The 2023 edition of the APS Mdina Cathedral Contemporary Art Biennale, under the artistic direction of Giuseppe Schembri Bonaci, is currently taking place at the Mdina Cathedral Museum until December 15.

The organisers envision the biennale to have created a space for contemporary dialogue on the Mediterranean region, weaving mythology, politics and identity together through international artistic projects.

“Creative projects, as with all organic processes, need continuous nurturing. Projects have their own point of conception, birth, ageing and, ultimately, death. This death may result in nothing or, on the contrary, be reignited into a new life of ideas and praxis,” says Schembri Bonaci.

The theme ‘Mediterranean Goddesses’ deals with notions of spirituality and fertility, and how harkening back to divinity can provide a strong aesthetic reply to the political and climatic issues of our age. The format presents an evolution on previous editions of the APS Mdina Biennale that explored notions of the Mediterranean as expressed through art and artistic dialogues with our ongoing environmental crisis.

An artwork by Franca Sonnino.

Contemporary artists from across the world will be displaying works that engage with this theme, positing their own aesthetic reply to the perpetual relevance of the Mediterranean and her Goddesses.

Participants have hailed from China, France, Italy, the UK, the US, Russia, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Portugal, Australia, Poland, Egypt, Chile, Ukraine, Greece, Romania, Spain, Hong Kong, South Korea, Bulgaria, Iraq, North Macedonia, Hungary, Czechia, Israel, Morocco, Serbia, Lebanon, Latvia, Georgia, Lithuania, Cyprus, Japan, Norway, Ireland, Denmark, Türkiye, Croatia and The Netherlands.

For the 2023 edition, the APS Mdina Biennale is collaborating with the ‘Changing Gear’ research project. An international conference focusing on Mediterranean modern art will be held on Tuesday, November 28 at the Mdina Cathedral Museum, offering an opportunity for academics, researchers, and artists to engage with the art historical and theoretical issues surrounding the theme.