Art, architecture, and history are among the genres of the new titles published by Kite Group, with each book offering a rich and thought-provoking contribution to Malta's cultural landscape. From an iconic theatre lost to war, to the alchemical beauty of glass, and the boundary-pushing vision of a culturally rooted artist, these publications explore diverse themes through the lens of Maltese heritage and creativity.
Two new volumes entitled The Malta Royal Opera House: Power, Culture, and the Stage by Vicki Ann Cremona, published by Kite Group and Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti, are now available. The Malta Royal Opera House, destroyed in World War II, remains a powerful cultural emblem and a source of national nostalgia. But what is the story behind this lost landmark? The two volumes penetrate deeply into the theatre's history from its first construction to its final ruin, setting it within its international context and highlighting the tensions between political authority and theatre administration.
Book One: Design and construction; the first devastation by fire, sets the context. It analyses architect Edward Middleton Barry's designs, describes the building's exterior and long-overlooked interior, presents rediscovered scenography that astonished audiences, and explains the 1873 fire and the introduction of electricity to Valletta and the opera house.
Book Two: From reconstruction to destruction, and beyond, describes the Maltese-led reconstruction and the new technologies it generated; examines management, operations, audiences, and international stars; and, in an epilogue, reviews later rebuilding proposals. Designed and richly illustrated by Daniel Cilia and based on groundbreaking research and newly-discovered imagery, the two volumes offer a comprehensive history of the Malta Royal Opera House and provide fresh insight into the protagonists and patrons who made it a symbolic focus of Malta's European cultural identity.
Another new title is Glassworks by Luciano Micallef. The artist says that "glass holds a paradoxical quality: while delicate, it defies decay, resisting the natural decomposition that affects other materials. Its transparency invites the viewer to see beyond its surface, making the surrounding environment an integral part of the work. This is reminiscent of stainless steel - though in reverse. With glass, the focus shifts to what lies behind and beyond. Contrary to painting, which blocks light, glass floats over a surface, its transparency allowing it to dissolve into the background, becoming part of its context. Glass has given me the opportunity to create unconventional artworks with a unique personality. Each piece is a testament to the transformative power of light as it penetrates the material, revealing its profound beauty. Glass becomes a finely nuanced material language - one that is purely abstract yet capable of embodying poetic resonances between mind and matter, between the materiality of glass and the immateriality of consciousness. While glass may lack the expressive, gestural scope of painting, it compensates through qualities less available to painting: the transformative power of light, the sculptural plasticity of three-dimensional form, and the immersive allure of depth and internal structure".
Another new volume is Islands and Cultural Translation: The Art of Joseph L. Mallia, edited by Christian Attard and Keith Sciberras. This title delves into that creatively generative dialectic that happens between the periphery and the centre, especially when that periphery happens to be a small island situated at the very edge of Europe. How does an artist from such a place absorb, negotiate, or rise above the influences of the centre? And what of those enduring tropes surrounding the island itself: resilient, cut adrift, yet offering a space for creation and contemplation? The art of Joseph Lawrence Mallia, a Maltese artist, is examined through these lenses. What emerges is the story of an artist who managed to transform insularity into insight.
Signed copies will be available at the Book Festival in Ta' Qali.
For more information visit www.kitegroup.com.mt or phone on 9993 2592.