Malta Tries Wooing Global Rich With More Than Just Golden Passports
A new art biennale and an ambitious cultural center are part of a concerted effort to rewrite the island nation’s reputation.
The artwork Inside the Outset: Evoking a Space of Passage by the artist Rosa Barba, set underground in a former medieval cistern.
Photographer: Julian Vassallo
Your quest could hardly be more atmospheric—or sepulchral. To see Inside the Outset: Evoking a Space of Passage, by the Italian artist Rosa Barba, you must first descend through a hole cut into a flagstone sidewalk, then turn on your headlamp and step down a (frankly terrifying) staircase into a pitch-black expanse.
Jump over what you hope is a stream of water, walk carefully on a few slick rocks, pass through an ancient archway covered in vines—or are they roots?—and enter a 40-foot-high cavern, where you find … a piece of video art depicting the serene landscape of Cyprus.