part of Spring v2.1 - a programme by the Gabriel Caruana Foundation
The exhibition, in transition, curated by Elyse Tonna, employs past narratives of The Mill as a point of departure. Samuel Ciantar and Jamie Barbara reimagined the spaces within through site-specific works. They embarked on an exploration extracting aspects related to both The Mill’s original use as a wind-powered structure and also a studio space of modern artist Gabriel Caruana. Individually and collectively the artists translate quasi-intangible facets related to The Mill overlapping them with contemporary realities through sound, video and installation work.
'Tracc'aria' is an attempt at visualising imperceptible information relating to air and proposing a critical reflection on current ways of living. The suspended fabric, derived in scale from the windmill’s smaller sail kultellazz, captures the current state of the air around The Mill. As invisible as it is, the state of the air is a perfect representation and reflection of our modes of life and practices. The particulate deposits on the fabric make visible the impacts of our fossil fuel driven society contrasting with the building of the windmill which produced food from the power of the wind. The sporadic projections include various excerpts from videos found online that oscillate between scientific data and more poetic visualisations of air. These fleeting moments reinforce the act of observation interlinked with political insight and provide observations related to our relationship with air.
The stretch of fabric was left on the roof of the Mill for 1 week and treated with petroleum jelly for particulate matter to adhere to it.
