The Mediterranean’s latest and brightest showcase for art has been celebrating a hectic first few weeks. MICAS – Malta International Contemporary Art Space – is the island’s first such museum and was inaugurated at a lavish ceremony on 25 October by Malta’s Prime Minister, Robert Abela, accompanied by the Minister for National Heritage, Arts and Local Government, Owen Bonnici, and members of the MICAS board, led by executive chairperson, Phyllis Muscat.
Opening with a characteristically vibrant show by the iconic Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos, MICAS occupies a dramatic location in the historic Ospizio complex in Floriana, overlooking the Maltese capital of Valetta and set against a backdrop of restored seventeenth-century fortifications. The scale of the shiny new addition to the island’s cultural scene is prodigious: 1400 square metres of indoor gallery space, plus an outdoor sculpture garden, shop and café. The look and feel of the place is lavish, as well it might be, given the level of investment made – a figure of upwards of Euros 30 million has been touted for the overall costs involved in creating MICAS.
That said, the result is undeniably stunning. Inviting Vasconcelos to open MICAS with four of her trademark monumental installations has proved to be an inspired choice, offering the public an opportunity to get up close and personal with an artist who delights in people engaging directly with her works, walking through and around them, and even touching the myriad components. “We were determined that the first exhibition should be accessible on many levels,” says Edith Devaney, artistic director at MICAS, “and hoped that the sheer colour and exuberance of Joana’s work would both attract and delight visitors.”
Devaney and her team must be greatly reassured by the response in the first few weeks of public opening, with many hundreds of visitors thronging the gallery spaces. Many are not typical art groupies, further underlining the potential value of the new museum to the wider community. “These last weeks have seen large portions of the Maltese general public visiting MICAS to view the Joana Vasconcelos exhibition, as well as joining our open weekend during the first week of December and taking guided tours around the entire MICAS complex,” reports Muscat.
As for Vasconcelos herself, it’s been a great ride so far. “I have never opened a museum before,” she admitted. “It doesn’t happen often and is a privilege, especially as we are opening a place of purity, beauty and perfection here.”
