Malta’s first-ever national contemporary art museum, the Malta International Contemporary Arts Space (MICAS), was inaugurated on Friday, October 25, 2024, with a joyous and monumental exhibition from the acclaimed and visionary Portuguese artist, Joana Vasconcelos.
MICAS was officially opened by Malta’s Prime Minister Robert Abela, Joana Vasconcelos, and Malta’s Minister for National Heritage, Arts, and Local Government, Owen Bonnica, as well as the MICAS board, led by executive chairperson, Phyllis Muscat.
MICAS will be open to the public on Sunday, November 27, 2024.
Special guests at the official inauguration cast their eyes on three major works of Joana Vasconcelos, the Tree Of Life, Garden of Eden, and Valkyrie Mumbet, as well as a series of other works, which literally took over the four-story space at MICAS.
Under the stewardship of the MICAS board, this previously inaccessible complex of historic buildings has now been reopened to the community as Malta’s newest cultural destination.
Prime Minister Robert Abela said the opening of MICAS was a transformative moment for the island-nation of Malta, and paid tribute to all the ideators and workers who had brought the concept to fruition.
MICAS executive chair Phyllis Muscat outlined the evolution of a concept, which was formally kick-started in 2018, to respond to decades-long calls by Maltese artists for a contemporary arts space, and paid tribute to the efforts of the MICAS board in reaching out to the world of international art.
The artist Joana Vasconcelos gave thanks to the MICAS board for inviting her to open Malta’s newest contemporary arts museum and paid tribute to the MICAS board.
Minister for National Heritage and the Arts Owen Bonnici toasted the historic moment, in which about 43,000 sq ft of previously inaccessible land was being returned to the community in the form of a cultural infrastructure project. He stated, “It is a strong investment in the people’s well-being, families, and our quality of life…”
“Art not only beautifies and feeds our souls, but it strengthens the nation. A future without culture would be a future without humanity.”
Immediately visible at the lowest level of the museum was the towering Tree Of Life, with its 110,000 hand-stitched and embroidered fabric leaves, fungi, mosses and lichens, stumps and branches, bringing to life the immense spaciousness of MICAS’s raw and restrained interior. A musical composition specifically created for Tree Of Life was sung by the baritone Rui de Luna Vasconcelos, who also sang other works in the Portuguese tradition.
About MICAS (Malta International Contemporary Arts Space)
MICAS is a Government of Malta infrastructural legacy project for the Culture and the Arts sector that is part-financed by the European Union under the European Regional Development Fund – European Structural and Investment Funds 2014-2020.
MICAS Board and International Committee
Alongside CEO and Chair of the Board Phyllis Muscat, MICAS is supported by Artistic Director Edith Devaney. International Committee chair and member, respectively, Waqas Wajahat, collector, curator, and museum trustee who works closely with museums to organise exhibitions, and Timothy Rub, the celebrated George D. Widener Emeritus Director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Interview with MICAS chair Phyllis Muscat
Interview with MICAS educational committee chair Georgina Portelli
Bringing art, architecture, and nature together: the MICAS Sculpture Garden
Inside the fortifications housing MICAS
Layers of MICAS (Part 1): the story of the Ospizio complex
Layers of MICAS (Part 2): the Floriana lines and San Salvatore bastion
More information about Joana Vasconcelos
Craftwork XXL: how Joana Vasconcelos decontextualizes the ‘feminine’
Please visit micas.art for more information and follow @micasmalta on Instagram to follow MICAS’s journey to opening.
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About Malta
The sunny islands of Malta, in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, are home to a most remarkable concentration of intact built heritage, including the highest density of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in any nation-state anywhere. Valletta, built by the proud Knights of St. John, is one of the UNESCO sites and the European Capital of Culture for 2018. Malta’s patrimony in stone ranges from the oldest free-standing stone architecture in the world, to one of the British Empire’s most formidable defensive systems, and includes a rich mix of domestic, religious and military architecture from the ancient, medieval and early modern periods. With superbly sunny weather, attractive beaches, a thriving nightlife and 8,000 years of intriguing history, there is a great deal to see and do.
For more information on Malta, visit www.VisitMalta.com.
SEEN IN MAIN IMAGE: Launch of MICAS, artwork pictured by Valkyrie Mumbet – image courtesy of Malta Tourism Authority
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