MCAST students and Enemalta plc employees are putting together components dismantled from the Marsa Power Station to create Malta’s largest permanent installation artwork, commemorating six decades of electricity generation at Marsa.
The three-storey metal installation art will be situated on Jesuits Hill, Marsa, at the edge of the Marsa Power Station site. It will be a tribute to the workers who developed, operated and maintained the boilers and turbines of this power station since 1953.
Next year, as Malta completes the transformation to an improved electricity generation mix based on low-emission gas-fired plants, the Malta-Italy interconnector and renewable energy sources, Enemalta will be fully decommissioning the Marsa Power Station to make way for the regeneration of this inner Grand Harbour area.
Earlier this year, the company invited students from the Institute for the Creative Arts of the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology (MCAST) to visit the Marsa Power Station and produce an artistic installation using different elements from its electricity generation equipment.
Under the guidance of their lecturers and with the technical backing of Enemalta’s architects, engineers and technicians, more than 25 students turned the power station into their art studio, spending hours sketching and designing proposals for the final assembly of the structure.
The designs were recently presented to a selection committee including a renowned metal art designer and sculptor, Enemalta employees and the Marsa mayor.
A team of students, MCAST lecturers and Enemalta employees is now refining the selected designs and preparing each element of the installation ahead of the final assembly next to the new Marsa North Distribution Centre.
This 132/33 kV distribution centre will replace a major node of the national electricity grid currently located within the adjacent power station site.
Other students from the Institute for the Creative Arts are also participating in this project. 3D design students helped the fine arts students in the plans and visuals of their proposals and media students are documenting each stage of the installation’s design and production through video and photography.
Performing arts students are planning choreography to be presented during the inauguration of this public art as part of the events celebrating Enemalta’s 40th anniversary in 2017.