Futuring MUŻA … and a manifesto for European public art museums

Abstract

In a few months time, Malta’s capital city, Valletta, will be European Capital of Culture for 2018, which shall also be European year for Cultural Heritage. The legacy of this milestone has been works-in-progress for quite some time with a cultural infrastructure including, amongst other projects, a national art museum. As we look forward to this eventful year, I would like to do futuring, or how we can anticipate the future by looking closely at current trends, developments and visioning. My futuring exercise shall concern this national art museum, MUŻA. The name goes beyond a mere branding exercise and stands for a chosen vision with clear and set objectives. The word MUŻA is an acronym for Mużew Nazzjonali tal-Arti, the Maltese name of Malta’s now defunct National Museum of Fine Arts established in the 1920s as a Fine Arts Section within the then Valletta Museum. MUŻA is also a direct reference to the nine muses, the Greek mythological figures from classical antiquity thought to inspire creativity. As a research project in its own right, MUŻA strives to rethink the museum model by means of a thorough understanding of its origins, true meaning and purpose.