As Spazju Kreattiv, Malta’s National Centre for Creativity, announces its new programme for 2023/24, Esther Lafferty talks to artistic director DANIEL AZZOPARDI to find out more about the arts centre’s ethos and some of the seaon highlights audiences may seek out in the coming months.
Known for its multidisciplinary offering, Spazju Kreattiv is keen to both reach and represent a diverse audience, so some element of the new programme for 2023/24 is sure to resonate with everyone, whatever their age and interests.
“It’s about entertainment and so much more,” says Daniel Azzopardi, the centre’s artistic director. “Arts and culture have an important role to play in providing a platform for discussion around society and social change. We are using creative media to push boundaries, ask questions and trigger conversations on topical issues that are pertinent to the population today,” he says.
“We don’t shy away from subjects that are potentially difficult. Over the next year, these will include gender diversity, intergenerational harmony, mental health, environmental sustainability and social equality.”
The programme includes 15 art forms from the visual and performing arts to science and technology, which Azzopardi says has a different dynamic and stretches the traditional understanding of creativity.
One such event will be the SACES – architecture student EXPO later this month, which celebrates the students of the Faculty for the Built Environment at the University of Malta and presents their ideas, sketches, architectural models and ambitions for the world we live in.
“Bringing international artists here to inspire and collaborate with Malta’s foremost artists is an important part of what we do,” he continues, “and I’m very excited about Possible Worlds, an exhibition we’re working towards in November in collaboration with the ŻiguŻajg Children’s Festival and Arts Council Malta.
“Nine artists, both local and international, are tackling the environmental crisis from the perspective of children to present an immersive experience with sculpture, installations and other wide-ranging art within a projected ‘garden’, to which children themselves can also contribute.”
In February, the centre will showcase the commissioned exhibition Dream (of) Land, a collective project infused by the movement of art and feminism.
The exhibition draws together contemporary arts and traditional crafts such as yarn weaving, wood sculpting and clay making and has a focus on memories, narratives and legacies.
It’s really important that the younger generation is exposed to classic theatre- Daniel Azzopardi
The season also includes a varied selection of arthouse films, including R.M.N – a powerful new work from Romanian director Cristian Mungiu which focuses on a multigenerational family in rural Transylvania.
“It’s centred on the tension between the views and traditions held dear by the older generation and the youngsters in the community who are more open-minded about social and multi-ethnic diversity. That clash of ideology is reminiscent of issues we see here in Malta today,” says Azzopardi.
Spazju Kreattiv Cinema is also showcasing a retrospective of the prolific Swedish director and screenwriter Ingmar Bergman – one of cinema’s most influential and revered film directors. The cinema is showing six of his best films remastered.
“It’s important to look back at the cinema greats because it’s when you see their mastery that you can really appreciate contemporary film and the art of film-making,” he continues.
Later in the programme, Azzopardi is directing a production of Hedda Gabler, one of the best-known works of realism theatre by Henrik Ibsen – a show about a woman who is trapped in a marriage and a house that she does not want.
“It’s really important that the younger generation is exposed to classic theatre, and we are adapting this play to modern times to make it relevant to today’s society. It will be performed in Maltese with English subtitles for a local and international audience,” he explains.
“We are also looking forward to presenting the first solo concert of its type by Maltese indie artist, electronic singer-songwriter Cher Camilleri, whose other-worldly sounds are contributing a new element to the islands’ musical landscape, and to hosting two emerging Austrian bands who fuse and manipulate classic sounds to electronic music in real-time.”
As for the centre’s Christmas offering, Spazju Kreattiv is hosting the drag show Kwijns which returns by popular demand to take a flamboyant look at the history of Malta.
It’s certainly a bold and striking proposition, matched by the equally colourful graphics of the new programme guide which suggest fantastical sci-fi ideas are bursting the boundaries of traditional perceptions of art.
“They’re the perfect fusion of the strength of the past and the promise of a bright future for everyone,” says Azzopardi. “Spazju Kreattiv is housed in an extraordinary 16th-century fortress – a building designed to keep people out – and now we aspire to both bring people into its heart and spread creativity far and wide.”
For further information on the new 2023/24 line-up of exhibitions, events and more, visit kreattivita.org.