The publication brings together contributions from 18 thinkers and writers exploring the ideas at the heart of Malta’s participation in the 61st Venice Biennale.
Arts Council Malta has launched the official catalogue of No Need to Sparkle: Experiments in Love and Revolution, Malta’s national pavilion at the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. The launch was held at R Gallery in Sliema.
Featuring the work of artists Adrian MM Abela, Charlie Cauchi and Raphael Vella and curated by Margerita Pulè, the Malta Pavilion is being presented in Venice until 22 November. The catalogue is published by Skira Arte and brings together contributions from 18 thinkers and writers who engage with the themes and research underpinning the Pavilion, including political engagement, critical enquiry, public discourse, and the role of doubt and uncertainty as acts of resistance.
Minister for Arts, Culture and National Heritage Dr Malcolm Paul Agius Galea said: “Taking Maltese artistic work beyond our shores and creating wider opportunities for our artists and cultural practitioners are commitments that we continue to translate into concrete action. Malta’s presence at the Venice Biennale is an important part of that work, placing Maltese contemporary art within one of the world’s most significant international platforms while giving our artists the opportunity to engage with new audiences, ideas and professional networks. At the same time, initiatives such as this catalogue and the outreach programme ensure that the value of that international presence is also brought back home, creating further opportunities for audiences in Malta to engage with the work and the thinking behind it.”
Dr Luke Dalli Executive Chair at Arts Council Malta said: “The Malta Pavilion is not only about the final works presented in Venice, but also about the ideas, questions, research and collaborations that made those works possible. The catalogue, together with the Diamonds in the Rough exhibition and wider outreach programme, gives audiences in Malta an opportunity to look behind the finished work and engage with the processes that shaped it. For us, this is an important part of bringing the experience of Venice back home — creating space for reflection, dialogue and new ways of engaging with contemporary art.”
The Malta launch included readings, conversations and extracts from the publication, giving audiences an opportunity to engage more closely with the ideas that informed the Pavilion and the processes through which the project developed. It followed an earlier catalogue launch in Venice, held with the participating artists, curator and visual identity creator.
The event formed part of a wider outreach programme developed around the Malta Pavilion and taking place at R Gallery in Sliema, bringing elements of the research, artistic processes and conversations behind Malta’s participation in the Biennale to audiences in Malta.
A central element of the programme was Diamonds in the Rough: Research Processes in the Context of No Need to Sparkle, a 10-day exhibition running until 27 September. The exhibition focused on the work that preceded the completed Pavilion, presenting the conversations, research journeys, source materials and experimental processes through which the three artists’ works developed.
The exhibition traced how the Pavilion took shape, as visitors encountered the broader curatorial and architectural frameworks behind the project, including different iterations of the Pavilion’s layout and the relationship between its conceptual development and its eventual physical form. The catalogue itself formed part of this research-focused presentation. The wider outreach programme also included public exhibition tours and activities created specifically for younger audiences.
No Need to Sparkle: Experiments in Love and Revolution brings together artists Adrian MM Abela, Charlie Cauchi and Raphael Vella, with Margerita Pulè as curator. The project’s visual identity was created by Alexandra Pace, with SON Architecture as architect, Tamara Burr as project manager and Kathrine Maj leading outreach. The Pavilion is produced by Unfinished Art Space with R Gallery.
The Malta Pavilion at La Biennale di Venezia is commissioned by Arts Council Malta. For more information visit https://artscouncilmalta.gov.mt.
