Valletta 2018’s major contemporary arts exhibition Dal-Baħar Madwarna (The Island is what the Sea Surrounds) will be open to the public free of charge on Sunday May 27 – its final day before closing.

22 established and emerging artists, both Maltese and international, are collaborating with the curator of this project, Maren Richter, to showcase their work, which relates to both the concept of Maltese ‘islandness’, as well as contemporary social realities such as migration, traffic and real estate development.

The exhibition is spread over three locations in Valletta; the underground cisterns opposite the Law Courts, the Old Fisheries House (Pixkerija) and St Elmo Examination Centre. These will all be open to the public for free on Sunday May 27.

The group exhibition at St Elmo Examination Centre closes on Sunday May 27, while the underground cisterns and the Pixkerija remain open until July 1.

Artists whose work is exhibited at St Elmo Examination Centre include Heba Y Amin (Egypt), Hela Ammar (Tunisia), Bettina Hutschek (Germany/Malta), Raphael Vella (Malta), Gilbert Calleja (Malta), Fernando Sanchez Castillo (Malta), Lida Abdul (Afghanistan), Adrian Paci (Albania), Wael Shawky (Egypt/America), Antoine Cassar (Malta), Aaron Bezzina (Malta), Center for Political Beauty (Germany) and Embassy for the Displaced, Scan Lab, and Stevanos (International), Kristina Borg (Malta), transparadiso (Austria), Fleeting Territories (Austria/Sweden), Tania El Khoury (Lebanon) and Manaf Halbouni (Germany/Syria). Artistic works include sculptural installations, sound and video installations as well as drawings.

Photo: Jason BorgPhoto: Jason Borg

Visitors have the opportunity to explore the capital city’s hidden underground by visiting the underground cisterns opposite the Law Courts. These magnificent cisterns host a site-specific sound installation by Turner Prize winner, Susan Philipsz; Who By Fire. Ms Philipsz’s sound installation refers to a damaged naval bell at the National War Museum in Fort St. Elmo that has been salvaged from a battleship. This battered bell remains a reminder of the impact and force of air raids. Ms Philipsz’s work addresses memories and loss of local cultures over time.

The exhibition at the Pixkerija is directly connected to the fabric of the building of the Pixkerija itself. Ibrahim Mahama’s large scale intervention – A Straight Line Through the Carcass of History – is a physical line made of meshes, with the intention of highlighting the working history of the old fish market, its uncertain future and the Mediterranean Sea as a symbol of trading between Africa and Europe.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.