We are just coming out of weeks of total isolation. Each of us has experienced what it is like to be forced to live in perfect isolation -or with few other loved ones- in what we felt to be an incredibly overwhelming and extreme situation. Extreme for us, but not for those who come from the sea.

The Sea is a state of mind.

The sea is like a dress sewn on the Puglia Region, which is surrounded by water along its 865 kilometers of coastline [1]. The sea has been a major source of livelihood for many families, but over the centuries, countless dangers have come from the sea to which man has reacted by reshaping the architecture of the coastline. The Aragonese responded to these threats by building watchtowers from where they could watch over the coastline. A 1532 Vice royal order required private persons to build towers, but it was not until 1700 that this building effort was finalized: by that time 379 coastal towers had been built throughout the Kingdom of Naples, 131 of them were located in Puglia.

The rationale behind the construction of these towers is clear and precise: these watchtowers allowed to watch over the sea, the horizon, the hinterland, they were built close enough that each tower could communicate with the towers on either side and send light and smoke signals, thus passing the word of danger quickly and effectively or calling for help.

Artists have always served as watchtowers, as radars: McLuhan argues that inherent in the artist’s creative inspiration is his/her ability to subliminally sniff out the changing environment around him/her.” In the electric age the artist steps out of his/her role of individual “author” isolated from everything and everyone and puts his/her art making and creative effort at the service of the community. [2] The artist is able to look beyond the horizon, to anticipate times, fashions and trends.

The exhibition Sta come Torre/Be as a Tower revolves around the artist-tower analogy: much as a tower provides an excellent view point to scrutinize the horizon, an artist, through her/his creative art making process and works, allows us to reflect on contemporary themes, on the threats and opportunities of our times, on what we have learnt from the past, and what we are going to leave to future generations.

But, in addition to being named after the homonymous winning project by architect Luigi Brunati and sculptor Amerigo Bartoli, for the realization of the Monument to the Sailor of Brindisi, one of the six non- accidental locations of the exhibition, the name of the exhibition recalls a verse from the fifth Canto of Dante’s Purgatory, a verse that lends itself so well to the concept of this exhibition:

“Come after me, and to their babblings leave The crowd. Be as a tower, that, firmly set, Shakes not its top for any blast that blows.”

A contemporary exhibition and not only an exhibition of contemporary art. An exhibition that, departing from the coastal landscape of Puglia, takes us on a journey through our times and our new social dynamics. .

Seven artists guarding six contemporary towers in an exhibition which is itself architecture, design, infrastructure. Each tower is an outpost of the six provinces of the Puglia Region: the choice of the locations mirrors a kind of geographical distribution of the cultural diversity of the shoreline: a former church, a 19th century “chalet”, an art museum, a monument, a port, an independent cultural center.

Each tower is manned by an artist and contains works from the previous and next tower. The towers are thus artistically and actively connected to each other. Six exhibitions talking to each other as parts of a large exhibition: not a travelling exhibition, but one and only exhibition that is itself a journey through the long stretch of the Puglia coastline and its extraordinary landscapes.

[1] Italy has 7914 km of coastline, Puglia with its 865 covers more than 10% of it and is the third region. Sardinia first, with 1,849 km, followed by Sicily (1,500 km). Prima la Sardegna, con 1.849 chilometri, seguita dalla Sicilia (1.500 km).

[2] Cecilia Guida, Spatial practices. Funzione pubblica e politica dell’arte nella società delle reti , pg. 71, FrancoAngeli