Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1516210
CULTURE 14 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 21 FEBRUARY 2024 SPAZJU Kreattiv, Malta's Na- tional Centre for Creativity, in collaboration with Art Explora, has announced the inaugura- tion of the Art Explora Festival in Malta, taking place from 21st to 31st March, 2024. This event happening at Xatt Pinto, Valletta Waterfront, marks the beginning of an extraordinary maritime journey across the Mediterrane- an, with Malta being the first of a series of 20 stops. The Art Explora Festival is a travelling festival on a mu- seum-boat, sailing across the world's seas and oceans to bring visitors innovative ar- tistic and cultural experiences free of charge. The first-ever adventure reflects the ambition of the Art Explora Foundation - an international non-profit organisation founded by arts and culture patron Frédéric Jousset - to promote increas- ingly widespread and inclusive access to the arts. Thanks to the world's first museum boat, the Art Explora Festival will provide artists, ex- hibition curators, institutions, non-profit organisations and NGOs the opportunity to reach out to all audiences around a festival whose content is root- ed in the heritage and issues of each country visited. The festival will take place on board the museum-boat as well as on quayside in dedicated pa- vilions, and friendly welcom- ing areas. These are designed by world-renowned architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte. Addi- tionally, events will be hosted in various venues in the heart of the host cities, with a pro- gramme of events combining exhibitions, virtual reality ex- periences, performances, dis- cussions, film screenings, mu- sic concerts and much more. From Spring 2024 to Autumn 2026, the museum-boat will travel to 15 countries around the Mediterranean – a cra- dle of great civilisations and a melting pot of many cultures – connecting artists, exhibition curators, cultural, educational and non-profit organisations that will collectively imagine a new vision of the Mediterrane- an. President of the Art Explora Foundation Frédéric Jousset explained that "mobility and artistic creation are powerful tools for shifting perspectives, sharing images, and narratives that create new relationships with the world. Boarding a boat is an experience in itself; it will be even more unique with the zz on board and ashore of a unique artistic and cultural programming." Designed by architects Ax- el de Beaufort and Guillaume Verdier, and constructed at the Perini Navi shipyard in It- aly, the museum-boat meas- ures 46.5 metres long and 55 metres high. It can welcome up to 2,000 people on board each day and will host the im- mersive exhibition "Present" with the Louvre's outstanding collaboration, highlighting fe- male figures in Mediterranean civilisations. The experience is divided into two parts: a film to be viewed on the aft deck and an immersive experience in the main gallery. On the upper deck, the visitors will embark on a Mediterranean sound- scape designed by Centre Pom- pidou's x Ircam. The museum-boat will be ac- companied by a festival village on the quayside area present- Art Explora Festival and its boat-museum Owen Bonnici, Minister for the National Heritage and the Arts