Marking this significant milestone, the Malta Pavilion will present BEJN \/ IN-BETWEEN<\/em><\/strong>, a major new commission that brings together four leading contemporary artistic voices from the Mediterranean islands of Malta and Gozo: Norbert Francis Attard<\/strong>, PONKS<\/strong> (Sam Alekksandra & Julien Vinet) and Michael Quinton<\/strong>. Working together as the BEJN Kollettiva<\/strong>, the artists will create site-specific installations as part of a three-month residency in Gwangju, which will unfold as one collaborative exhibition at Horanggasy, one of the Biennale\u2019s main exhibition venues. The project is curated by Moon Hyun Jeoung and managed by Toni Attard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n BEJN \/ IN-BETWEEN<\/em><\/strong> unfolds as three connected spaces and a \u201cliving threshold\u201d, forging a connection between Malta and Korea: two cultures separated by continents, but united by a shared preoccupation with community, ritual and resilience. Through installation, sound and poetry, the project explores the concept of the \u2018in-between\u2019 as a space of tension, dialogue and transformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dr. Malcolm Paul Agius Galea, Minister for the Arts, Culture and National Heritage, said, \u201cMalta\u2019s debut at the Gwangju Biennale is a historical milestone for Malta and a testimony to the potential and quality of our local artists and creatives. Our participation further strengthens Malta\u2019s cultural presence on an international scale and creates new opportunities for collaboration, exchange and dialogue with other countries and with international communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The BEJN \/ IN-BETWEEN project strongly reflects just how art can create bridges between different cultures and creates opportunities for shared understanding. Our government remains committed to investing in culture and supporting our local artists so that they may keep expressing their creativity and represent Malta in the best way possible on a global level.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Executive Chairman of Arts Council Malta, Dr Luke Dalli, said: \u201cMalta\u2019s first participation at the Gwangju Biennale marks an important milestone for the local cultural sector and reflects the growing international recognition of Maltese artistic practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As one of Asia\u2019s leading contemporary art platforms, the Biennale offers Maltese artists and creatives valuable international exposure and opportunities for cultural exchange.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Through the theme of BEJN \/ IN BETWEEN, the project explores identity, coexistence, transition, and human connection through an interdisciplinary artistic approach combining installation, poetry, sound, performance, and emerging technologies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Arts Council Malta remains committed to supporting artists and creatives while strengthening Malta\u2019s presence within international cultural platforms such as the Gwangju Biennale.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the Art Polygon, Norbert Francis Attard, one of Malta\u2019s pioneers of contemporary art, creates spatial interventions that hold opposing forces in tension. Drawing from Maltese festa traditions \u2014 vibrant communal celebrations dedicated to a town\u2019s patron saint \u2014 and Korean Obangsaek colour principles, his works explore balance through colour, elasticity, light, and structure. Using stretched elastic bands, mirrored surfaces, illuminated elements, and architectural metal forms, Attard transforms the space into a field of movement, pressure, and reflection. For example, PERISTYLE<\/em> – a penetrable sculpture constructed from hollow metal sections and gold-painted forms reminiscent of festa decorations \u2014 places ritual celebration directly against contemporary devastation, drawing uneasy parallels between Malta\u2019s historical culture of siege, collective commemoration, and the ongoing international conflicts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n PONKS transforms the Glass Polygon into ROPE TEMPLE, where hundreds of suspended ropes form a room within a room. At its centre, a dense tree-like structure of ropes rises through the space, rooting the installation both physically and symbolically. The work ties together the ritual significance of Geumjul \u2014 traditional Korean sacred ropes intended to ward off evil spirits \u2014 with Malta\u2019s deep rope traditions, from maritime vessels to religious processions, where rope becomes both functional necessity and sacred symbol. Scripts of Maltese and Korean poetry cover the surrounding glass, creating an immersive environment where language, material, and ritual dissolve fixed cultural boundaries. Visitors ascend through the tree-like structure towards a final intervention at the top of the building, where the installation resolves into a luminous gesture suspended above the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Base Polygon forms the subterranean roots of the temple through three interconnected rooms that explore different facets of poetry: musicality, word, and worlds. Beneath the Glass Polygon, the space unfolds as a quieter, more introspective counterpart to the installations above. In the first room, Michael Quinton\u2019s soundscape draws on field recordings captured across Malta and Korea, combining sonic manipulation, resonance, silence, and immersive surround sound. The work treats sound as a condition of being, creating an environment of deep listening and reflection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Alongside this, the Portal programme hosts an exchange between Maltese and Korean artists performing across various sites, inviting audiences into the visual worlds and personal responses of poets and performers in relation to their surroundings. The final room is dedicated to an anthology: an experimental publication that documents the creative process, poetic contributions, and artistic exchanges, offering visitors a tangible \u201cfragment\u201d of the in-between to take with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Malta\u2019s debut at the Gwangju Biennale marks an important moment for the country\u2019s contemporary cultural landscape, presenting Maltese artistic practice within an international context of exchange and dialogue. BEJN \/ IN-BETWEEN<\/em> reflects Arts Council Malta\u2019s commitment to supporting ambitious contemporary work that engages across borders, disciplines, and communities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Led by the International Cultural Relations Directorate under Annabelle Stivala, the Malta Pavilion positions cultural diplomacy as an active process of encounter, collaboration and shared imagination between Malta and South Korea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Malta Pavilion at the Gwangju Biennale Horanggasy 5 September \u2013 15 November 2026 Arts Council Malta, with the support of the Ministry for Arts, Culture, and the National Heritage, announces Malta\u2019s first-ever participation in the Gwangju Biennale, one of Asia\u2019s most prestigious platforms for contemporary art. Taking place from 5 September to 15 November 2026 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":16666,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized-mt"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artscouncilmalta.gov.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artscouncilmalta.gov.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artscouncilmalta.gov.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artscouncilmalta.gov.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artscouncilmalta.gov.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16670"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/artscouncilmalta.gov.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16670\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16771,"href":"https:\/\/artscouncilmalta.gov.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16670\/revisions\/16771"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artscouncilmalta.gov.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artscouncilmalta.gov.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artscouncilmalta.gov.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artscouncilmalta.gov.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/artscouncilmalta.gov.mt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Norbert_Francis_Attard_Bejn_by_Edward_DeGabriele_2-1024x683.jpg\")
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BEJN \/ IN-BETWEEN is commissioned by Arts Council Malta and supported by the Ministry for Foreign and European Affairs and the Cultural Diplomacy Fund. <\/p>\n\n\n\n