Opening with an exhibition of the work of the celebrated installation artist Joana Vasconcelos, Malta’s first contemporary art museum will follow this with exhibitions featuring the work of Milton Avery and his contemporary followers, Reggie Burrows Hodges and more
MICAS (Malta International Contemporary Art Space), country’s first-ever museum dedicated to contemporary art, announces today its inaugural exhibition programme beginning with visionary Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos upon the museum’s opening in October 2024. The two-year schedule includes five diverse exhibitions that will feature international artists in addition to celebrated Malta-based artists, elevating Malta on the global arts stage and contextualising the country’s inimitable position in world history.
Against the backdrop of the restored Ospizio – a 17th century fortress fronting Marsamxett harbour overlooking the capital city of Valletta, a UNESCO World Heritage site, – visitors will encounter a multifaceted 8,360 square-metre (90,000 square-foot) campus that comprises 1,400 square-metres of indoor gallery space (15,070 square-feet), outdoor sculpture gardens, restored fortifications, a shop and a café. Malta Contemporary’s inaugural programme reflects a carefully managed selection process designed to present exhibitions of the highest quality, which develop original ideas, honour diversity and establish relationships with global artists and museums.
In addition to Joana Vasconcelos, who was recently commissioned to outfit the stage for Christian Dior’s 2023-2024 Paris Fashion Week show, future exhibitions will feature works by Milton Avery and Reggie Burrows Hodges. Avery, a modern painter and master colourist who influenced past artists such as Barnett Newman and Mark Rothko, will be shown alongside a carefully selected group of contemporary artists who continue to be inspired by his approach to art. The painter Reggie Burrows Hodges will present a new exhibition of work, much of it created for the museum.
“We are proud that our programme establishes an identity for Malta Contemporary in a crowded global art scene while reaffirming our artistic independence,” said Phyllis Muscat, MICAS CEO and Chair of the Board. “This sets MICAS apart from other government-funded cultural organisations and aligns us with international not-for-profit museums.”
EXHIBITION PROGRAMME 2024 – 2026
Joana Vasconcelos
October 2024 – March 2025
Malta International Contemporary Art Space’s opening exhibition by Joana Vasconcelos will be colourful and exuberant, with universal resonance and relevance. A core selection of installations that focus on the domestic will be presented alongside three major works which connect with the contemplative side of human existence – Tree of Life, The Garden of Eden and Valkyrie Mumbet. Presenting these two bodies of work together will illustrate how the challenging aspects of daily life create a desire and need to tap into the more spiritual sides of our nature in order to find an emotional release.
Like all of Vasconcelos’s works, gender and cultural politics will be in evidence – with the materiality of the work also playing a role. Constructed with everyday non-precious materials, often associated with the domestic, Vasconcelos creates works of monumental scale and significance.
“It is really an honor and a privilege to be the first Artist to present an exhibition that will be opening MICAS, not only because of the incredible contemporary art program, but also because of the amazing
historical background of Malta, regarding Women as Artists, connected to the old temples and
contemporary culture. I am really delighted to do this wonderful show in Malta next fall,” Vasconcelos
said. “For this exhibition, I will present an assembly of my pieces, representative of my last works, such
as the “Tree of Life,” “Valkyrie Mumbet” or “Garden of Eden,” which are extraordinary, unique pieces
that together will create a magical moment for all who visit this show and this museum.”
All international artists who work with MICAS are challenged to leverage Malta and its culture to inform their approach to the selection and placement of work in the galleries and grounds. Vasconcelos has responded to this mission and formed a deep engagement with Malta and its history while developing her exhibition with the MICAS exhibition staff.
With the galleries’ excavated and historic walls visible and natural light flowing throughout the spaces, 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.
Malta in Focus
May 2025 – August 2025
Following an internal museum fit-out across all three gallery levels, this will be a curated exhibition occupying all the gallery spaces and will feature the work of leading Malta-based contemporary artists. Selected and installed around the concept of imagined space, the exhibition will include artists from several different generations, working across differing media and it will illustrate the depth and richness of contemporary art practice in Malta. It will also mark the beginning of regular exhibitions within the programme that explore and showcase Malta-based art within a global context.
Artists featured in this first exhibition will include Caesar Attard, Austin Camilleri, Joyce Camilleri, Anton Grech, Pierre Portelli and Vince Briffa.
Malta in Focus introduces a strand of programming which will be a manifestation of the museum’s commitment to celebrate Maltese art at its highest form, bringing it to a wider international stage and contextualising it within the overall exhibition programme.
Milton Avery and his Influence on Contemporary Art
October 2025 – January 2026
Considered one of America’s greatest 20th Century colourists; the New York Times wrote ‘Only Matisse – to whose art he owed much, of course – produced a greater achievement in this respect’, Milton Avery’s career fell between two movements, American Impressionism and Abstract Expressionism. Avery navigated an independent course through these two American movements – with his work increasingly moving towards harmonious colours and simplified forms. These qualities were famously a source of inspiration to a younger generation of painters during his lifetime, that included Mark Rothko, Barnet Newman and Adolph Gottlieb.
Occupying all the gallery spaces, this exhibition will interrogate Avery’s enduring position as ‘an artist’s artist’, a description given to him by the American art historian Dore Ashton. For the first time a survey of Avery’s paintings from across the decades of his career will be seen alongside work by a selected number of celebrated contemporary artists which will include amongst others Harold Ancart, March Avery, Gary Hume and Nicolas Party, all of whom have been influenced by Avery’s compositions and unique approach to colour. This grouping will be a captivating study of how contemporary art remains rooted in Modernism and introduces the museum’s regular engagement in examining art history and its connection to contemporary practice.
Malta International Contemporary Art Space is delighted to bring this project to Malta in collaboration with the Milton and Sally Avery Foundation.
Reggie Burrows Hodges
February 2026 – June 2026
A pillar of the Malta International Contemporary Art Museum programme will be to present the work of global artists who have earned recognition for their singular approach to creating art. African American painter Reggie Burrows Hodges (b. 1965, Compton, California) pursues a strong visual narrative in his works, which explore questions of identity, community and memory.
This solo exhibition, which will extend across all gallery levels, will feature recent paintings which will illustrate Hodges’ singular technique of employing a black ground across his canvases and then developing the scene around his figures with painterly, loose brushwork. A technique which deliberately plays with perceptions by reducing the focus on the human figure, which is essentially formed by the negative space within the composition; a practice which accentuates the environment where the figures are situated rather than the figures themselves.
Hodges’ early study of performance and film brings a sense of dramatic staging to his compositions, which, coupled by a softness in the application of paint, ensures a subtlety of approach in addressing the challenging universal themes of existence which he explores.
Reggie Burrows Hodges is due to have exhibitions in an number of significant museums across the United States over the next few years, and Malta International Contemporary Art Museum is particularly delighted to have engaged him at this time to develop and present a new exhibition specifically for the museum.
Group Exhibition Exploring Malta’s Geographical Position
July 2026 – September 2026
Still under development, the premise of this exhibition is to examine Malta’s rich and unique cultural history and geographical position from the perspective of contemporary art. For many centuries Malta was a staging post between Africa and Asia and Europe, and it’s long association with all three continents has resulted in many shared histories from the Mediterranean region converging on these islands, the impact of which still resonates within contemporary culture today. This group exhibition will seek to explore these shared histories around a theme and will bring together work from a selection of artists from Malta and neighbouring countries and continents bordering the Mediterranean – many of which played a significant role in Malta’s rich history.
Additional Exhibition Programming Outside the Main Galleries
The expansive campus will offer many opportunities to programme the display of sculptural work across its grounds and provide space for the permanent collection. In addition to the landscaped sculpture garden, due to open in 2026, there is a large green space that leads from the entrance to the galleries which is designated for the display of sculpture. The fortification walls overlooking the harbour and the vaults below offer additional spaces for the display of art; currently installed here is the work of the British sculptor, Conrad Shawcross.
There will also be occasions during some main gallery exhibitions to programme more focused displays of art in some of the separate gallery spaces.
Ray Pitrè
November 2024
To celebrate the inauguration of a major newly commissioned sculpture by the celebrated Maltese artist Ray Pitrè (b. Malta, 1940), a display of drawings, paintings and a smaller sculpture by Pitrè relating to this outdoor sculpture is planned for the museum’s fourth floor space, access to all this work will be free of charge. The large outdoor sculpture will be permanently and prominently positioned within the campus and will form part of the Malta International Contemporary Art Space’s permanent collection.
Pitrè’s practice is grounded in autobiographical memory and shifting personal geographies which he has explored through a multitude of media and genres. His work has been exhibited extensively internationally and he represented Malta in the 1999 Venice Biennale.
Road to Opening
Leading up to its public opening in October 2024, MICAS has begun displaying works in several outdoor spaces across Valletta from artists including Conrad Shawcross, Ugo Rondinone, Pierre Huyghe, Cristina Iglesias and Michele Oka Doner. These will be joined in November when a commissioned work by Maltese artist Ray Pitrè will be installed and unveiled on the museum’s campus. Select pieces are currently available for public viewing by appointment.
MICAS Board and International Committee
Alongside CEO and Chair of the Board Phyllis Muscat, MICAS is supported by Artistic Director Edith Devaney; Board Members include Francis Sultana, Dr Georgina Portelli, Dr Claire Cassar, Ms Gabriella Agius, Mr Patrick Camilleri and Mr Martin Scicluna; and International Committee Chair and Member, respectively, Waqas Wajahat, collector, museum trustee and curator, and Timothy Rub, the celebrated George D. Widener Emeritus Director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. MICAS is a Government of Malta infrastructural legacy project for the Culture and the Arts sector that is part-financed by the European Union under the European Regional Development Fund – European Structural and Investment Funds 2014-2020.
Please follow MICAS on Instagram and Faceook to follow MICAS’s journey to the opening.
About Malta International Contemporary Art Space (MICAS)
MICAS is a forthcoming museum and campus that will strengthen Malta’s cultural infrastructure by providing a platform for contemporary art and internationalization. With its launch in 2024, Malta will take a great step forward and become a proactive player in the contemporary art world. The MICAS mission is to be an advocate of contemporary art by raising public awareness to the significance of the visual arts in contemporary life, and by bringing to the forefront the way art and artists help mediate and interpret the world we live in. MICAS is a Government of Malta infrastructural legacy project for the Culture and the Arts sector that will be realized through state funded restoration of historical fortifications. Its galleries will be delivered in 2024. This project is part-financed by the European Union under the European Regional Development Fund – European Structural and Investment Funds 2014-2020.
