Tirana Art Lab – Center for Contemporary Art is Albania’s leading contemporary independent art institution. Founded as a non-profit organization, on the initiative of Adela Demetja in 2010, TAL aims at promoting emerging artists and contemporary art from Albania as well as from Central, Eastern, and South Eastern Europe. The center is process and research oriented. Through different events like, residencies, exhibitions, workshops, performances, lectures and talks, as well as publications, TAL has managed to create a space for emergent critical and reflexive thoughts. The center initiates and supports new productions by national and international artists, and projects critically engaged with artistic, cultural and social issues of transitional and contemporary societies. TAL operates from an independent multifunctional space located in the centre of Tirana. Its unique laboratory consists of an exhibition space, a space for artists in residence and an open public library of contemporary art books.

From 2014 TAL has refined its holistic conceptual, operational and managerial practice based on the concept of rhizome. It is deeply rooted, both in the Albanian cultural context and new experimental methodologies in terms of research, production and management. In this manner TAL tries to resist politicization, polarization and neo-colonial practices which pervade contemporary local and/or global cultural scene. The concept consists in three practical strings: inside-outside (equal relationship/partnership with other foreign/Albanian institutions), bottom-up (equal relationship/partnership with the public/private culture system institutions) and polyphony (artists-public relationship/partnership in production of cultural goods). Therefore the practice of TAL (research, production of art/culture, and management) maintains a strict connection with the sensitive horizontal issues, such as transparency towards the public/private collaborations, involvement of beneficiaries in the process of cultural goods, non-profit/public interest, socio-cultural suitability, effects on vulnerable groups (youth, elderly, minorities, precarious workers), and impact on gender relations.

Throughout the years, TAL has grown into a contemporary art centre, engaged in a wide range of activities and collaborations with other art institutions, museums, and academic structures in Albania, the South Eastern Europe Region and the international landscape. Through one of the members TAL is the first Albanian institution collaborating with Institut national d’histoire de l’art – Paris, France. Thanks to the expertise and capacities of its members TAL was the first art and cultural organization in Albania supported, in the framework of an international partnership project (Heroes We Love ), by the Creative Europe Programme. Also as leading partner TAL was supported in 2016 by Allianz Kulturestiftung. These supports followed the continuous collaboration, in all these years, with other foreign institutions and supporters, such as Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Tourism, Museum of Yugoslav History Belgrade, UGM | Maribor Art Gallery, Institut für Ausladsbeziehungen, Alliance Francaise, Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Robert Bosch Foundation, Pro Helvetia, European Cultural Foundation and a large number of embassies in Albania. TAL is also supported by the Albanian Ministry of Culture, Albanian National Historical Museum and other public/private national institutions.

Executive Director / Curator Adela Demetja

Adela Demetja, holds a master in “Curatorial and Critical Studies” of Goethe University and Städelschule, Frankfurt/Main, a diploma in “Leadership Development Programme” of The College of Europe and European Funds for the Balkans, Berlin-Brussels-Bruges and a diploma in “European Culture Management” of Robert Bosch Foundation. From 2010 she is co-founder and Executive Director of TAL. As an independent curator she has organized, managed and curated a numerous international exhibitions and events in different European countries. In 2015 she co-curated the third edition of the international contemporary Project Biennale D-0 Ark Underground taking place in the anti-atom shelter build by Tito in Konjic, Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 2016 she was appointed curator of Focus: Ex-Yugoslavia and Albania at viennacontemporary international art fair, Vienna Austria. As an author she has been writing exhibitions reviews, catalogue text and articles for different online platforms and publications.

Team

Darsel Demetja / Eni Derhemi / Beriad Qojle / Aurora Kalemi / Vjola Kasëmi

Board

Edlira Mali, Fisnik Ismaili, Dr. Frederik Stamati, Nikolin Bujar, Redi Saliasi

Former Curator / Collaborator

Romeo Kodra, Matilda Odobashi, Sonja Lau

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