The Art Explora festival is a project that fosters exchanges, dialogues, and cultural cooperation across the Mediterranean region. The ARTEXPLORER catamaran is the world’s first museum boat, which will travel around the entire Mediterranean basin, visiting 15 countries and 20 ports in two years (2023 – 2025). Designed by architects Axel de Beaufort and Guillaume Verdier, it measures 46.5 meters long and 55 meters high.

The boat was constructed at the Perini Navi shipyard in Italy. The boat can welcome up to 2000 people on board each day and offers an immersive exhibition designed in exceptional collaboration with the Louvre Museum. This exhibition offers a reflection on the role and representation of female figures in the Mediterranean world, through an educational and sensory experience based on digital audiovisual technologies. It also features a sound experience developed with IRCAM. Through a sound odyssey, Ircam and Ircam Amplify invite visitors to explore the sensations of the Mediterranean and discover new imaginary or real sound landscapes.

As part of its commitment to supporting contemporary creation, the festival offers a program of cross-residencies. The curators associated with the project invite artists, scientists, and researchers from the different countries visited by the Art Explora Festival to participate in residencies on board the boat and in another Mediterranean city for one month. The museum boat will be accompanied by a festival village in a quayside area presenting a programme of cultural events that is being developed by Spazju Kreattiv, under the curation of Daniel Azzopardi. The programme will be focused on the local and international art scene, addressing various topics and issues of the Mediterranean region. The project will bring together numerous cultural and artistic practices, creating a shared space for peer-to-peer dialogue and experimentation, whilst offering an experience to diverse local audiences and visitors of Malta.

Local Head Curator: Daniel Azzopardi

Organised by the ART EXPLORA Foundation in collaboration with Spazju Kreattiv