MICAS’s Artistic Director Edith Devaney was interviewed by Maltese newspaper MaltaToday over various subjects, from her years at London’s Royal Academy of Arts, her long-standing relationship with David Hockney, and her pursuit of excellence at MICAS to grab the attention of the international art world.

And her artistic vision could not be clearer. 

“When we’re putting on exhibitions here, the programme should be as strong as a programme I would deliver in London, Paris or New York. It should be as good as that,” she told Nicole Meilaq as she sat for this interview inside the beautifully-transformed MICAS within the restored 17th century Floriana Lines.

This commitment to excellence applies both to bringing international artists to Malta and to showcasing Maltese artists. Devaney says she wants to bring Maltese artists who are operating at a particular standard of excellence to MICAS, providing them with a window onto the rest of the global art scene. 

MICAS’s second exhibition is testament to this. The Space We Inhabit, which launches on Saturday 14 June, will feature works from six established Maltese artists – Caesar Attard, Vince Briffa, Austin Camilleri, Joyce Camilleri, Anton Grech and Pierre Portelli. ”What I was looking for is Maltese artists who were just at the top of their game and who were creating work of such interest and significance that the majority of them already have international recognition,” she says. 

MICAS’s rotating exhibitions will give vibrancy to the space, and relevance to social changes, a model Devaney believes will be well-received and allows the museum to be responsive to contemporary art trends, citing other institutions that operate similarly.  

The museum’s unique architecture helps serve this function. Housed in a massive, 17th century fort, the space integrates the old with the new while presenting a creative challenge. 

“When I first got my head around what these galleries were, I have to admit I had a moment of slight panic. I’ve never worked in a space that’s not a white cube,” she says.  

But what started off as a challenge turned into a source of inspiration for international and local artists. “The space has actually inspired them to think about how to make new work to fill it, how to gather some of their collection to show here. All of these things have informed how I feel about it.” 

Another exhibition set to launch later in the year is one that celebrates American modernist Milton Avery and his contemporary influence. Devaney says this would be a big exhibition anywhere – Avery is an important modernist colourist whose influence on other artists was profound, particularly on figures like Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman, and Adolph Gottlieb.

Devaney, whose subject is abstract expressionism, argues that Avery’s influence on colour field painting was such that abstract expressionism would have turned out differently without it. 

The exhibition will feature a group of Avery paintings, specifically just over 20 works covering his entire career. The exhibition will also include responses from seven international contemporary artists from Europe and America, including his daughter March Avery, who will each show around three paintings.