ARTS

Science in the City

Malta’s Science and Arts Festival is taking place on Saturday and Sunday, with the theme ‘Taking Root’.

Today, various talks, hands-on experiments and performances will be held at Fort St Elmo and St Dominic’s Hall in Merchants Street, Valletta. Tomorrow, in collaboration with Notte Bianca, a full day of fun and educational events will take place in St Dominic’s Hall, from 10am to 11pm.

There will also be a number of satellite events in other localities.

Spazju Kreattiv, also in Valletta, will be hosting the creative puppet show Kids Dig Science which takes advantage of children’s desire to explore and discover, teaching them to solve problems in a creative way.

The megalithic Buġibba temple, on the border between Buġibba and Qawra, will host lectures, performances and a poetry open mic, this evening from 7 to 10pm and tomorrow from 2 to 5.30pm.

The fortified city of Senglea will be the backdrop for an interactive street theatre performance that blurs the lines between the digital and real world, using a custom-made app today at 7pm.

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/.

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FILM

A Journey Through Time

As part of its 70th anniversary celebrations, the Malta Cine Circle is today holding the event A Journey Through Time, during which a selection of winning short films that participated in the Circle’s National Film Competition from 1955 to 2021 will be projected.

These are A Vow to Eternity (1955) by Frank Debono, Cynara (1959) by Victor Lungaro Mifsud and Wilfrid Sultana, Go Sails Go (1974) by John Dacoutros, Beyond the Gate (1982) by Michael Galea, Sluggard’s Island (1986) by Raymond, Lino and Martin Grech, The Final Chapter (1987) by John Coleiro,  The Obstacle (1991) by John Lungaro Mifsud and Andrew Scicluna, Duels and Duets (2005) by David Serge and Matthew Pullicino, Katrina (2007) by Eleonora Rose Abela, The Medic (2001) by Raymond Mizzi and Punchline (2021) by Vanessa Vella,

The event is taking place at the Amphitheatre Hall of the Marriott Hotel, in St Julian’s at 7pm. For reservations, e-mail bookings@ maltacinecircle.org or call 9946 0866. Admission is free.

Carmen

The award-winning 2022 drama, directed by Maltese-Canadian film-maker Valerie Buhagiar, is premiering in Malta at the Eden Cinemas in St Julian’s today.

Inspired by true events, Carmen tells the story of a woman (British actress Natascha McElhone) who has looked after her brother, the priest at the local church, since she was 16 years old. Now almost 50, she is suddenly left to start a new life.

The film, certified 12, will be released on October 5. For more information and tickets, visit www.edencinemas.com.mt.

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 tomorrow and on Sunday and on October 9.

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 from today to Sunday.

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 starts 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, from today to Sunday.

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.

After today’s performance, there will be a discussion between Saydon, Mulholland and Borg about the staging of the musical. Francesco Grech will be the moderator.

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. This weekend's tickets are also available from kreattivita.org.

Shakespeare Intensive

Five days of workshops at the Manoel Theatre, led by Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) actress and practitioner Lizzie Hopley come to an end today.

The workshops are serving as an introduction to Shakespeare or as a way to deepen and challenge one’s performance skills. 

Each workshop is offering acting, verse-speaking and movement techniques from the RSC rehearsal room and beyond, equipping one to develop one’s own speech or short scene for a shared performance at the end of the week. 

For more information, e-mail education@teatrumanoel.mt.

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MUSIC

A String Symphony feat. Carmine Lauri

Violinist Carmine Lauri is today leading the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra Strings in a concert at the Manoel Theatre.

The programme features a wide array of works for strings by Schubert, Grieg, Suk and Mendelssohn. Lauri will take the centre stage for Tchaikovsky’s virtuoso piece Valse-Scherzo in C major.

The concert starts at 8pm. For tickets, click here.

One − The Concert

Local bands Red Electric and The Travellers are performing together tonight as one 11-man band at an event at Sky Club in St Julian’s.

The event is strictly 17+. For tickets, click here. A percentage from the ticket sales will be donated to the Ronald McDonald House Charities Malta. 

Storace: Live and Let Live

Singer/writer Marc Storace is today performing with with his band at the Aria Complex in San Ġwann.

Storace will present material from his new album Live and Let Live, as well as other songs from his five-decade career.

Lord Adder and Killerwitch will be the supporting acts.

For tickets, visit showshappening.com.

MISCELLANEOUS EVENTS

Pop-up Bookshop

A pop-up bookshop, organised by Mallia & D'Amato Booksellers, is being held at 4, Sappers Street, Valletta, until tomorrow.

Doors today open at 6.30pm. From 8pm onwards, there will be readings of poetry by US poet Louise Glück by Luke Galea and other readings by Inizjamed. Tomorrow, the bookshop will be open all day.

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

For more information, click here.

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PHOTOGRAPHY

Wiki Loves Monuments 2022

Malta is once again taking part in Wiki Loves Monuments, the Guinness World Record holder for the largest photography competition, which has reached its seventh edition.

The competition brings together photographers from around the world to take stunning pictures of Malta’s cultural heritage, which are to be shared on Wikipedia. Participation is free and open to all. The deadline for all submissions is today.

A jury composed of experts within the fields of cultural heritage, photography and Wikipedia will be selecting the winning entries and 10 submissions will be nominated for the international Wiki Loves Monuments contest, with the opportunity to win further prizes.

For details, visit www.wikimalta.org and the Wikimedia Community Malta 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.

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VISUAL ARTS

The Cappuccino Brigade

The ninth solo exhibition of Debbie Caruana Dingli at the Palm Court Lounge of The Phoenicia, in Floriana, is closing today.

Curated by Charlene Vella, the collection of watercolour works is based on the artist’s observations of the native Maltese population and is named after one of the paintings on display whose heroine is a bossy woman, often pictured in the artist's colourful works.

Read an article by the curator here.

An Ode in Stone

Artist Joe Xuereb's exhibition of limestone sculptures at The Phoenicia's garden and Bastion Pool area closes today.

His rounded figures and forms represent universal shortcomings among humans such as greed, solitude and the entrapments of love. 

An Ode in Stone is curated by Louis Laganà.

Read the Times of Malta interview with the artist.

Amelia Saint George works at The Phoenicia

Artist Amelia Saint George's sculptures are on display at The Phoenicia, Floriana, for one last day.

The sculptures are in clay, bronze and mixed media, and portray animals, which Saint George is particularly well-known for, as well as some humorous sculptures that are more closely associated with her portrait sculptures.

Saint George, who has made Valletta her home, is an established, award-winning contemporary sculptor who has exhibited locally and internationally. She is also the author of several books on diverse subjects and holds sculpting lessons in her Valletta studio.

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, tomorrow between 5.30pm and 8.30pm and on Sunday between 9.30am and noon and 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.

Time, Space …. and Palmyra

Artists Henry Alamango and Galina Troizky are holding a joint exhibition at the Malta Society of Arts at Palazzo de La Salle, in Valletta.

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 runs until tomorrow, October 1. Opening hours today from 8am to 7pm and tomorrow from 8am to 1pm and during Notte Bianca, from 7pm to 11pm. Entrance is free. For more information, click here.

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

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 opens today 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 is being held 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 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.

Architecture Student Expo 2022

Spazju Kreattiv is hosting the Architecture Student Expo, a celebration of everything the Faculty for the Built Environment does at the University of Malta.

It 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 exhibition 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 showing 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 and 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 

Boco Boutique in Cospicua is presenting a collective exhibition 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 that they have encountered during their artistic career.

The exhibition, curated by Melanie Erixon, opens today and 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 opening at Valletta Contemporary Gallery today. This is the first project in Malta to explore outsider perspectives.

Titled Groundwaters, this exhibition is about 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, visit 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 at the Lower Barrakka Gardens in Valletta until October 3, 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. 

whatson@timesofmalta.com