ARTS FESTIVALS

Notte Bianca

Malta’s biggest annual arts and culture festival is returning to Valletta today.

The capital city will once again host a multitude of performances for children and adults along its streets and piazzas, while churches, state palaces and museums will be open to the public for free.

The event will this year be divided into routes, which will make it easier for visitors to follow: alternative, classics, dance, kids, theatre, red and music. Several artists will be performing along each route.

Shops will also stay open till late.

Read more about the festival and how to get to Valletta this evening here. For all the details about this year’s programme, visit festivals.mt/nb.

Opera is Gozo

The month-long festival Opera is Gozo kicks off today. Two opera productions, Bizet’s Carmen and Verdi’s Aida, will be taking centre stage but there will be various other cultural events taking place in various venues.

Today, a musical concert featuring local musicians is taking place at Mgr G. Farrugia Hall at St George's Basilica in Victoria at 8pm. Entrance is free.

An exhibition by Rupert Cefai is also opening today at Art..E Gallery in Library Street, Victoria. The gallery will be open daily from 9.30am to 12.15pm. Entrance is free.

For more information about the festival, download the programme from visitgozo.com.

Science in the City

Malta’s Science and Arts Festival is taking place again today, with the theme ‘Taking Root’.

In collaboration with Notte Bianca, a full day of fun and educational events is being held at St Dominic’s Hall, Merchants Street, Valletta, from 10am to 11pm.

A satellite event will see the megalithic Buġibba temple, on the border of Buġibba and Qawra, host lectures and performances from 2 to 5.30pm.

The festival will be closing with an online event on October 7. 

For more information, visit the event’s Facebook page and https://scienceinthecity.org.mt/.

THEATRE

A Triple Bill of New Theatre

Chewing Productions are presenting three 30-minute plays, staged by three teams composed of three artists each, at Theatre Next Door, in Magħtab, this weekend.

All the Things I’m Trying to Say by Alex Weenink, stars actors Michela Farrugia and Anthony Mizzi; Who’s Your Daddy? by Lara Agius features Tiana Formosa and Ella Coppini; and Thirty-Love by Nicky Gambin stars Nikki Demajo Albanese and Martina Zammit. 

The event, which promises an exciting evening of disco dancing, game-show quizzing and tennis playing, is being held until tomorrow. Performances start at 8pm. For tickets, click here.

It-Teatru tal-Miskin

After premiering in Gozo, the queer coming-of-age musical, written and created by Luke Saydon, is being staged at Spazju Kreattiv, Valletta, this weekend.

Produced by Saydon Studio, It-Teatru tal-Miskin is directed by Denise Mulholland with movement by Ruth Borg, and stars Thomas Camilleri, Chiara Hyzler and Sean Borg.

The musical will also be staged at Blue Box at M Space in Msida from November 17 to 20. For more information and tickets, visit www.saydonstudio.com. Tickets for this weekend are also available at kreattivita.org.

Jimmy Carr: Terriby Funny 2:0

British-Irish comedian Jimmy Carr is back in Malta to present new material at the InterContinental Arena and Conference Centre in St Julian’s today and tomorrow.

The comedian is well known for his dark humour and outrageous jokes: near-the-knuckle one-liners delivered in a deadpan manner.

For tickets, visit www.showshappening.com.

FILM

Elizabeth: A Portrait in Part(s)

This weekend, the Eden Cinemas in St Julian's is screening a documentary on the life of Queen Elizabeth II, the longest-lived, longest reigning British monarch and longest serving female head of state in history. 

The 2022 documentary, directed by Roger Michell, is being screened today at 6.30pm and tomorrow at 10am. For tickets and more information, click here.

Moonage Daydream

KRS Releasing has released a 2022 documentary on the English singer-songwriter and actor David Bowie.

Moonage Daydream, by visionary film-maker Brett Morgen and sanctioned by the Bowie estate, explores the artist's creative and musical journey and features previously unreleased footage from his personal archives, including live concert footage.

The documentary, certified 12, is being shown at the Eden Cinemas in St Julian's until October 4. It is also showing at Spazju Kreattiv in Valletta today and tomorrow and on October 9.

MISCELLANEOUS EVENTS

Pop-up Bookshop

A pop-up bookshop, organised by Mallia & D'Amato Booksellers, is open all day today at 4, Sappers Street, Valletta.

An exhibition by Joe Smith and Therese Debono, titled Spaces in Suspension, an exploration of abandoned and documented spaces, is on display at the venue.

For more information, click here.

Marine Life Fair

With the aim of educating children about marine conservation, a number of social enterprises and NGOs will hold various fun and educational activities at the first edition of the Marine Life Fair, taking place at the National Aquarium Square, St Paul’s Bay, today and tomorrow between noon and 5pm.

Among the free activities are marine crafts, snorkelling and storytelling.

The event is organised by Eco Market Malta, which will also set up its eco-friendly market on site. Besides, there will be musical entertainment and competitions with prizes.

For more information, visit the Facebook page Eco Market − Marine Life Fair.

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VISUAL ARTS

Time, Space …. and Palmyra

A joint exhibition by Henry Alamango and Galina Troizky, on display at the Malta Society of Arts in Valletta, closes today.

The duo infuse two themes: the social implications resulting from the functional transformation of rural and urban space over time, and a crie de coeur reflecting a deep concern for an environment and populated space in progressive decline.

The exhibition also recalls how the ‘civilised’ world recoiled in horror in 2015 at the deliberate physical and cultural destruction wrought by IS in the ancient city of Palmyra, Syria, of Unesco World Heritage fame. Ironically, flashbacks of Palmyra continue to manifest themselves in Malta's spatial and cultural development, contributing also to solitary and anonymous lifestyles, loss of community, loneliness and pollution.

The artists ask whether we are also the perpetrators – or at least the acquiescent accomplices – to an ongoing ‘Palmyra’?

The exhibition is open today from 8am to 1pm and, on the occasion of Notte Bianca, also from 7 to 11pm. For more information, click here.

Read the exhibition's review by the Times of Malta art critic here.

KullUri

More than 80 people with a disability are exhibiting their artworks at an exhibition organised by the Immaculate Conception Band Club of Ħamrun at their premises in Pjazza Kappillan Muscat. 

This is the second such exhibition the band club is organising and a third exhibition is planned for December.

The exhibition, titled KullUri, is open today between 5.30 and 8.30pm and tomorrow from 9.30am to noon and from 5.30 and 8.30pm. Entrance is free.

Anyone who would like to participate in the December exhibition can send an e-mail on bandakuncizzjoni@hotmail.com or call on 7900 0490.

Dying Planet

Illustrator, designer and visual London-based artist ‘iella’ (Daniela Attard) is presenting a body of illustration work and paintings focusing on climate anxiety and existential dread at Spazju Kreattiv in Valletta.

The artworks on display focus on the global impact of climate change with some reference to local issues and include strange figurative work and characters which serve as modern allegories.

The exhibition runs until October 9. For more information, visit www.kreattivita.org. 

More insight into the exhibition is available here.

Willie Apap – Colour and Light 

A retrospective exhibition of works by Willie Apap (1918-1970), considered one of Malta’s leading exponents of 20th-century art, is currently on at Il-Ħaġar – Heart of Gozo Museum in Victoria.

The 70 works on display feature portraits, landscapes and still-lifes, dancers, human figures, sacred and ethnic works in oils and inks, and are accompanied by a lavish 100-page GEMS # 20 catalogue.

The exhibition, curated by Maria Cassar, runs until October 10. Opening hours are from Monday to Sunday from 9am to 5pm. Entrance is free.

The exhibition is supported by the Malta Tourism Authority and the Gozo Ministry’s Cultural Directorate. For more information, visit the museum’s Facebook page.

Read the Times of Malta interview with the exhibition's curator Maria Cassar here.

Residue

A solo exhibition by Joseph Farrugia is open at Bureau Iniala in Valletta.

Residue explores the definition of man's existence, through particles, negative spaces, generations, and the residuals we leave behind.

The exhibition, organised by Marie Gallery 5 and curated by Maria Galea, runs until October 12. Visit the event's Facebook page for more info.

Thread

A collective exhibition by Ebru Çinar, Stefan Spiteri and Bernice Vassallo has opened at Il-Kamra ta' Fuq in Mqabba.

The three artists experiment a lot in the use of thread in their oeuvre. Apart from this medium, they are also bound by the thematic of nature and organic forms which are almost always present in their works.

The exhibition, curated by Art Sweven, runs until October 17. The gallery is open from Mondays to Saturdays from 6am to noon and on Sundays from 7am to noon. More evening hours are announced weekly on Il-Kamra ta' Fuq Facebook page.

150 / Richard Ellis

The Richard Ellis Archive, consisting of 39,000+ glass negatives documenting the period in Malta and Gozo between 1861 and 1938, has been digitised in archival-grade quality for the first time in its history. 

The British-Maltese photographer (January 1842-December 1924) was one of the pioneers of photography in Malta during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Thirty large prints taken from his archive are currently on display at Spazju Kreattiv, Valletta, until October 23.

The exhibition is curated by Charles Paul Azzopardi and Ian Ellis. For more information, click here.

One may also read the Times of Malta interview with the collection's owner.

Architecture Student Expo 2022

A celebration of everything the Faculty for the Built Environment at the University of Malta does, is taking place at Spazju Kreattiv in Valletta.

The Architecture Student Expo is also an opportunity for the creativity of students and their ideas of future spaces and structures to be communicated to society through designs, sketches, digital graphics and architectural models.

The expo runs until October 30. For more information, visit the event’s Facebook page and kreattivita.org.

BioArt Alchemy: Works by Anna Dumitriu

Internationally renowned British bioartist Anna Dumitriu is exhibiting for the first time at Spazju Kreattiv in Valletta.

The artist uses bioart, sculpture, installation and digital media to explore a range of topics, from the origins of society to the sustainable production of biodegradable plastic, cutting-edge genetics and the possibility of bacterially-enhanced super-humans.

The project, a commission of Spazju Kreattiv, features a collaboration with artist Alex May. It is supported by Esplora Interactive Science Centre and Science in the City, Malta.

BioArt Alchemy runs until October 30. For more information, click here.

Fuq Tlieta

Camilleri Paris Mode of Rabat is hosting an exhibition of paintings by three Maltese artists – Pawl Carbonaro, Jesmond Vassallo and Paul Camilleri.

Carbonaro is one of Malta’s foremost veteran artists, who is famous for his abstracts and semi-abstracted landscapes; Vassallo has a very varied oeuvre, ranging from landscapes to nudes to still lifes; while Camilleri is exhibiting his tactile abstracts that fit well with the works of the other two artists.

Fuq Tlieta is open until the end of October. Log on to the Camilleri Paris Mode Facebook page for more information.

Funny How Time….

Artist Paul Caruana is presenting his latest collection of works at Gemelli Framing in Ta' Qali.

Through a series of poignant watercolours, most of which have origins in the artist’s own biography, Caruana invites us to dwell on the past, learn lessons to alter the present so that the future might be worth living.

The exhibition runs until October 30. Consult the event’s Facebook page for opening hours.

It's 5 o'Clock Somewhere − A Collective Art Exhibition Exploring Guilty Pleasures 

A collective exhibition, being held at BOHO Boutique Hotel in Cospicua, is inspired by the famous phrase used when one craves an alcoholic drink at 10am, and to the sting of a guilty conscience, one declares that it is 5 o'clock somewhere in the world. 

The participating artists, Aaron Bezzina, Daniel Borg, Roderick Camilleri, Debbie Caruana Dingli, Rupert Cefai, Antoine Farrugia, Karl Froman, Lawrence Pavia, Amelia Saint George, Mario Sammut and Darren Tanti, are portraying such instances they have encountered during their artistic career.

The exhibition, curated by Melanie Erixon, runs until October 30. It is open daily from 10.30am till 1.30pm and on Wednesdays also from 7pm to 10pm. Click here for more information.

Groundwaters

A collective exhibition featuring outsider art – an umbrella term coined for individuals producing art outside the culturally established centres – is taking place at Valletta Contemporary Gallery.

Titled Groundwaters, this exhibition is the first one in Malta to explore the perspectives of individuals who are somewhat marginalised, through their own design or otherwise, and who create work on the fringes of the mainstream. 

Curated by Gabriel Zammit, it features the works of Anonymous, Emma Attard, Adrian Camilleri, William Driscoll, Emma Johnson, Salvina Muscat and Joe Vassallo. It includes ex-voto paintings, West African Bocio fetish dolls and other objects which have their roots in religion, magic and ritual.

The exhibition runs until November 12. For more information and opening hours, visit www.vallettacontemporary.com/.

OTHER EXHIBITIONS

Mom, I Don't Want War!

The Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Valletta is holding an exhibition entitled Mom, I Don't Want War! as part of the Polish-Ukrainian project of the State Archives and Mom, I See War initiative.

The aim of the exhibition, which runs until Monday, October 3 at the Lower Barrakka Gardens, is to show the tragedy of war through the eyes of children, by comparing historical and contemporary drawings by the youngest who lived and grew up during the war.

The drawings by Polish children used for the exhibition were drawn after World War II and document their experiences during the war and the German occupation in 1939-1945. The drawings are preserved in the Central Archives of Modern Records (AAN) in Warsaw.

The drawings of Ukrainian children are contemporary works related to the current war in Ukraine and collected on the Mom, I See War portal. See more on https://momidontwantwar.eu/en/.

Meet the Phoenicians of Malta

A Phoenician stone sarcophagus excavated last year at Għajn Klieb, on the outskirts of Rabat, is one of the major attractions of an exhibition at the National Museum of Archaeology in Valletta.

The exhibition brings to light the results of months of painstaking studies by a multidisciplinary team researching the sarcophagus and two other tombs discovered in the area, as well as their contents. The three tombs, although inherently different, shed light on the burial rituals of the earliest Phoenicians on the island.

The exhibition runs until October 30. The museum in Republic Street, Valletta, is open from Monday to Sunday from 9am to 4.30pm. Entrance to the exhibition is free of charge.

Dumnikani fil-Palazz: Home & Temple

An exhibition at the Inquisitor's Palace in Vittoriosa tells of the special relationship between the palace and the neighbouring Dominican Order, especially in the post-war years.

Enemy war bombing in 1941 had left the Dominican community without a convent and a church, and they found temporary refuge beyond Vittoriosa. But they were called back by the need to fulfil their spiritual and educational mission among their people.

Eighty years ago, in August 1942, the Dominicans asked for temporary shelter at the Inquisitor’s Palace and, for almost two decades, the palace became the community’s home and temple.

The exhibition runs until January 8. The Inquisitor's Palace is open from Tuesday to Sunday from 9am to 4.30pm. 

[attach id=1235816 size="large" align="left" type="image"]The Inquisitor's Palace in Vittoriosa. Photo: Shutterstock.com[/attach]

whatson@timesofmalta.com