Long before its scheduled inauguration taking place today, the Malta International Contemporary Art Space (MICAS) has been a hive of activity.
The restoration, construction and transformation of the 17th-century Ospizio Complex in Floriana into a fully-fledged art gallery has been no small feat. Simultaneously, the team has been in the thick of preparations, engaging Maltese and international artists to participate in MICAS’s artistic programme, while laying the groundwork for the highly-anticipated opening exhibition by Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos.
A grand opening
To launch with an exhibition by Vasconcelos – who is renowned for her larger-than-life installations, recently seen setting a remarkable stage for Christian Dior’s 2023-2024 Paris Fashion Week show – is a symbol of MICAS’ international aspirations, and indeed of its artistic director, Edith Devaney, who describes the art space as one that honours Malta’s past, present and future.
“Malta has long been celebrated for its rugged natural beauty, history and heritage. With MICAS, we are starting a new chapter – one that looks outward and connects with the international art world, and brings the very best of modern and contemporary art to these shores, but also looks within to celebrate the richness and diversity of contemporary art and practice in Malta,” she says.
The multifaceted campus has been revitalised from a forgotten space into a grand national project – a perfect stage for Vasconcelos’s exhibition, described as colourful and exuberant, with a core selection of installations that focus on the ‘domestic’, presented alongside three major works which connect with the contemplative side of human existence – Tree of Life, The Garden of Eden and Valkyrie Mumbet.
Like all of the artist’s works, gender and cultural politics play a central part, while her pieces of monumental scale and significance are constructed with everyday non-precious materials, often associated with the domestic.
“With the excavated and historic walls visible and natural light flowing throughout the spaces of the restored 17th-century Ospizio and San Salvatore counterguard, the presentation of Vasconcelos’s work in the new building will also be a celebration of the completion of the heritage project and its contemporary architecture,” Edith adds.
The artistic programme
With a two-year artistic programme that will include a spotlight on homegrown talent, as well as international artists, reflecting a carefully managed selection process, the artistic director has designed it to present exhibitions of the highest quality – an approach that is backed by her decades of experience in the international art scene.
Formerly the senior curator at the Royal Academy of Arts in London for over 20 years, Edith was responsible for originating and curating many ambitious exhibitions, such as Jasper Johns: Something Resembling Truth (2017), also curating its tour to The Broad in Los Angeles; Abstract Expressionism (2016), also curating its tour to the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao; and David Hockney: A Bigger Picture (2012), curating its tour to the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and the Museum Ludwig in Cologne.
In 2021, she left the Royal Academy to manage the foundation of influential British artist David Hockney and David Hockney Inc. in Los Angeles for two years, before finding her way to Malta at the helm of MICAS.
“All international artists who work with MICAS have been challenged to leverage Malta and its culture to inform their approach to the selection and placement of work in the galleries and grounds,” says Edith. “Vasconcelos too has formed a deep engagement with Malta and its history while developing her exhibition with the MICAS exhibition staff.”
Over the next two years, visitors and art enthusiasts have much to anticipate. ‘Malta in Focus’ will be a curated exhibition occupying all the gallery spaces and will feature the work of leading Malta-based contemporary artists, illustrating the depth and richness of contemporary art practice in Malta with such artists as Caesar Attard, Austin Camilleri, Joyce Camilleri and Anton Grech.
Also part of the artistic programme is a survey of Milton Avery, considered one of America’s greatest 20th-century colourists, and rarely seen in Europe. “Avery’s work will occupy all MICAS’s gallery spaces, together with a selected number of celebrated contemporary artists which will include the artist’s daughter March Avery, British artist Gary Hume and Swiss artist Nicolas Party, all of whom have been influenced by Avery’s compositions and unique approach to colour.”
A pillar of the MICAS programme will be to present the work of global artists who have earned recognition for their singular approach to creating art. “We are delighted that 2026 will bring African-American painter Reggie Burrows Hodges to develop a new exhibition specifically for the museum,” Devaney adds.
“Hodges’ works possesses a strong visual narrative that explores questions of identity, community and memory, marked by his singular technique of employing a black background across his canvases and then developing the scene around his figures with painterly, loose brushwork.”
Photography: Courtesy of MICAS
