Malta wins first place at the London Design Biennale with 'URNA'
The installation, about cremation, was among 50 exhibitors from around the world
A Maltese installation about cremation won first place at the London Design Biennale 2025 from among 50 exhibitors from around the world.
The installation, titled URNA, marked the second time Malta participated in the biennale.
“URNA has a culturally significant theme and message that revolves around the concept of managing human remains and artistically anticipates the adoption of cremation in the Maltese Islands,” a culture ministry statement said.
This installation and its cultural message is led by curator Andrew Borg Wirth, architects Anthony Bonnici and Thomas Mifsud, artistic director Matthew Attard Navarro, Maltese artist Stephanie Sant, French photographer Anne Immelé, and Cypriot architect Tanil Raif.
Culture Minister Owen Bonnici said that Malta is currently investing heavily in culture and the arts, and this is because among the Maltese and Gozitans there is outstanding talent.
“Every time the government invests in Maltese artists, they always make Malta proud,” Bonnici said.
The minister described URNA as a courageous and provocative project and said that it expresses precisely the role of art: challenging the status quo.
Culture minister Owen Bonnici with some of the Maltese team. Photo: Culture ministryArts Council executive chair Albert Marshall said that the London Design Biennale is an international exhibition of great prestige and extraordinary value, and that the Council feels honoured to once again be entrusted to act as Commissioner and Contracting Authority for Malta’s participation.
Marshall explained that URNA has a strong Maltese element, as it applies elements of the local landscape and innovative material technologies to reconstituted globigerina limestone, Malta’s unique natural resource — and thus URNA is an ecologically sustainable project.
Marshall said the Council has invested more than €28 million over the past ten years through strategically implemented investments so that the sector grows and is developed into a professional and economically viable industry.
Architect and co-lead of the project Anthony Bonnici, together with architect Thomas Mifsud, presented the proposal describing how each ring in the large sculptural sphere represents a single soul — a reflection of the sedimentary process of Maltese stone.
Created through a collaboration with architect Tanil Raif, the sculpture is intended to make use of disused quarry barriers, thereby creating a new funerary landscape in Malta.
By using an innovative new product from Halmann Vella called Recobel, the sculpture inverts the historically individualistic urn to create a shared commemorative space.
The curator of URNA, Andrew Borg Wirth, said that the project brings together a multinational team tackling an important subject. Design, he said, has the potential to bring about social change, and as cremation becomes a reality in Malta, URNA is establishing a new ritual object and design for post-death commemoration.
Commissioned by the Arts Council, the project was supported by Halmann Vella, Gasan Foundation, Heritage Malta, the Embassy of France in Malta, Malta Enterprise, Visit Malta, KM Malta Airlines, and other partners.