The walls of Marsamxett in Valletta are set to provide the canvas to massive street paintings as foreign and local artists join forces for the Malta Street Art Festival.

The grey concrete walls of Marsamxett in Valletta will soon be transformed into a huge open-air gallery as local and foreign artists descend on the area for the Malta Street Art Festival.

Featuring paintings themed around the Knights of Malta, the walls will echo the history of the city with contemporary street art merging with Maltese history. In a city replete with stories of past and present, even the walls will speak. “We chose Marsamxett due to its postcard surroundings and large amount of concrete walls.

”Our ambition for this year is to completely transform the festival into an outdoor exhibition area decorated by the best street artists of our time,” says Peter Brobeck from AddMoreColors, the Swedish street art agency behind the festival.

“We want to provide the most beautiful and creative platform for local and foreign street artists and musicians to showcase their talent.”

The festival will not be limited to street art. All art forms are welcome as long as they can be performed within the festival area and reasonable guidelines. When summer is at its brightest, the festival will provide a veritable explosion of colour, life and activity at the edges of the capital.

What started out as a smaller event has effectively grown into a national event, says Brobeck.

The festival was first organised a couple of years after the agency settled in Malta in partnership with local friends Lara Catania and Jean Marc Galea. At the time, the company had just worked on a festival in Sweden.

“With that experience in the bag and discovering the Maltese climate, beaches and lifestyle, it made sense to try out a street art festival with our partners in crime. We hosted the event for two years in Sliema and it instantly became an international success.”

The line-up certainly attests to this.

Street art festival in Valletta

“Our festival has rapidly taken a highly reputable spot on the international scene and world-class artists are lining up to be a part of our event. In total we have received over 500 international applications from artists who want to join in on the fun.”

Since the festival can only cater for between 15 and 20 artists, the organisers have decided to put together a package for those who are willing to travel here themselves and pay for their visit.

­­­­The package includes everything from accommodation to spray cans and entertainment. This new project is on its first year trial, but half the available spots are already booked.

The organisers are counting on trebling the international artists travelling here for next year’s festival.

“The foreign artist will get the chance to accompany our ever-growing local graffiti scene, which this year will even include a local pavement artist.”

Over 500 international applicants want to be part of this year’s festival

The following artists have been confirmed so far: Justin Bonnici (Malta),  Seapuppy (Malta/Denmark), Cooker (Malta), Twitchcraft (Malta), Wild Drawing (Greece), Smug (UK), Dheo (Portugal), Odeith (Portugal), Pariz One (Portugal), Leon Keer (Holland), Tony Cuboliquido (Italy), Vera Bugatti (Italy), Valentina Sforzini (Italy), Tank (Germany); Bond (Germany), Tim Timmey (Sweden), Zag & Sia (France) and Alex Maksiov (Kazakhstan). Other foreign and Maltese artists are in the process of being confirmed.

“Street art always fits best in the context of its environments and our aim is to integrate our islands’ history on the walls of Marsamxett,” says Brobeck.

Since Malta is commemorating its 450 years since the Great Siege victory of 1565, this year’s festival will be themed around the Knights of Malta, who battled the Ottomans.

So what is the difference between graffiti and street art? And how has the value of street art changed in recent years?

In the past, graffiti was an indicator that a neighbourhood was neglected. Street art, however, has taken on a different currency.

“For us there isn’t really a difference. Graffiti is art using spray cans as medium and the term ‘street art’ has become so commonly used because it’s a ‘nicer’ word to use for legal graffiti.

“Everything originated from the graffiti scene and even though the creativity of the artists or writers has grown into using other mediums, surfaces and methods, it’s still the same scene in our eyes,” says Brobeck.

“If you want to separate the two words, however, you could say that graffiti focuses more on painting your name and tag and street art is everything that doesn’t. It’s not really true but it is close enough.”

True to the spirit of street art, the festival is open to anyone. However, in order for the organisers to keep track, participants must send in an application through the festival website and explain what they have in mind.

“We don’t judge the applications on the artist’s level of experience and love it when people want to give it their first go during our festival.”

Most artworks will be painted on concrete walls; after the event, it will be decided whether to keep them or to paint them over.

The paintings made on temporary boards will be saved to decorate future festival editions, while the pavement art – true to the nature of the genre – will gently fade away with the wind and rain. The festival will also include a number of music events, with Mana Tapu headlining.

The Malta Street Art Festival will be held between July 24 and 26 at Marsamxett, Valletta. This event is presented by the Malta Street Art Festival, Add More Colors and London Street-Art Design Magazine.

www.maltastreetartfestival.com

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