Heritage Malta is giving the opportunity to Maltese artists to work alongside internationally renowned contemporary artists and to exhibit their works through an EU funded project called ISIDEM (Isola ed Identita’ in Movimento).
The ISIDEM project is an EU-funded, Interreg IIIA Italia-Malta project led by the Comune di Siracusa – Galleria Civica d’Arte Contemporanea in collaboration with the National Museum of Fine Arts (Heritage Malta), the Department of Economics and Quantitative Studies (University of Catania) and the Comune di Scicli.
Part of the ISIDEM project is the creation of a cultural and creative exchange between an invited foreign contemporary artist and Maltese counterparts. To this end, internationally renowned Portuguese artist Sancho Silva was hosted in Malta late last year to conduct a workshop for local artists.
The workshop was brought to a close with a public presentation held recently at Heritage Malta offices. Sancho Silva, together with ISIDEM’s curator Salvatore Lacagnina and guest curator Nuno Faria held an interesting discussion on the latest developments in contemporary art to a room-full of guests. The presentation was opened by Heritage Malta’s curator of contemporary art, Dennis Vella. Heritage Malta chairman Dr Mario Tabone also addressed the floor. Following the workshop, participants have now been given assignments to continue developing their work individually. The resulting works of art will be exhibited in March at Biagio Steps in Valletta. The premises are being used for the ISIDEM workshops and exhibition with the kind collaboration of the Ministry of Education.
Similar artistic exchanges have taken place in Syracuse and Scicli in Sicily in which Maltese artists also had the opportunity to participate. The ISIDEM Project will culminate in an exhibition in Syracuse, to be held at the end of March, that will showcase the works of art created by the international artists Sancho Silva, Duncan Marquiss (artist-in-residence in Scicli) and Artur Zmijewki (artist-in-residence in Syracuse) in the course of their residences in Malta and Sicily.