Arts Council Malta is once again returning to the London Design Biennale in 2025, this time with the selected project URNA.

URNA is an innovative project exploring the subject of cremation, with a proposal that merges design innovation and creativity. 

It is bold, stimulating and far-reaching, beyond the idea of simply "art". It is a design for the community and challenges the status quo on interment while offering a solution that is both poetic, intellectually stimulating and environmentally engaging. It should serve as the starting point for much discussion.

URNA introduces a new ritual for handling human remains, anticipating the adoption of cremation in the Maltese Islands and envisioning it as a culturally significant process. The project redefines the columbarium, ossuary, and wake to re-establish death as a significant ceremony, unburdened by unnecessary signifiers.

The collaboration of architects, designers, curators, and art directors has devised a geometrical construction using large, nondescript boulders that accumulate over time and form a language of their own. These spherical modules, universal in shape, incorporate cremated remains, embodying the individual’s connection to a broader cosmic reality and evolving through tactile interventions that invite various cultural interpretations.

The project’s multinational team includes Andrew Borg Wirth, Anthony Bonnici, Tamil Raif, Matthew Attard Navarro, Anne Immelé, Stephanie Sant and Thomas Mifsud.

Arts CouncilMalta last participated in the 2023 London Design Biennale with Urban Fabric, which was showcased in the courtyard of Somerset House in London. 

The project URNA shall be located in one of the internal rooms of Somerset House.

The fifth London Design Biennale will take place from June 5 to 29.

Each edition of the Biennale invites participants to respond to a universal theme set by the Artistic Director, a role which is being occupied by Samuel Ross this year. 

The theme Surface Reflections has been chosen for the 2025 London Design Biennale. 

Ross's theme will explore how ideas are shaped equally by internal experiences and external influences. 

The theme will offer an opportunity to delve into multiple facets of the human experience, uncovered through personal histories, traditions, and things we learn throughout our lives. 

Adrian Mamo, Andre Pizzuto and Angela Bourderye-Munoz served as evaluators for the project on behalf of Arts Council Malta. The evaluation session was moderated by Romina Delia, Internationalisation Executive at Arts Council Malta.