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MICAS Executive Chairperson Phyllis Muscat (right) welcomes to MICAS Mr Antonio Costa (second from right) who was accompanied by Prime Minister Robert Abela (second from left), and Minister for the Arts, Owen Bonnici

European Council president-designate Antonio Costa visits MICAS

The Malta International Contemporary Arts Space welcomed European Council president-designate Antonio Costa while on a visit to Malta, to its spectacular exhibition by Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos

Wednesday, 20 November 2024
The Malta International Contemporary Arts Space welcomed European Council president-designate Antonio Costa to its spectacular exhibition by Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos.
Mr Costa was accompanied to MICAS in Floriana by Prime Minister Robert Abela and Minister for National Heritage, Arts and Local Government Owen Bonnici, where he was welcomed by executive chairperson Phyllis Muscat, vice-chairperson Dr Georgina Portelli, MICAS Artistic Director Edith Devaney, as well as the director of the Restoration and Preservation Department, Norbert Gatt.
MICAS Artistic Director Edith Devaney guides Prime Minister Robert Abela and Mr Antonio Costa through the Vasconcelos exhibition
“It is an honour for MICAS to host European Council president-designate Antonio Costa at this opening exhibition by his co-national, Joana Vasconcelos. We feel the spirit of Portugal that Vasconcelos represents will forever be a part of MICAS, such is the bond with the work that has given life to these galleries – and we are only too glad to have the former prime minister of Portugal view these important works, right here in Malta,” said Phyllis Muscat.
“MICAS is now part of a very important itinerary of cultural destinations in Malta. It is a meeting place for everyone to build a new connection with international contemporary art, as well as an experience for those who witness MICAS’s unique architecture and its siting within these 17th century fortifications,” Muscat added.
Mr Costa, who was prime minister of Portugal up until March 2024, is in Malta in the days preceding his official assumption of duties as President of the European Council on 1 December.
Mr Costa toured the MICAS galleries, which is showing Vasoncelos’s signature works Tree of Life, The Garden of Eden, Loft and Valkyrie Mumbet and a number of more conceptual works which focus on the quotidian and the domestic environment.
“Vasconcelos’s ‘Transcending The Domestic’ has revealed the natural beauty of the excavated and historic walls here at MICAS. We encourage visitors to come and see the beauty of these larger-than-life works as well as to experience Malta’s newest heritage project and its contemporary architecture,” said MICAS Artistic Director Edith Devaney.
“Vasconcelos formed a deep connection with Malta and its history while developing this exhibition with MICAS – we are grateful for the spirt of her creativity that brought her, as well as the heritage of these artworks, inside these walls.”
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The public is invited to visit MICAS where they can view the Vasconcelos exhibition as well as works by British contemporary artist Conrad Shawcross and Ugo Rondinone. Tickets to Joana Vasconcelos’s Transcending The Domestic are available from the MICAS website here

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READ MORE

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Layers of MICAS (Part 2): the Floriana lines and San Salvatore bastion

More information about Joana Vasconcelos

Craftwork XXL: how Joana Vasconcelos decontextualises the ‘feminine’

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