Cumulus, at Valletta Contemporary until November 23, is a collective exhibition curated by art collector Norbert Francis Attard – a multidisciplinary artist with a contemporary art practice based in Gozo. Attard is both the founder of Norbert Francis Attard Foundation, the organising body of Valletta Contemporary, and the gallery’s artistic director.

This extraordinary show includes more than 40 pieces of wall art and sculpture accumulated over the last 50 years – pieces created in and depicting places from Valletta to New York, Cuba, China, and the solar system beyond. It’s also packed with activity and industry, illusion and hidden depths. 

The works include photography by Joseph Bueys of a 1977 installation in Berlin, Honey Pump at the Workplace, and a figurative piece by Tracey Emin that’s tantalisingly sketchy in style, while offering a glimpse of the artist’s provocative confessional practice.

A work by Michael Craig-Martin

These hang alongside a technicolour iPhone and a simple black-and-white drawing of a book, both by Michael Craig-Martin, which are notable in their simplicity. Together they mark the changing society across the last five decades.

And on the basement level directly below, an old telephone appears as if dug from time gone past. Created by Nadine Baldow, it oozes polyurethane fungi, solid in organic pink, peach and green hues, inviting commentary on the relationship between culture and nature. 

Untitled by Alicia Kawade

In another piece, by Polish artist Alicja Kwade, a planetary orb lies on a road as she plays with perspective, science and space, and opposite a particularly captivating lenticular photograph by Canadian Dan Hudson that shows a sculpture of Atlas, burdened with the globe. The trees around him shift through the seasons as the viewer moves from left to right.

There’s a second optically dynamic piece downstairs, an extraordinary one by Beatrice Hug that pulses in rich purples, vibrant blue, Blue Lagoon turquoise and glowing white: it’s large and bold, planetary, and – if you step to the side – lunar too, as mesmerising as any night sky.

Wrapped Bottle by Christo

Next to it, Carlos Coronas’ tumbling geometric shapes are superimposed on the Grand Harbour, abstracted representations you’d be hard pushed to recognise.

In the next room hangs a screenprint, Lunes Domingo (1980), by Eduardo Paolozzi. Paolozzi was a pioneer of both screen-printing and pop art, his work influenced by popular culture, science fiction and industrial design.

This piece evokes the imagined wiring of an early computer, a busy yet pleasingly neat pastel work of intrigue, interconnectedness and complexity. It’s striking therefore that it hangs alongside a large diptych of a swimming pool (Piscina con trillo, 2005) that oozes elegance and tranquillity.

Piscina con Trillo by Los Carpinteros

And yet, by the Havana-based Los Carpinteros Collective, it includes a set of stepping stones, breeze blocks, that draw your eyes across the surface of the water. While the scene is serene, what social commentary lies beneath the surface? Does this symbolise dreams of an escape from Cuba, or – today – now remind us of the inescapable march of Maltese construction?

Opposite, there’s a Russian flavour in a series of photos of San Lawrenz by Maria Rebecca Ballestra (who was artist-in-residence at Gozo Contemporary) and drawings by Ilya Kabakov, an ex-Soviet, American-based artist.

Blue Lagoon by Beatrice Hug

While Ballestra’s images show views in the locality of Norbert’s Għarb studio, with a quote from the Herald Tribune in 2006 on ideological disputes between pro- and anti-Russia camps masking an uncomfortable truth about energy supply, Kabakov’s wry works include a fly as the protagonist and raise a smile.

Equally, we’ve all heard of funny incidents like that of the woman who tried to tidy up Tracey Emin’s iconic unmade bed in the Tate London – and, under the stairs at Valletta Contemporary, visitors will see a tower of taped-wrapped polystyrene crates looks set for the arrival of a delivery man. It’s part of site-specific installation by Eberhard Bosslet, Import/Export, previously shown at the gallery and so not to be moved!

A photograph of Atlas by Dan Hudson

The exhibition highlight, however, is a series intricate works by contemporary Chinese artist Ai Weiwei which draw you in with their detail. These are a personal reflection on his life and work through the Chinese art of papercutting.

In red, they weave details of the new and the traditional, incorporating the Chinese zodiac, an exploration of Chinese crafts in the late 20th century, political activism, moments from his life including time spent in New York, his trademark rude gesture – raising a middle finger to authority.

Import/Export by Eberhard Bosselt

With perfect precision, they encapsulate a sense of China, the forbidden, and the wider world with spots of instamatic incongruity: the unexpected pairing of a digger and diving helmet or a Coca-Cola logo on an ancient vase.

Primarily curated to be aesthetically pleasing, Cumulus is a fascinating window, not onto the weather, but into 50 years of art and society. ‘Cumulus’ means both an “accumulation” and also refers to a type of cloud typically seen in fair weather conditions.

When illuminated by the sun, the tops of these clouds are white cotton wool but beneath can be relatively dark. It’s therefore a spot-on title for this chance to simply enjoy world-class art or to consider more deeply what’s beneath the surface.

A work by Nadine Baldow

And, although this is a disparate collection, gathered from international art fairs, previous shows at Valletta Contemporary and donations to the collection, there’s a surprising coherency to the catalogue which shimmers with the tantalising taste of global stories.  

The exhibition is on until November 23. Entrance is free. For more information, visit vallettacontemporary.com.