Valletta Contemporary
Introduction VC006 by Norbert Francis Attard
January 2025
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Portrait of collector, curator and artist Norbert Francis Attard by Joe Smith.
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Last year I introduced our annual catalogue by hinting at an expansion in the team, and while I still believe it is wise to exercise caution, one cannot expect progress if there is no change. Over the past two years we implemented particular strategies to strengthen VC’s income witnessing a great improvement, but the gallery becoming completely self-sustainable sits far on the horizon. Nevertheless, we saw a small expansion this year with the introduction of two part-timers, Francesca Zammit and Francesca Longo. Francesca Zammit was recruited as VC’s Community Coordinator. Although she joined us for only a few months, her strength in bringing people together will allow us to reintroduce a consistent educational programme to the Gallery aimed at sparking creative exchange within the art world. Francesca Longo, on the other hand, was brought on as a graphic designer. As an emergent designer and illustrator with an educational background in the digital arts she has a keen understanding of the contemporary visual identity VC has become known for.
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Maria Eileen Fsadni’s role changed significantly in the past year, she was promoted from being my Personal Assistant to being designated as the Gallery Manager. While I remain VC’s Artistic Director—being responsible for crafting our annual exhibition programme and offering the creative direction for our publications—Maria oversees the day-to-day operations of the Gallery and is tasked with the overall management of our staff, interns and volunteers. Naturally, communication is key and we both regularly meet to discuss the various initiatives ongoing at VC.
After three years, it has become very clear that I can successfully delegate work from Gozo with the occasional visit to VC to attend to my meetings, with Maria and the team, but primarily with artists, curators and special visitors who ask to meet me.
As Valletta Contemporary enters its 7th year in operation we have seen a significant increase in artists, curators and creatives sending in proposals. Due to the demand to show at VC, we have managed to keep our exhibition calendar quite full up until the first half of 2026. With that being said, looking for artists especially international ones remains a challenge. Of course, working with artists of a particular stature requires more funding and expense from our side. This year we still overcame this hurdle and had a balanced programme with both local and international artists. Next year’s programme looks already very healthy so I am pleased with the progress we have made over the last few years, especially since the Covid period.
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2024 saw five major shows, starting the year with, Comino Will Be Different Next Summer curated by Maria Eileen Fsadni, featuring Inigo Taylor, Mario Asef, Joanna Demarco, Lisa Attard, Sheldon Saliba and Daphne Caruana Galizia; while in the project room we held a small show of twelve prints by the significant 20th century artist Victor Vasarely, who is considered the father of Op Art. Julian Vassallo’s analogue photography followed, his work captured the construction phase of Mercury Towers, a building designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, London. CUMULUS curated by myself, brought together about twenty-nine international artists. It was an interesting mix which included established artists like Ai Weiwei, Ilya Kabakov, Christo, Eduardo Paolozzi, Michelangelo Pistoletto, and many others. We closed the exhibition programme with Life and Passion Revisited by the well-known Maltese artist Caesar Attard, again curated by myself.
From the Comino Will Be Different Next Summer
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This year we reached a significant milestone having organised two shows featuring work exclusively from the collection of the Norbert Francis Attard Foundation, namely Vasarely and CUMULUS. I personally believe that private collections should eventually be shared and viewed by the public, and next year in 2025 we hope to do another exhibition, with a focus on text-based works from the collection.
Two smaller exhibitions were also held this year. In June, Diane Jollique Wang held a pop-up exhibition titled Dream Time Cinema, which was co-curated by the artist and Maria. Travelling from Hong Kong, Diane participated in our artist-in-residency program at Gozo Contemporary and exhibited some of the work she created during the residency. In November, Paul Scerri exhibited a singular installation which served as a preamble to his solo exhibition at Spazju Kreattiv, curated by Gabriel Zammit and associate curator by Andrew Borg Wirth, which opens in January.
Installation view, featuring work by Paul Scerri
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In addition to our exhibition programme, we have slowly reintroduced our educational and events programming this year. We hosted and organised numerous events this year, including a creative writing workshop led by author and artist Ryan Falzon, we hosted the launch of Kurt Borg’s debut essay collection sens ta’ ħarifa, and collaborated with POETRY FROM THE FUTURE to host their 10th edition—curated by Sam Vassallo and Antonio Tufigno—on the occasion of Paul’s pop-up installation. Finally, we closed the year by inviting Hans Langner to share his experience from his two month stay at our artist-in-residence programme. Maria, on behalf of VC, is also sitting on the advisory board for Refugee Week Malta, a week-long festival which is held annually in June. The festival offers a vibrant array of arts and cultural activities, striving to reclaim the term 'refugee' and affirm everyone's right to safety, refuge, and culture. All of the above seek to bring the artistic community together and create lasting creative relationships.
An image from Ryan Falzon's Creative Writing Workshop
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Although I have taken a step back from the day-to-day of Valletta Contemporary, I have thrown myself into another project which has long been on the agenda. In tandem with our first shows from the Foundation’s collections, I have been developing a new archive room in Gozo. The space is equipped with a reading room, archiving drawers and space for research with an exclusive focus on the contemporary arts; a first for our islands. As I lay the foundational groundwork for this project, we have also sought the endorsement from a number of key stakeholders in our community. The archival project has already received the backing of the Arts Council Malta, the ReÄ¡jun ta’ Għawdex, the Faculty of Media & Knowledge Sciences at University of Malta, Spazju Kreattiv and Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti.
Of course, all of the above could not have been done without the help of particular people. Therefore, I must thank all those who continually support Valletta Contemporary. First and foremost, our now General Manager of the Gallery, Maria Eileen Fsadni, the one who keeps everything flowing together. Michaele Zammit, the person who in his spare time, helps in the events photography and who also assists the artists to install their work. Ann Dingli who has consistently, year in and year out, taken care of all the interviews which are published on our website and annual publication. Documentation, including interviews, remain important to me and Ann’s work is much appreciated. Finally, our two new team members, Francesca Longo and Francesca Zammit for their recent support and who I hope will flourish in their new roles.
Other thanks go to the many interns and volunteers working with the Valletta Contemporary team. Thank you to the interns, Cerine Bouchou, Lugh Mathews and Meltem Ezer as well as our long-term volunteers Rachel Abdilla and Polina Slepova. All the people above help Valletta Contemporary to thrive and also to encourage our vision into the future.
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