As a not-for-profit government arts institution with a focus on contemporary art and culture, the Malta International Contemporary Art Space recognises its responsibility to engage with and inform its visitors in the visual arts through a diverse schedule of world class exhibitions and programmes.

Innovation and Engagement: Establishing an Identity for a New Institution

With the exception of the acquisition of sculpture to be placed on its campus, MICAS is a non-collecting museum.  It will therefore illustrate its distinctiveness and ambition primarily through its exhibition programme and a range of public and scholarly activities developed in support of that. It is MICAS’s aim to establish a strong artistic identity.  It is by the enrichment of the Maltese public’s understanding and appreciation of contemporary; ensuring that Malta becomes an active participant in contemporary art on the global stage and bringing Maltese art and artists into conversation with an international artistic community that will give the institution relevance. In addition , Malta’s geography and history, as well as its thriving cultural scene will offer a unique perspective on contemporary art.

International Scope/Local Impact: Activating MICAS’s Unique Potential

The founding remit of MICAS states that it be an international museum.  Its constitution and governance ensures its independence to achieve this foundational goal.

To establish itself as an important museum on the international stage, MICAS must develop and maintain a programme that is marked by innovation and a commitment to the highest artistic and intellectual standards.  Thus, it is imperative that this new institution positions itself at the forefront of identifying and interrogating new tendencies and emerging trends in contemporary art.

Such an approach should also be considered a key to MICAS’ strategies for engaging new audiences and, ultimately, having a broad impact on Malta’s artistic community.  Indeed, based on the recognition that bringing complex and challenging works of contemporary art from around the world to Malta can be catalytic, we envision that MICAS as an institution that will become an integral part of the contemporary cultural scene in this country.

Programme Management

To achieve these objectives MICAS’s exhibitions and programmes are carefully planned and managed by a Creative Committee, which is composed primarily of arts professionals with deep connections in the international art world and senior executive staff,  it is answerable to the MICAS Board. To produce the lively and forward-looking programme that is expected of this institution, MICAS is adhering to the long established practice of international not-for-profit museums in carefully defining and implementing its own programme rather than soliciting proposals from third parties that might pull it in different, and perhaps, contradictory directions. 

Collaboration is, however, embraced as an institutional value and it is MICAS’s intention to seek local input on programming and to forge strong relationships with international museum partners to collaborate on exhibition projects or touring opportunities, recognising the value of such relationships on both a cultural and financial basis.  To be known for the consistent standard, ambition, and judicious scheduling of its programme, is essential in order for MICAS to attract such international partnerships.

The programme

MICAS has set itself several complementary goals for its exhibition programme:

• To engage local audiences
• To engage international audiences in person and via online exhibition presentations
• To inform and educate audiences on contemporary art and its exponents both in person and virtually
• To establish collaborative relationships with education establishments locally
• To recognise and celebrate Maltese based artists operating at the highest level
• To establish a position of relevancy on the international stage for our programmatic contribution
• To foster international partnerships

Summary

In order to achieve the many ambitions of the MICAS exhibition programme, which is designed to establish and maintain its position on the world stage, the programme must be strategically managed in order to be closely connected to the ever-changing contemporary art scene.

The programme will present a diverse schedule of ambitious exhibitions which are scholarly yet accessible to our audiences.  Solo exhibitions of established artists will be balanced by carefully selected group exhibitions and opportunities to showcase the work of emerging artists.

The roots of contemporary art will, from time to time, be revisited in new interrogations of art history and modernism.

The programme, while presenting world class exhibitions, will also reflect and celebrate the key features – independence, location, cultural history, global connectivity and architecture — which make MICAS unique.