Arts Council Malta have announced that ‘URNA’, by a collaborative creative team including Andrew Borg Wirth, Anthony Bonnici, Matthew Attard Navarro, Thomas Mifsud, Anne Immelé, Stephanie Sant and Tanil Raif has won the 2025 London Design Biennale Medal, awarded to the most outstanding overall contribution.
Perfectly exemplifying and merging design innovation and creativity, together with a more deeply spiritual enquiry, ‘URNA’ is an innovative project speculating on a radical future for the adoption of cremation in Malta. ‘URNA’ imagines a new ritual for handling human remains, envisioning it as a culturally significant process.
Conceived by a creative team of architects, designers, curators, and art directors, ‘URNA’ is a large-scale installation, comprising at its centre a monumental sphere, crafted from reconstituted limestone. The sculptural installation is the nucleus for a series of other important components of the project, including a film, which speculates on the possible future of rituals around URNA, and a book featuring visual and written research. Drawing on Malta’s historical ties to limestone and its cultural significance, the work symbolises the intersection of heritage, sustainability, and transformation.
The collaborative team behind URNA, comprising Andrew Borg Wirth, Anthony Bonnici,Thomas Mifsud, Matthew Attard Navarro, Anne Immelé, Stephanie Sant and Tanil Raif say:
“URNA is from Malta but it is for the world. It has global, universal ambitions. This win affirms the quiet power of what we set out to do with URNA—to create a space where death, memory, and material are held with sensitivity, courage, and imagination“
Owen Bonnici Minister for Culture, Lands and Local Government, describes URNA as bold, daring and provocative and said that it is precisely what art should be all about: Challenging the status quo.
Mr Albert Marshall, Executive Chairman at Arts Council Malta congratulated the team for their hard work, dedication and well earned award. This comes as a lovely celebration for Arts Council Malta’s 10th anniversary. URNA has a strong Maltese element—it uses the local landscape and innovative material technologies in reconstituted limestone, Malta’s unique natural resource, making URNA an ecologically sustainable project.
URNA is Malta’s official entry for the London Design Biennale 2025. The project is the result of a collaborative effort between Arts Council Malta, Maltese creatives, and leading international institutions. Arts Council Malta, under the auspices of the Ministry for Culture, Lands and Local Government, led by Minister Dr Owen Bonnici, is the Commissioner of the Malta Pavilion at the London Design Biennale.
artscouncilmalta.org
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