FINDINGS AND FANTASIES: real and imagined narratives inspired by the identity of our genes
13 Mar 2024 - 31 May 2024
The Malta Pavilion is inspired by the different narratives which exist within our archipelago. The stories that make Malta unique can only be narrated by the individuals who experienced it. Some can feel a sense of belonging, while others feel isolated when they are close or on land. The many changes happening to the islands’ historical fabric are important and cannot be left unnoticed. The scope of this pavilion is to uncover these narratives some might be real whilst others are conceptual.
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Dr Katya Micallef
Dr Katya Micallef, Principal Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at MUŻA, is a doctorate graduate from Kingston University London. She read History of Art for her Master’s degree at the University of Malta. For her Bachelor of Arts degree, she conducted research on Victor Pasmore which later formed the backbone of a Heritage Malta publication and a MUŻA permanent display. Her specialization is post-1945 visual arts to the present day and she has contributed to several research publications. She is a visiting lecturer at the University of Malta and has held the position of senior lecturer at the MCAST Institute of Art and Design.
Norbert Francis Attard
Norbert Francis Attard (b. 1951) is based on the island of Gozo (Malta) and since 2010 in Berlin (Germany). He started as a self-taught painter and graphic artist before turning to installation art in 1997. He graduated in Architecture from the University of Malta in 1977, practicing the profession as architect for twenty years until 1996. He lived in Germany in 1978/1979 working with the firm ‘Licht in Raum’, directed by Johannes Dinnebier. Attard’s contemporary art practice incorporates architecture, sculpture, photography, video and installation, to explore his major interests in places and their memories.
Dr Trevor Borg
Trevor Borg (b. 1976) is a multi-disciplinary artist, curator and researcher. His practice traverses place and space, delves into ambiguous territory and oscillates between the poetic and the political. Borg’s work spans a wide range of media from drawing, painting and sculpture to film and installations. His work has been shown in a number of prestigious exhibitions including the Venice Biennale, the Beijing International Art Biennale, the London Design Biennale, the European Parliament, Brussels and in various museums and galleries worldwide. Trevor Borg is the Head of Department of Digital Arts at the University of Malta, a member of the creative practice-led research network LAND2, UK, and an associate at Cut Contemporary Fine Arts Lab at Cyprus University of Technology.
Patrick J Fenech
Patrick Fenech is a practicing artist, photographer and educator. He was awarded a scholarship by the Istituto Italiano di Cultura to study photography and design in Florence and Milan where he graduated after a 4 year stay in Italy. He later on obtained a MFA in Digital Arts from the University of Malta, and worked for a number of years as a creative director at Robinson Fenech Design Assoc Ltd servicing the advertising and publishing industry. His main interest lies where art and photography collide, using multi-media installations for his art practice. He was a founding member of the contemporary art group START in the late 1990s. His art practice has taken him to all parts of the globe with some notable exhibitions in museums, biennales, galleries and public spaces; including the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC., Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Ostrale Biennale, Dresden, NordArt Hamburg and Rencontres D’Arles. His works are to be found in state, corporate and private collections. Fenech is also a visiting lecturer of photography at the Faculty of Media and Knowledge Sciences and The Built Environment at the University of Malta and has curated several photography and contemporary art exhibitions. He served on the board of Spazju Kreattiv Foundation at St James Cavalier, the national centre for creativity.
Alexandra Aquilina
Alexandra Aquilina (b. 1987) is a printmaker and multi-media artist based between Malta and Berlin. Intimate and irreverent, Aquilina shares her thoughts and experiences as a woman growing up on a Mediterranean island and living in a foreign country, in a bold but personal manner. For her, the act of creation is a way to explore and process dichotomous aspects of this way of life. Her work invites viewers to reflect on the duality of nature, humanity, and spirituality drawing on visual themes of that are distinctly Maltese and Mediterranean.
