Mario Cutajar, the founder and president of the first-ever Malta Biennale, admits he had little knowledge of biennale events before creating the three-month contemporary art festival that took place earlier this year.

“I am not a fan of any biennale and I had never been to a biennale before,” Cutajar said in an interview with Times of Malta.

He laughed at a critical article in the Spectator, which suggested the Malta organisers had “visited the last couple of big biennial art exhibitions” and used them as a template for the event that ran from March until May. This was clearly not the case for him, he said.

The chairman of Heritage Malta decided to create the event as a way to keep Heritage Malta’s sites alive.

More than 80 contemporary artists from 23 countries, including Malta, exhibited works across around 20 different venues from the Ġgantija Archaeological Park to the Grand Master’s Palace.

“To keep a museum alive, you need something that can happen periodically... I thought this would be a good routine to have every two years,” he said.

As former head of visitor experience at Heritage Malta, he believes using the museums as venues for contemporary art keeps the museums feeling current not just from an artistic standpoint but also because of the contemporary subjects being tackled.

He quoted a Heritage Malta exit survey that he said showed 78 per cent of visitors leaving the MUŻA, the Grand Master’s Palace and the Museum of Archaeology felt the art works had added to a more positive museum experience.

A similar proportion of participating artists said they would return to exhibit in the future. The majority of the biennale’s sites were also Heritage Malta sites and, according to Cutajar, the number of visitors at these sites increased by nine per cent while the biennale was happening.

“Another part of the success is that Maltese people say that the biennale is good... good because it puts Malta in a positive light and places it on the international calendar,” he said.

But a national survey, also carried out by Heritage Malta, showed that, while 80 per cent of Maltese agreed a biennale should be held, only nine per cent of people visited.

He believes that is because people have not acquired a taste for contemporary art.

'We are still surrounded by the Baroque' 

“Contemporary art could look strange to some,” he said. “I think that’s because of the way that art is taught... and we are still surrounded by the Baroque, so we need more contemporary work for it be more accepted.”

Exhibits included Italian artist Gaia de Megni’s performance Afelio, which involved a changing of the guard ceremony with a transparent rifle-shaped piece of plastic.

Another was an installation called Embassy by Suez Canal Republic that involved an artist interacting with a former exploration rover, in the grounds of the Ċitadella, in Gozo.

Among the local artists that “really impressed” Cutajar were Raphael Vella, Aaron Bezzina, Josianne Bonello and Anthony Spagnol.

He vehemently denied criticism raised by some participating artists that the sites were prioritised above the artworks.

Two months on from the biennale, Cutajar rates it a success but admits there is still room for improvement, including better training of staff on how to handle artworks and whether to include sites outside of Heritage Malta.

Since the opening of the biennale, Cutajar says he has visited other biennales, including the world’s most famous, the Venice Biennale.

Confirming the next biennale will run from March to May 2026, he wasn’t sure how involved he would be.

“In 2026, it could be I won’t be here. This (the biennale) is Heritage Malta,” he said.