Azure Watch Exhibition at Dwejra Tower, Gozo

Azure Watch Exhibition at Dwejra Tower, Gozo

Launch; Saturday 30^th September 2017 at 11.00 am. 

Dwejra Tower on Gozo is set to host a unique exhibition exploring the visual legacy of one of the Maltese islands’ most famous landmarks – the Azure Window.

The nearby seventeenth century coastal Watchtower, which was restored and is now managed by Din L-Art Ħelwa, Malta’s National Trust, will host a unique exhibition in partnership with a new and exciting arts project entitled “Azure Watch”.

The cultural organisation Spazju Kreattivita, Valletta, together with artist Giuseppe Fanizza are inviting all citizens, artists and activists of Gozo and Malta to engage with the “Azure Watch” project by sharing their photos, memories and experiences of visiting the nearby Azure Window, as well as experiencing, during a visit, a range of audio recordings, films, photographs and  exhibits.

The exhibition will be launched on Saturday 30th September at 11.00am at Dwejra Tower and will then be open on weekdays from 9am to 3pm and  weekends from 10.30 to 3pm. Last day will be Sunday 29^th October 2017.

Entrance to the Exhibition is free of charge but donations will be gratefully accepted, all proceeds going towards the upkeep of this historic tower.

Completed in 1652, Dwejra Tower commands marvellous views over the coast overlooking Dwejra Bay and Fungus Rock. It remains a popular attraction with the many international tourists and local residents visiting the area throughout the year.

The Azure Window limestone arch was one of Gozo’s most famous landmarks.  It dramatically collapsed into the sea after a heavy storm early in 2017, attracting intense media coverage from across the world.

For more information about Azure Watch, please visit their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/azurewatch/

For more details about Din L-Art Ħelwa or planning a visit to Dwejra Tower, please visit https://www.facebook.com/Dwejra.tower/ or https://dinlarthelwa.org/properties/our-properties/dwejra-tower-gozo/ or email info@dinlarthelwa.org

d by Gozo’s inhabitants.

The objective of Azure Watch is to build and preserve an archive of photographs and images of the Azure Window and the surrounding landscape that will remain available for consultation and the possible future implementation by the Gozitan community.

Besides the impact on the environment and on the tourism economy of Gozo, the collapse of the world famous Azure Window has equally (if not more) important consequences on the iconography and the topographic memory of Gozo landscape.

The present imagery of the Azure Window available on the internet, as transmitted by the tourists which visited the island, shows a standardized iconography that could become the only future memory of the Gozo landmark.

In order to avoid such homologation and loss of identity, a prompt and common action need to be taken.
The construction of the Azure Watch Archive will be coordinated by Spazju Kreattiv and Giuseppe Fanizza, a visual artist with specific experience in participative artistic processes.

Azure Watch is meant to be totally participative at all stages, starting from the formation of an open workgroup of volunteer iconographic researchers (selected through this open call), to the digitisation and indexing of the collected material until the design of the output and the consultation platform.

A number of residency participants have applies and will be joining the Azure Watch Group thus contributing towards field-research for photographs collection and the acquisition, indexing and formalization of the images that will be included in the Azure Watch Archive during the residency project.

Anyone who wishes to submit media or make contact with us can write to us via azurewatch.media@gmail.com

This project is part of the joint Artist-in-Residence Programme in Gozo by Spazju Kreattiv and the Valletta 2018 Foundation