Every year, Spazju Kreattiv presents an immersive and community- based artist-in-residence programme, welcoming international creatives from all disciplines for a duration of three to four weeks. These residencies are situated within Malta’s thriving cultural creative landscape, aligning with Spazju Kreattiv’s mission to catalyse contemporary art in the country and foster international collaborations.

The strand kicked-off with German artists Sigrun Drapatz and Kiki Gebauer who met with experts in Malta’s topographical, botanical, historical, heritage and architectural fields. Their goals were to create a map of Gozo as a ‘handout’ to residency guests. This map bore their tracks. Following the residency, Sigrun Drapatz and Kiki Gebauer invited Prof. Raphael Vella, whom they were introduced to during their stay in Malta, to deliver a talk at SCOTTY – an artist-run project space in Berlin. Prof. Vella is a lecturer at Arts, Open Communities, and Adult Education, Faculty of Education at the University of Malta.

Jackie Neale, an award-winning New York- Philadelphia-based photographic artist, had her residency focused on the various migrant communities living in Malta. She created large format textile cyanotype bodily imprints and audio interviews of immigration experiences as a continuation of her multimedia portraits and interviews conducted in Calabria with asylum seekers and immigrants in Milano, on the Mexico-US border and within Mexico. These artworks and the conducted testimonial interviews are part of an archive about migratory experiences from 2017– present.

Sound artist Yara Mekawei mainly works with the materiality and immateriality of sound and explores how sound informs and transforms visual and sculptural artistic practices. During her residency, she started working on soundscapes from Valletta. Throughout Tunis, Constantine, Alexandria, Palermo, and Palma; she recorded several soundscapes of each city. Focusing on the architecture and the local markets, she planned her own urban sonic map of Valletta. At the end of the residency, there was a sharing wherein those attending heard about Yara’s practices and listen to the compositions made in Valletta, from architectural buildings, markets, and soundscapes of the city, assisted by Andrew Alamango.

Forming part of the project MARLANDS, Edgar Sarin carried out a short residency as research for his work within the exhibition of the same name. Sarin created an image of antiquity following the common harmonious forms, rituals, anthropocentric conceptions and sustainable consumption of the resources that surround the islands. At the same time, he aimed to contemplate the current situation concerning drinking water on the island of Malta, referencing his work Ba’al which is a rainwater collector. The outcomes of his work were presented as part of the exhibition I LANDED | Malta in December 2022. Sound artist Yara Mekawei mainly works with the materiality and immateriality of sound and explores how sound informs and transforms visual and sculptural artistic practices. During her residency, she started working on soundscapes from Valletta. Throughout Tunis, Constantine, Alexandria, Palermo, and Palma; she recorded several soundscapes of each city. Focusing on the architecture and the local markets she planned her own urban sonic map of Valletta. During an event, Yara played the compositions of her records that were made in Valletta, from architectural buildings, markets, and soundscapes of the city, assisted by Andrew Alamango. Joséphine A. Garibaldi and Paul Zmolek presented their project Gozo: A Sense of Place, which culminated in an intermedia performance installation responding to specific sites in Gozo created by them and local collaborators. Before starting their residency in Gozo, Garibaldi and Zmolek hosted an opening event and presentation in which they elaborated more on their ongoing artistic process of exploring stories of a Sense of Place through collaboration with each other, with community, with local creatives and with Place itself. Both artists also hosted a workshop with the Opening Doors Association in which movement and place were explored with members from the same organisation. Their residency culminated in a presentation of their work at Arthall Gozo.

Our final artist in residence was Tanja Hamester, a contemporary feminist artist and researcher. Her proposed residency involved creating personal archaeology of the places she encountered, avoiding stereotypical representations. Instead of focusing on common landmarks, she employed a bottom-up approach, emphasising encounters, trajectories, and stories.

Her workshop served as a re- enactment of past social practice and culminates in a mini fanzine that connects with the “Empowerment Archive,” a participatory project she initiated in Southern Italy, now relocated to Malta. Through this research and exploration phase, she produced site-specific objects culminating in an exhibition titled Gesture Objects | Is-sejba u t-t ħalija tat-traċċi, which served as an artistic means to explore both physical and psychological aspects of the place. Through a research and exploration phase, she produced site-specific objects culminating in an exhibition titled Gesture Objects | Is-sejba u t-t ħalija tat-traċċi, which served as an artistic means to explore both physical and psychological aspects of the place. The Artists’ Residency programme aims to enhance cultural diversity within Malta’s creative scene by promoting encounters and exchanges between local and international artists, creative collaborators, communities, and both physical and virtual environments. Such a framework provides dedicated time for research and development, as well as opportunities for creatives to interact with communities during the presentation of their work.