The Malta International Contemporary Art Space (MICAS) now has a volume that traces the story behind the iconic building of Malta’s newest cultural destination.
Published by Italian specialists in visual arts Electa, and edited by architect and author Marco Mulazzani, MICAS: Malta International Contemporary Art Space carries a considered account of the museum as both an architectural transformation and an institutional proposition: a contemporary art space shaped by place, history and public ambition.
MICAS vice-chairperson Georgina Portelli, who stewarded the publication, said the essays and visual material brought together in this publication reflect MICAS’s development as a hybrid institution.
“The museum is not only a destination for exhibitions, but a platform for artistic production, education, and public engagement… This publication addresses key themes that define MICAS’s identity and direction: the distinctive architectural intervention and adaptive reuse; our curatorial practice and exhibition-making; the Floriana site’s layered history; our institutional vision and public access; education and cultural outreach; and the ecological stewardship of the wider landscape in which the museum is embedded.”
More than a record of a new museum, MICAS is presented as a case study in contemporary practice where Maltese heritage was engaged without nostalgia, and how architecture, curatorship, ecology and place came together to form Malta’s home for international contemporary art.
“We created an institution that re-energised the historic land on which it stands”
MICAS executive chairperson Phyllis Muscat said the publication is a testament to the transformative power of architecture.
“Our vision was for a contemporary arts museum, long desired by the arts community here. In the end, we created an institution that re-energised the historic land on which it stands, a place once used for military defence, that is now a space for artistic encounter.”
At an event marking the publication, Muscat thanked all past and present MICAS board members and staff, as well as commending the Maltese government’s continued investment in the national museum.
“Bringing MICAS to fruition required belief in this transformation and in the promised benefit that such a home for contemporary art would provide to this island. Today, I thank all those who back in 2013 joined me in supporting this vision,” Muscat said.
The publication is the culmination of the MICAS exhibition Beyond the Bastions, through which visitors learn about the history of the Floriana site and the former Ospizio complex, while also encountering MICAS’s wider vision for contemporary art within a fortified landscape through galleries and a sculpture garden; and how Florence-based architects Ipostudio, together with the Restoration and Preservation Department, converted a derelict 17th-century fortification into a contemporary arts museum.
MICAS’s current exhibition is Colour, Form and Composition: Milton Avery and His Enduring Influence on Contemporary Painting, a one-of-a-kind exhibition of the American modernist Milton Avery’s works – the second-ever such exhibition in Europe. His works stand side by side with those of contemporary greats Henni Alftan, March Avery, Harold Ancart, Andrew Cranston, Gary Hume, Nicolas Party and Jonas Wood.
MICAS is open from Tuesday to Sunday, with free entrance every Sunday and a free tour of the exhibitions on offer at 11am.