The poem Blu by Elizabeth Grech has been selected for BEJN / In-Between, the Malta Pavilion at the 16th Gwangju Biennale, taking place in Gwangju, South Korea, from 5 September to 15 November 2026.

Commissioned by Arts Council Malta, BEJN brings together 60 Maltese and 60 Korean poets in a project exploring the spaces between languages, cultures and artistic practices through poetry, visual art, handwriting, rope and sound.

The project unfolds through two interconnected installations: ROPE TEMPLE, where the words of 79 poets inhabit glass panels within an architecture of rope, painting, handwriting and sound; and TRANS/CRIPTION, a continuous, 120-metre-long anthology bringing together all 120 poets as a non-book, without translations or conventional divisions between poems.

Together, these works create a space for Maltese and Korean poetic voices to coexist, extending poetry beyond the printed page and into a shared artistic experience.

The project features artists Norbert Francis Attard, PONKS Collective and Michael Quinton (Sound Doctor). Julien Vinet is the artistic director, with PONKS associate curator and Jake Buttigieg and Jeong Jae-yul as poetry coordinators.

The Malta Pavilion is commissioned by Arts Council Malta and supported by the Cultural Diplomacy Fund of Malta’s Ministry for Foreign and European Affairs.

BEJN / In-Between — Malta Pavilion
16th Gwangju Biennale
5 September – 15 November 2026
Horanggasy Art Polygon, Gwangju, South Korea

Installation views image credit: @ahina_archive