A festival with a great difference kicked off on board the two-mast schooner MS Hulda, berthed at Ta’ Liesse in Valletta

The Hulda Festival is the second journey into art and science on board Ilhan Koman’s historic schooner. It serves as a platform for artists from different disciplines to interact together and with their audience in targeted regions.

The events take place through an interdisciplinary approach, interaction and creativity.

Exploration and human interaction are at the core of Hulda’s mission. Resident artists from different countries and cultures carry out workshops in their creative domain, as inspired by Hulda’s journey, the region and their experience. The events are recorded and will eventually be published together with the artists’ impressions as the concrete artwork of the project.

The Hulda project is the second of a series of events inspired by Ilhan Koman’s quest, and combines the artist’s passion for unrestricted thought, research and the Mediterranean.

The MS Hulda was Koman’s home and workshop in the last two decades of his life. The artist studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Istanbul (1940-47). He continued studying and in 1958 moved to Stockholm where he took a professorship (1967) at the Swedish School of Arts Crafts and Design, Konstfackskolan until 1986. In 1965, he bought the Hulda and lived on this ship in Drottningholm from 1965 until his death in 1986.

His collections are housed in modern art museums in Stockholm, Paris, Istanbul, Brussels and Seattle.

The Hulda Festival is being held as part of Science in the City – Malta’s Science and Art Festival, which will also kick off today, and also Notte Bianca, tomorrow.

In fact, the entire event will culminate tomorrow with a concert featuring Ekin Fil (Turkey), Julian Mallia – Danjeli (Malta), Biblo (Turkey) and Betül Cankara (Turkey) in a spectacular and innovative performance.

The event starts at 9.30pm at the spectacular location just below the Valletta bastions, with views of the Grand Harbour and the Three Cities.

The Koman Foundation, which is dedicated to promoting the life and work of the artist, is the official organiser of the event. The Malta Council for Culture and the Arts, the organisers of Science in the City, and Transport Malta strongly support the project.

The ship is sailing the Mediterranean while stopping in Amfilochia, Albania, Montenegro, Valencia-Barcelona, Majorca-Menorca, Sardinia, Sicily, Malta and Turkey. The Hulda Festival is being held throughout the week.

Space on board the ship is limited and participants must register at [email protected] beforehand. Participation without registration can be accepted according to availability of space.

More information is available at www.scienceinthecity.org.mt