed automatically, while others required the application of a chemical coating to fix the image. In this sense, Polaroids can be seen as a precursor to today’s digital photography – not in technical terms, but because of their immediate accessibility.
Polaroids are generally regarded as unique prints. This pioneering technology attracted enthusiastic users worldwide and in nearly all photographic genres – landscape, still life, portraits, fashion, and nude photography. Helmut Newton was particularly captivated by Polaroid photography, using a variety of Polaroid cameras and instant film backs, which replaced the roll film cassettes in his medium-format cameras. From the 1960s until his death in 2004, Newton relied on Polaroids primarily to prepare for fashion shoots. These instant photographs served as visual sketches, helping to test lighting conditions and refine his compositions. Despite their role as preparatory studies, Newton dedicated a book to these images in 1992, followed by a second book published posthumously in 2011. Some of Newton’s Polaroids, signed as standalone works, have since become highly prized on the art market.
creative process, from initial concepts to final images.
In this new group exhibition, Newton’s Polaroids are showcased alongside works by 60 additional photographers, including selections from the extensive Polaroid collection of OstLicht in Vienna.
– capturing tiny details in individual images. He later assembles these fragments into unified compositions that appear three-dimensionally unfolded.
artist’s books, some of which include C-prints of the Polaroids as special editions. A selection of these books is on view in a central display case within the exhibition.
American photographer Sheila Metzner, known for her timeless and sensitive portraits, still lifes, and nudes – produced as Fresson prints – has previously exhibited her work at the Helmut Newton Foundation. Now, for the first time, her Polaroids are being presented. Drawn from the Newtons’ personal collection, these instant images provide insight into Metzner’s creative process, revealing her use of Polaroids as compositional studies – a technique similar to Helmut Newton’s approach.
Whether featured as part of a series, a single image, a monumental Polaroid mosaic, or an artist’s book, the new exhibition Polaroids is the most extensive presentation of this photographic process seen in Berlin in years.
https://helmut-newton-foundation.org News / Exhibition / Berlin
Curator Matthias Harder had full freedom to draw from this historic archive, which was saved from auction in 2010 by Peter Coeln, founder of WestLicht Vienna, following Polaroid’s bankruptcy.
This international collection, stored at the Polaroid company for more than 20 years, comprises approximately 4,400 works by 800 photographers and has since been reestablished as a vital resource.
The archive of the Helmut Newton Foundation in Berlin holds hundreds of Newton’s original Polaroids. A carefully chosen selection from this collection has been curated and accompanied by enlargements of select works. The photographs are arranged roughly chronologically rather than by genre, but they reveal Newton’s extensive use of Polaroid cameras across all areas of his work over several decades. The exhibition is like peering into the sketchbook of one of the most influential photographers of the 20th century. It invites visitors to envision Newton’s
The Berlin exhibition highlights a wide variety of Polaroid processes and formats – SX-70, Polacolor 20 x 24, FP-100, and Polaroid T808 – as well as experimental treatments of individual prints and larger tableaux. German artist Pola Sieverding is represented by her small-format SX-70 Polaroid series Valet, which features close-up views of male wrestlers. In contrast, Italian artist Maurizio Galimberti is known for his monumental Polaroid mosaics, a physically demanding process in which he obsessively circles his subject –whether a person, a building, or a flower
Two series by Dutch artist-photographer Marike Schuurman also explore experimental techniques, featuring inkjet print enlargements derived from SX-70 Polaroids. Toxic examines the lignite mining area in the Lausitz, south of Berlin, where coal extraction has left craters filled with highly acidic water. Schuurman photographed these artificial lakes using a Polaroid camera and developed the SX-70 prints in the lakes’ low-PH water, dramatically altering their colors. In her second series, Expired, the colors of longexpired Polaroid film merge into one another, creating a distinctive interplay.
New York City-based photographer Charles Johnstone produces smallformat Polaroid publications at irregular intervals, each presenting a self-contained photographic narrative. Some projects, such as those centered on Monica Vitti, are captured as camera views from a screen and later bound into books. Other series, like Escape, involve collaboration with live models and were photographed en plein air at locations like a swimming pool in upstate New York. These projects result in unique
Polaroids, 7 March – 27 July 2025 Helmut Newton Foundation Museum für Fotografie Jebensstrasse 2 D – 10623 Berlin
Helmut Newton, French Vogue, Yves Saint Laurent, Paris, 1977. © Helmut Newton Foundation
William Wegman, Ohne Titel, 1988, Polacolor. © William Wegman
18+
April - June 2025
2B Gallery
Bringing a new language to local contemporary gallery scene
2B Gallery, in St Julian’s, recognised by its 6-storey colourful wall mural by local artist James Micallef Grimaud, is the latest contemporary art gallery in Malta. Founded by cousins Bengy Borg and Josh O’Cock, who have lately joined in collaboration with Dr. Joanna Delia, an avid collector and supporter of local contemporary art, to together bring new ideas to the local art scene. 2B Gallery is dedicated to fostering an environment of inclusivity, originality, and visionary expression. Together, they are committed to bringing new artists into the spotlight both locally and internationally and expanding the community of contemporary art collectors.
This year, 2B Gallery proudly showcased exhibitions by Sam Alekksandra, Arron Bezzina, and John Paul Azzopardi, each
bringing their unique perspectives and artistic flair to our vibrant space. Sam Alekksandra explored intricate themes of pain and pleasure through her thought-provoking artworks, captivating audiences and sparking meaningful conversations. Arron Bezzina presented contemporary portraiture that garnered significant attention, solidifying his status as a leading figure in the Maltese art scene. John Paul Azzopardi invited viewers to engage with his philosophical explorations through the use as bone as a medium and layering of visuals, Charlene Galea’s dynamic & raw ‘bodyworks’ performance conceptual art photography works that challenges societal norms and explores themes of identity through her the body form as medium.
What do the artists who have exhibited at the gallery have to say about working with the team, besides all commenting
on the great vibe with a ‘What a Blast!’’, on the crowd of art lovers and collectors brought in, and John Paul Azzopardi quoting 19th Century Willam Morris ‘if the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is – infinite’.
2B Gallery continues to elevate the contemporary art scene in Malta by providing a platform for local artists to
showcase their talents and connect with the community. 2B invites everyone to join in celebrating these remarkable artists and their contributions to Malta’s vibrant cultural landscape.
Written for 2B Gallery by the Gallery PR. For media enquiries or collectors’ catalogue contact on gallery@2b.mt www.2B.mt
MALTA
Dr. Joanna Delia & artist Charlene Galea. Photo by Diana Iskander
Sculpture by Aaron Bezzina
Photos by Angelica Rossi
Josh O’Cock, artist John Paul Azzopardi, Dr. Joanna Delia & Bengy Borg
Exhibition by Sam Alekksandra
Guest at 2B Gallery viewing work by John Paul Azzopardi
About Silence Within Abundant Birdsong
exhibition presented by the
Silence Within Abundant Birdsong seeks to celebrate fifty years since Manikata entered Malta’s churchscape. The iconic church designed by Richard England has long been considered a highlight in Malta’s modernist architectural heritage. The exhibiting artists will explore their relation to the site of Manikata and the parish’s surrounding landscape, its architecture and sacredness through the mediums of sculpture, photography and music.
“The church is a space of silence. Its threshold attempts to mask the sound of its outside. Whilst an abundant birdsong hovers around its walls, the architect sees potential in conserving its absence” writes curator Andrew Borg Wirth. This exhibition seeks to contemplate the sacred within silence and the echoes of a landscape rich in history and meaning. As Prof. Richard England states in the catalogue of the exhibition “The intangible problem in designing a sacred building is that you are measuring against the immeasurable. Above all what is required is to create loci of meditative silence, prayer and mystic.”
Silence Within Abundant Birdsong, curated by Andrew Borg Wirth alongside Sera Galea, features new works by Austin Camilleri, Julian Vassallo, Victor Agius, and Laetitia Troisi De Menville, until 24 April. This project is supported by APS Bank, The Alfred Mizzi Foundation, R Lautier The Natural Stone Workshop and Spades Wines & Spirits.
Malta Society of Arts Launches New Summer Courses
Applications are now open for a diverse range of arts, crafts and performing arts courses for all ages, including three new courses in Drawing and Lino Printing, Oil Painting and Theory, and My First Story Book.
The Malta Society of Arts (MSA) has unveiled its exciting schedule of Summer Courses, set to begin this July, and is inviting the public to apply. This year’s programme introduces three brand-new courses – Drawing and Lino Printing, Oil Painting and Theory, and My First Story Book - each designed to inspire creativity, build skills, and open up new artistic possibilities.
All courses will take place at the magnificent Palazzo de La Salle in Valletta, the historic seat of the MSA. Recently renovated, the 16th-century building now boasts state-of-the-art classrooms that provide a comfortable and well-equipped learning environment.
Designed for students of all ages, the courses start from as young as four years old with Art for Kids and extend to 60+ with Art for Mature Students. Whether beginners, intermediates, or advanced learners, participants will find a class suited to their skill level.
The visual arts courses include Art for Kids (410 years), Clay Modelling, Human Nude Figure, Preparation for O-Level, Art for Leisure, Art for Mature Students, and a Pencil and Charcoal Drawing course, alongside the newly introduced Drawing and Lino Printing and Oil Painting and Theory courses.
For the first time ever, the MSA is offering a course titled My First Story Book - a creative writing and an illustration course led by a story writer and an artist. During the course, which is aimed at children aged between six and 10 years, students will be guided in developing their own story, from plot and setting to characters, and supported in creating accompanying illustrations.
Established in 1852, the MSA is Malta’s oldest arts institution, continuously championing local arts and crafts. The crafts section of this summer’s programme includes courses in Lace Making, Dressmaking, Embroidery, Crochet, Knitting, Sewing for Beginners, and Tailoring.
Budding writers can also enrol in the highly soughtafter Creative Writing Course. First introduced two years ago, this course quickly became a favourite among students, thanks to its engaging mix of theory and hands-on practice.
The ever-popular Acting and Drama course will also return this summer for young performers aged 1015. Combining fun acting exercises with an informal final performance, this staple course encourages creativity and storytelling in a supportive setting.
Music students of all levels can also apply for individual classes in Violin, Pianoforte, and Guitar –whether electric, acoustic, or classical – ensuring a well-rounded musical education under the guidance of experienced instructors.
MSA President Arch. Adrian Mamo expressed his enthusiasm for the expanding programme: “Expanding the range of courses at the MSA is a key part of our mission to nurture arts education and fill gaps in the local education market. The newly introduced Drawing and Lino Printing and Oil Painting and Theory courses are an exciting step in that direction, and we look forward to welcoming students who want to broaden their artistic horizons.”
For more details and to secure a spot, visit www. artsmalta.org/courses-summer. For more on the activities of the Malta Society of Arts, you can also visit www.facebook.com/maltasocietyofarts.
An
Archbishop’s Delegate for Culture office at The Malta Society of Arts
MALTA Lumen, Austin Camilleri, 2025. Photo by Julian Vassallo
Interview / Exhibition / CO-MA
April - June 2025
Dust to Oil
Pigs.
Not coppers. Neither the hoofed mammal. But an anthropomorphic hybrid of the erect, clothed kind that sit at, and socialise, around a table, whilst engorging themselves on anything presented unto them. Because pigs, you see, will eat anything. They will crush, mince and butcher their food in a gluttonous frenzy. It is the ravenous, quasi-insatiable hunger, which is the defining characteristic here, the visible salivation, which lends itself so poetically to myriad situations that have voracious appetites as points of departure.
You couldn’t portray a more direct or on the nose picture in representation of GLUTTONY. A pictorial depiction that is heavy, weighty, meaty. Clad with connotation and reference.
The image before my eyes, speaks the same language as CO-MA’s former work, stylistically, aesthetically. Yet, in this particular work, there is no sensuous Venuslike, Renaissance-reminiscent figure. The picture plane is completely dominated by incongruously smart, cravat-wielding, pigs. Which, quite literally, hog the limelight. Try as you may, you can’t look away; you are pulled into their midst. Almost as though you could join the party and help yourself to the remnants of their unsavoury morsels. Capturing our attention, is the inclusion of reptiles and rodents within the festive spread – dead, and alive – an addition which is unclear in intent. These ‘elements’ could be merely symbolic.
MALTA
LISA GWEN
Artist in the studio
LISA GWEN holds a first degree in History of Art and a Masters in Cultural Heritage Management. She is a freelance curator and writer for art and design events.
… that is allure of CO-MA’s work – it leaves a lasting impression. Actually, it’s much more than an impression, it’s a mood, a feeling; his work takes you somewhere you can’t always precisely pinpoint through the written word.
However, their presence could also have been drawn by hunger or scent, or by the morbid possibility that they could be sampled along with the rest of the plated hogwash.
Presented with such a sight, I am easily lost in thought. Because that is allure of CO-MA’s work – it leaves a lasting impression. Actually, it’s much more than an impression, it’s a mood, a feeling; his work takes you somewhere you can’t always precisely pinpoint through the written word. Which is why I allow this
regurgitation to flow through my fingers in attempt at elucidation.
Spurred by a recent studio visit ahead of an upcoming show, featuring the Seven Deadly Sins, it is perhaps the first time, that I have gleaned understanding into his method. Four large works are affixed onto various walls and surfaces. They stand upright, perfectly erect. To an untrained eye, they might seem finished or well-advanced, yet accustomed to his level of detail and definition, I realise, they are anything but. He is a fast worker,
tackling several works simultaneously, perhaps a method adopted in order to ensure homogeneity – chromatically, stylistically, temperamentally.
Every Saint Has a Past And Every Sinner Has a Future – quite unsurprisingly, another mouthful of an exhibition title, yet one which is fitting in more ways. Extrapolated from Oscar Wilde’s play: A Woman of No Importance, this quote’s vessel provides a direct link between CO-MA’s previous work, and his present proposition. In his first exhibition
(2021) – Black Clouds of Smoke Made the White Clouds Look Dark – I had noted how, “the body, irrespective of its outwardly beauty, is merely an object, an empty vessel. You can paint it, manipulate it, mask it. But it remains just that.” Yet Wilde’s play explores the double standards between the sexes in the Victorian era – hardly a comment on the vacuity of the human shell.
The comment here is more profound, and interestingly, it transcends time. It is clear from the ‘costume’ adorned by
Try as you may, you can’t look away; you are pulled into their midst. Almost as though you could join the party and help yourself to the remnants of their unsavoury morsels.
CO-MA’s figures, that they are placed in different tranches of time and history. His gluttons are seemingly dressed in (Victorian) period clothing; SLOTH could be an Ophelia from the Art Nouveau period, while GREED’s protagonists, seem ‘set’ against a backdrop of the 16th or 17th centuries.
This exhibition marks a distinct departure from CO-MA’s past work and exhibitions, in that he has ‘abandoned’ his predominant use of charcoal, and his proclivity for an absence of traditional colour, for the medium of oil. In fact, there is (some form of) colour seeping through his plentiful layers of complex paint – browns, greys, ochres, even. Despite the marked evolution, he employs a restricted palette, which nevertheless exudes
uniformity, through its monochromatic rendering.
As I pen my ‘final’ thoughts and impressions on COMA’s upcoming show, I receive an image of his latest evolving piece - ENVY. Never has she looked as luscious or desirable. True, she is being ravaged by a snake, yet the omnipresent sensuality of his past work and figures, is in full vigour here. So much so, that one could easily be tempted into thinking this were a representation of LUST, which, the artist is tackling from a very dark and sinister point of view. Which makes me wonder – what could COMA possibly be orchestrating in representation of the culmination of desire and intensity? We can only wonder, until we may partake in his vision.
Every Saint Has a Past And Every Sinner Has a Future, curated by Lily Agius, will be showing at Spazju Kreattiv, Space C, in Valletta, from 9 May to 29 June 2025.
www.lilyagiusgallery.com
Opening Hours: 09 May | 7 - 9pm (Official open evening)
10 May - 29 June
Tuesday - Friday 9am - 9pm Saturday - Sunday 10am - 9pm
Interview / Zoë De Luca Legge / Feminist studies
April - June 2025
Interconnectedness
As the shadows of a war-driven system and a patriarchal dominance darken our world, the need to question the status quo has never been more urgent. Women’s voices and a deeper connection with nature offer a powerful path forward in times like these.
In this interview, we delve into the work of Zoë De Luca Legge, an independent curator, critic and writer based in Milan, whose practice weaves together art, ecology, and feminist studies. Through projects like Hedera, she explores the vibrant intersections of queer ecology, ecofeminism, and ecosexuality — challenging patriarchal norms and highlighting the cultural significance of interconnectedness.
ELEONORA SALVI
Sacred Sadism. Photo by Wondra
For those unfamiliar with ecofeminism and queer ecology, could you give a brief historical overview and explain their cultural relevance today?
Queer ecology and ecotransfeminism are two theoretical frameworks that challenge traditional and patriarchal narratives related to environmentalism.
Queer ecology combines ecology and queer studies to explore how sexuality, gender and identity influence our relationship with the environment, challenging the traditional categories of ‘norm’ and ‘naturalness’. It analyzes the normative, binary assumptions opposed to the actual fluidity of identities and the diversity in relationship. Similarly, ecotransfeminism examines the links between the exploitation of marginalized communities and the environment. It critiques patriarchal and colonial domination of nature and women - as well as queer, working class, and indigenous people. It advocates for environmental justice through an intersectional lens that addresses not only environmental damage, but also social inequities.
How can they help uproot today’s toxic masculinity?
Both concepts argue that patriarchy, which imposes rigid roles and is based on exploitation, fuels an endless cycle of environmental and social injustice; and both share the common ground of challenging this structure rooted in power hierarchies, and this worldview shaped by oppressive dichotomies. By promoting diversity and intersectionality, queer ecology and ecotransfeminism offer a dismantling alternative, fostering a horizontal relationship with the environment and all other inhabitants based on connectedness, care and mutuality.
What does ecotransfeminism mean to you personally, and what first sparked your interest?
A few years ago I was invited to write a piece on my “feminine perspective
ELEONORA SALVI (1989, Rimini, Italy) is a project manager specializing in digital advertising, commercial production, and event management, currently based in Malta. Passionate about art, cinema, and literature, she is an art historian with a focus on contemporary art. Eleonora co-founded Diorama Magazine (dioramamag.com, 2011). She collaborates with publishing houses and art magazines, lending her expertise to various editorial and curatorial projects.
on sexuality” for an art publishing project. Hesitant because of the binary formulation of the assignment, my response ended up being a short essay about the sexual deception of orchids and how much more nature-inspired our notions of eroticism should be. This helped me to see how feminism, sexuality and ecology are closely intertwined. That’s when I began to deepen my research on ecology, emphasising the idea that we are all inseparable aspects of the same whole, an interconnected impulse.
Tell us about your project Hedera, and what inspired you?
Hedera is an annual publication that aims to be both a way of sharing my curatorial research, and a space for collective observation of the overlapping between postnatural and transfeminist studies. Each volume collects conversations, essays, fiction, poetry and artist content. The project takes its name from the English ivy; an evergreen untamable vine, a symbol of relentless love and hedonistic celebration. But it is not only the wonders of the non-human world that inspire me; I am also inspired by people who, through their sensitivity and visionary approach, have managed to reconnect. First and foremost is Hildegard von Bingen, the mystic, botanist and proto-ecofeminist to whom I dedicated Hedera’s first tee.
Who are the pioneering artists that are pushing the research forward?
Among the artists that I have had the privilege of working with recently, I think of Seba Calfuqueo, who bases her research on how territorial and environmental conflicts are intertwined with critical race, indigenous culture and gender theory. Her work often forges connections between water and the queer body, inspired by her Mapuche ancestry and contrasting with capitalist exploitation by the Chilean government. Another innovative work is undoubtedly that of Sacred Sadism, a project that considers plants as fetish s/objects
HEDERA tee, Neither Oppressor Nor Oppressed, Graphic Design. Photo by Siliqoon
Interview / Zoë De Luca Legge / Feminist studies
April - June 2025
that implement the ecological connection between all things, shifting erotic power dynamics into the realm of more than human relationships. The project is about power rather than sex, and takes the term ecology in its broadest and most historical sense, incorporating Marxism and anarchism to reconfigure BDSM into a new aesthetic and philosophical framework.
Your research explores ecosexuality. How does performance art amplify the connection between body, desire, and nature?
Ecosexuality is a perspective that encompasses a sexual, romantic and intrinsically queer connection with the Earth. It focuses on exploring new forms of coexistence that go beyond our conventional relationship, by delving into the issues of romance and sensuality. To consider these notions is to implicitly question the metaphor of Mother Earth and revise it to that of our lover - as Annie Sprinkle
and Beth Stephens teach us. Beginning to see ourselves as Earth’s loving partners, rather than her demanding children, helps us to enter into a reciprocal and non-hierarchical relationship with her and all her inhabitants. Experiencing this transspecies resonance with romantic or erotic overtones enables us to exercise greater empathy and serves as a reminder that pleasure can unite us because we are all intrinsically connected.
You’ve curated the opening show at the new gallery Limbo in Milan. Can you share details about it and what’s next for you?
The group exhibition FALENE, featuring works by Ludovica Anversa, Federico Arani and Leilei Wu, represents the gallery’s focus on artistic practices bound by an interrogative tension towards dark ecology and liminal territories. We’ll be collaborating on further projects in 2025, exhibiting emerging artists whose practices explore fluidity, impermanence and
SALADS BY DAY DRINKS BY NIGHT @ NO.43
43, MERCHANT STREET, VALLETTA
transience, reflecting the perpetual fermentation of their time.
Zoë De Luca Legge’s practice focuses on layering postnatural and transfeminist studies to create interdisciplinary, collective and slow-paced projects. She is co-founder of Siliqoon and her most recent project is Hedera, a research publication dedicated to queer ecology, ecofeminism and ecosexuality.
https://www.instagram.com/eternaltadpole/
HEDERA VOL.I. Photo by Monia Ben Hamouda
Zoë De Luca Legge. Photo by Federica Cocciro
Feature /Venice Biennale of Architecture
April - June 2025
ERICA GIUSTA is Director of Innovation at architecture firm AP Valletta. She read for an MA in Architecture, and has a Post-Graduate Master from the Sole24Ore Business School in Milan. She contributes regularly to academic journals and international architecture magazines such as A10 New European Architecture and Il Giornale dell’Architettura.
ERICA GIUSTA
Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective.
A lot of science and architecture ‘in the traditional sense’. What should we expect from the 19th Biennale di Architettura di Venezia?
Set to open to the public on Saturday 10th May, the upcoming Biennale promises to transform its historical exhibition venues at the Arsenale and Corderie into a ‘dynamic laboratory’ once again, and in a radically different manner from previous editions. Committed to showcase ‘architecture embracing adaptation, rethinking how we design for an altered world’, main curator Carlo Ratti described his idea
of a laboratory in clear contrast to that of The Laboratory of the Future, successfully curated by Lesley Lokko in 2023, at the press presentation held earlier this year in February. While the vocabulary was reminiscing of certain curatorial statements by Lokko, the spirit within which certain words were used was openly different: ‘laboratory’, ‘collective’, ‘change’, ‘people-centred’ and ‘multidisciplinary’ were linked to strictly scientific solutions targeting climate change and deliberately rejecting
any political or social responsibility inherently carried by designers.
In a recent interview with Dezeen, as a follow-up to the official press conference introducing the main theme of the exhibition, Ratti, who is a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), stated that in spite of the multidisciplinarity of his approach, “there will be a lot of architecture in the traditional sense.
I know that there was some criticism
of past biennales where architecture abdicated to other disciplines, such as arts or politics,” he continued, “but this is the opposite as it goes back to the built environment, because when you look at climate crisis adaptation, it is all about the built environment and bringing other disciplines into architecture. So, this is not about leaving the floor, it is actually architecture at the centre. It’s not about moving somewhere else, it’s actually bringing everybody into the space of architecture to help”. This
VENICE
Canal Café, Aaron Betsky, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Natural Systems Utilities and SODAI
Feature /Venice Biennale of Architecture
April - June 2025
seemingly conservative change of heart is complemented by a positive and perhaps over-positivistic perspective on the agency that we all have, as architects but also as citizens. The main curator believes that in order to become ‘architects of the future’ rather than ‘victims of the future’, we should fully and actively embrace technological progress. In doing so, he also redefines authorship, moving away from the modernist misconception of the architect as a solitary hero operating in a vacuum, and advocates taking responsibility and action in an almost existentialist manner: “the only way we can be architects of the future is to be aware of all these transformations happening in technology, play with them, see how we should use them and see how we should not use them,” he told Dezeen.
In the words of Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, President of the Biennale di Venezia and responsible for the choice of the curator: “Intelli/Gens means to build the world with intelligence, listening to the intelligence of the world. This is what Carlo Ratti wishes to say in his visionary exhibition, the very title of which announces its intention to be a foundational reflection for the near futures, the subject of study and debate for the scientific and artistic community and for the public of visitors. In
the dialectical arena of the various disciplines, constellated with algorithms that he consults as newly-minted oracles, Ratti deciphers what we are and what will be – as individuals and as society – in the digital stream that leads into our tomorrow, the time of all of us Gens bestowed with Intelligence”. Buttafuoco, a respected journalist and intellectual with a political career within the ruling Fratelli d’Italia party spanning over his entire life, remains faithful to the traditional right-wing ideas of his background, discarding any political correctness or connotation that most people consider as inherently embedded into the architectural discourse. As a result, his approach politicizes this most prestigious cultural institution more than ever, in a new but easily predictable way, bringing it closer to right-wing-leaning ideologies in line with the current global shift towards conservatism. Featuring over 750 participants and who knows how many different kinds of technological wizardry, we can safely assume that this Biennale will be a particularly challenging and ambitious one, hopefully reaching beyond the seductive rhetoric and magniloquence of its initial presentation.
For more information about the exhibition, please visit www.labiennale.org
Gateway to Venice’s Waterways, 2024 – Water View View from the water of the mobility hub infrastructure, showcasing the lagoon activation.
Photo by Norman Foster Foundation
Construction Futures: Co-Poiesis, Philip Yuan
