About

Tirana Art Lab – Center for Contemporary Art is one of 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 and established 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 formats like, residencies, exhibitions, workshops, performances, lectures and talks, as well as research and publications, TAL has managed to create a space for emergent critical and reflective 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. From 2014-2018 TAL operated from an independent multifunctional space located in the centre of Tirana. Its unique laboratory consisted of an exhibition space, a space for artists in residence and an open public library of contemporary art books. Since 2018 TAL has been putting an emphasis on projects rooted in research and archiving, in relation to art in publics space (Tirana Floating Archive & Tirana Floating Tours) and highlighting the practices of women artists (Secondary Archive). In 2023 TAL initiated "Curating with Care" the first alternative educational program in curating in collaboration with Istituto Italiano di Cultura a Tirana. At the moment TAL does not have a physical location but collaborates with local partners for its projects.

From 2014 TAL has refined its holistic conceptual, operational and managerial practice based on the concept of rhizome. The concept consists in three practical strings: inside-outside, bottom-up and polyphony. 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.

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 was the the first Albanian institution to have collaborated 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 between 2015-2017 (Heroes We Love ), by the Creative Europe Programme. Also as leading partner TAL was supported in 2016 by Allianz Kulturestiftung. Between 2019-2023 TAL was part of the large scale international collaboration project Beyond Matter EU in partnership with ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, Centre Pompidou, Ludwig Múzeum – Kortárs Művészeti Múzeum, Tallinn Art Hall, Aalto University, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, EPFL (associated partner). Co-founded by the Creative Europe Program of the European Union. 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, Goethe Zentrum Tirana, Swiss Cultural Fund Albania and a large number of embassies in Albania. TAL has been supported also by the Albanian Ministry of Culture, Municipality of Tirana, Albanian National Historical Museum and other public/private national institutions. TAL has collaborated with local partners including Tulla Cultural Center, Bulevard Art and Media Institute, Galeria e Bregdetit Vlorë, Bazament Art Space.

Executive Director / Curator Adela Demetja

Adela Demetja is a curator born in Tirana, Albania living in Tiran and Frankfurt am Main. She holds a master in "Curatorial and Critical Studies" of Städelschule and Goethe University, Frankfurt/Main. Demetja studied from 2002 to 2006 at Academy of Art in Tirana. She is the director of Tirana Art Lab – Center for Contemporary Art, which she established in 2010. As an independent curator she has curated numerous international exhibitions and collaborated among others with institutions like National Gallery of Arts Tirana, National Art Gallery of Kosovo, Maxim Gorki Theatre Berlin, Portland Institute for Contemporary Art USA, Project Biennale D-0 Ark Underground Konjic, Action Field Kodra Thessaloniki, Lothringer 13 Kunsthalle Munich, Villa Romana Florence, Haus am Lützowplatz Berlin. She curated the Albanian Pavilion at 59th Venice Biennale represented by Lumturi Blloshmi.

ASSISTENT DIRECTOR / ASSISTENT CURATOR KLAUDIA FAGU
Klaudia Fagu is a young culture manager and curator born in Tirana living between Padua and Tirana. She graduated in Economics and Administration of Arts and Culture at the University of Venice. Fagu writes articles of art exhibitions and cultural events for Ekphrasis Blog, and has worked alongside Italian and artists of Albanian origin. She co-founded “Zanë Kolektivë” and has co-organized cultural events like "Portovecchio Festival”, “Suoni in Peschiera” in Padua and the art exhibition “Vazhdë ” in Tirana. In 2023 was part of “Curating with Care” alternative education program in curating organized by Tirana Art Lab, and has since started to collaborate with Adela Demetja and Tirana Art Lab.

PROJECT ASSISTENT / ASSISTENT CURATOR ERIDA BENDO

Erida Bendo born in 1996 in Kolonjë, Albania, is an architect and computational designer. Always curious about the multi-dimensional aspects of the built environment, from interior spaces to cities, her interests lie in understanding natural phenomena, as the driving force in her explorations of generative design and rule based systems. Erida holds a Masters in Architecture from the Polytechnical University of Tirana and a postgraduate master in advanced computation for architecture and design from the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia.

Former Curator / Collaborator

Romeo Kodra, Matilda Odobashi, Sonja Lau, Eni Derhemi, Jiri Gruber

Imprint

© 2024 Tirana Art Lab
Design: Paul Voggenreiter
Code: Jens Schnitzler

Contact

M: info@tiranaartlab.org

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Opening Hours

We don't have a permanent location at the moment.

Location

We are looking for a new location

Mailing Address

To join our newsletter please send an e-mail to:
info@tiranaartlab.org

Space

From its beginning in 2010 until 2014 TAL organized different types of events in the cities of Tirana, Shkodra and Pogradec in art spaces and public spaces. From 2014 to 2018 TAL operates from an independent multifunctional space located in the centre of Tirana. Its unique laboratory consisted of an exhibition space, a space for artists in residence and an open public library of contemporary art books.
At the moment we don't have a permanent location and we organise our activities in different locations. Meanwhile we are looking for a new space to relocate.

Find Us

Recent

SECONDARY ARCHIVE OPEN CALL FOR WOMEN ARTISTS 05.09.–03.10.2024

Residency

Tirana Art Lab hosts an international residency program that is open to artists, curators and theoreticians from all fields of contemporary culture. The residency gives the participants the opportunity to spend a distinct amount of time in Albania, to meet and to collaborate with artists and experts from the region, and leads to the production of a new work informed by the research on site. The duration of the residency depends on the respective project proposal.

At the moment there are no open calls for residents.

Paul Voggenreiter (Germany)

Designer in Residency

October 2018

Gabriele Rendina Cattani (Italy / France)

Artist in Residency

Double Feature #09

March – April 2018

Fabrizio Bellomo (Italy)

Artist in Residency

Double Feature #03

September – October 2015

Leone Contini (Italy)

Artist in Residency

Foreign Body

April – June 2013

Double Feature is an exhibition format introduced by Tirana Art Lab with the aim of systematically displaying in our premises, two artistic positions to the Albanian, the regional and international audience. By exhibiting two artistic positions together, we would like to construct the ground for contextualization of the artists and their works as well as build up a historical narrative necessary for the developments of contemporary art in Albania and the Region. The structure of the event enables us to pair artistic positions with every exhibition differently, making it possible to create mutual connections and references for both the positions. Especially in the Albanian context such exhibition format is needed and can be very successful. The small scale of the project enables us as organizers to engage deeply with the artists, the works and the context as well as enables the public to have a greater accessibility to a small-scale showcase. We primarily aim in conceptualizing; curating and delivering exhibitions with a high artistic quality and relevance as well as to motivate and create a space for discussion starting for the discourses initiated by the art works. Double Feature is a series of exhibition that will bring together national and international positions; positions from different disciplines; positions belonging to different generations. The creation of a dialogue between the two positions in relation with the history of art will be ensured by detailed exhibition text, artist talks, documentation through publication, interviews, photo documentation, video material etc.

Performative Exhibition is a new format initiated by Tirana Art Lab – Center for Contemporary Art with the intention to disclose exhibiting and to make public through performativity not only the process of artistic creation and curating, but also find ways to include in the exhibiting process and the means of production behind and beyond the event itself. The concept of “Performative Exhibition” aims to find new ways of exhibiting and curating which break with the temporary / unique features of the contemporary exhibition and propose enduring ways of working together.

The program is eager to tackle new hybrid formats of contemporary music and visuals arts by means of new audio-visual productions, concerts, talks and screenings.

"Curating with Care" is an alternative educational program initiated and developed by Tirana Art Lab - Center for Contemporary Art. The first edition of the program is promoted and supported by Istituto Italiano di Cultura in Tirana and curtated in partnership with Spazio Taverna Rome.

The program was created as a response to the need for additional educational opportunities for young local culture workers in the field of exhibition making from a local perspective.

"Curating with Care" is a program that reflects on curating, taking into consideration the developments and conditions of art production in Albania and the Southeastern Europe region. Its primary goal is to offer knowledge and practical information to culture workers, equipping them to challenge and bring new perspectives to the local and international art scene. Additionally, the program aims to create a connection with international discourses about contemporary curatorial practices, particularly new strategies and modes of curating that aim to offer meaningful, sustainable, and relevant approaches in curatorial practices.

SECONDARY ARCHIVE OPEN CALL FOR WOMEN ARTISTS 05.09.–03.10.2024

Inauguration Terminal for Tirana Karolina Halatek 18.03.2024

Terminal for Tirana Installation in Public Space Karolina Halatek 01.03.–30.04.2024

VAZHDË Anastas Kostandini, Ledia Kostandini, Mariana Kostandini, Theo Napoloni, Anxhela Pipero, Merita Selimi, Kairo Urovi, Agrina Vllasaliu 30.11.–14.12.2023

Curating with Care Alternative Educational Program September - December 2023 13.–19.11.2023

Public Presentation Spazio Taverna: A space to built the future Ludovico Pratesi 10.11.2023

Public Presentation Vessel: Instituting as a Social Practice Across Geographies Anna Santomauro 29.09.2023

Tirana Floating Tours Application launch 29.04.–14.05.2023

Curating with Care - Alternative Educational Program Call for Participants 21.04.–19.06.2023

Launching Secondary Archive - Albania / Kosovo / Serbia / Visegrad Countries 27.–28.10.2022

SECONDARY ARCHIVE OPEN CALL for women artists from Albania 01.08.–01.09.2022

Performative Exhibition #3 Collective Contours Ecumene 16.07.–14.08.2022

Matter, Non-Matter, Anti-Matter Artists in Residency & Immaterial Display Huniti Goldox, Olson Lamaj, Valentina Peri 25.06.–28.08.2022

Albanian Pavilion at La Biennale di Venezia from scratch Lumturi Blloshmi 23.04.2022 – 27.11.2023

Presentation and Conversation Beyond Matter Artists in Residency duo HUNITI GOLDOX 15.–16.04.2022

Art Within Political Struggles. Solidary Artistic Practice at the Periphery: Tirana, Skopje Demetja, Vaseva, Rädle, Bonizzi 19.–31.12.2021

Tirana Floating Archive Website Launching 19.–20.11.2021

Exhibition Artists in Residency Beyond Matter Donika Çina, Hanna Hildebrand, Alexander Walmsley 04.–20.11.2021

Tirana Time Capsule #2 Virtual Experience Alex Walmsley 01.09.–01.11.2021

Missing Stories Exhibition in Tirana 07.–20.08.2021

ARTIST IN RESIDENCY BEYOND MATTER - Second Round 01.–31.07.2021

Beyond Matter Workshop With Alex Walmsley Call for participants 07.–10.06.2021

BEYOND MATTER RESIDENCIES Call for Artist in Residency - Second Round 30.01.–30.04.2021

ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE BEYOND MATTER - First Round 01.09.2020 – 30.06.2021

BEYOND MATTER RESIDENCIES Call for artists 01.03.–30.04.2020

Missing Stories 20.02.–30.11.2020

BEYOND MATTER CULTURAL HERITAGE ON THE VERGE OF VIRTUAL REALITY 01.11.2019 – 01.11.2023

Performative Exhibition #2 Komuna e Parisit Revisited
 Rena Rädle & Vladan Jeremić 05.–12.10.2019

Double Feature #10 Jora Vaso & Theo Napoloni 29.09.–30.10.2018

Performative Exhibition #01 Center of Integration 24.–29.07.2018

Double Feature #09 Gabriele Rendina Cattani & Ilir Lluka 21.04.–02.06.2018

Double Feature #08 Marina Naprushkina & Ergin Zaloshnja 15.11.–30.12.2017

Double Feature #07 Donika Çina & Hanna Hildebrand 30.09.–04.11.2017

Double Feature #06 Sokol Peçi & Slobodan Stošić 29.04.–03.06.2017

Heroes We Love (End of Project) 04.03.–01.04.2017

Double Feature #05 Çeta Georgia Kotretsos, Pleurad Xhafa 03.12.2016 – 28.01.2017

Downside Up Arbër Elezi, Lori Lako, Igli Marion 28.09.–29.10.2016

TAL @ Vienna Contemporary Focus: Ex-Yugoslavia and Albania Lumturi Blloshmi, Aurora Kalemi, Alketa Ramaj 22.–25.09.2016

Double Feature #04 Nikolin Bujari & Nada Prlja 07.05.–04.06.2016

The Art of the Socialist Period between Contempt, Fetishism and Transition International Conference 29.–30.04.2016

Inside Out Fatlum Doçi, Aurora Kalemi, Mirjana Meçaj 05.03.–03.04.2016

Double Feature #03 Elton Baxhaku & Fabrizio Bellomo 29.10.–30.11.2015

Smoke. Biomechanics of Power Nico Angiuli 30.05.–05.07.2015

Double Feature #02 Alma Bakiaj & Viola Bittl 28.03.–02.05.2015

Heroes We Love Collaboration Project 01.01.2015 – 01.06.2017

Music/Arts #5 Continuum Antez 20.12.2014

Double Feature #01 Nemanja Cvijanović & Ibro Hasanović 13.12.2014 – 18.01.2015

Let Us Start In The Middle Effi & Amir 05.–21.09.2014

Music/Arts #4 Metamorphic Narratives Ilir Lluka 08.08.2014

100 km Art Tirana/Shkodra 23.09.2013

Foreign Body Leone Contini 15.–23.06.2013

Balkans Beyond Borders 2012 20.–22.09.2012

Who is afraid of the big, bad crisis? 12.–20.05.2012

Graphic, Novel Sketching W. G. Sebald in Pristina 11.–17.05.2012

Music/Arts #3 Tirana Trash Attila the Stockbroker 05.05.–05.06.2012

Music/Arts #2 Style as weapon 15.–17.12.2011

Music/Arts #1 Let’s Meet by the River Nertila Seferaj, Martin Fuchs, Tobias Donat 11.–12.10.2011

Pipifax – Through the Looking Glass and what we found there Haus am Gern 03.–12.06.2011

Monument Ginger Society Tirana Klara Schilliger & Valerian Maly 16.04.–31.05.2011

Albania–Germany: A Photographic Journey II 08.10.–28.06.2010

Albania – Germany: A Photographic Journey I 13.08.–05.09.2010

Squat The City 21.–23.05.2010

Performative Exhibition #01 Center of Integration 24.–29.07.2018

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Tirana Art Lab – Center for Contemporary Art, art collective Patriotisme and Italian Culture Institute in Tirana are pleased to invite you to attend:

PERFORMATIVE EXHIBITION # 1
CENTER OF INTEGRATION
Performances / Lectures / Talks / Installations
Tuesday 24 July – Sunday 29 July 2018
Starting from 7 pm

"Performative Exhibition" is a new format initiated by Tirana Art Lab – Center for Contemporary Art with the intention to disclose exhibiting and to make public through performativity not only the process of artistic creation and curating, but also find ways to include in the exhibiting process and the means of production behind and beyond the event itself. The concept of “Performative Exhibition” aims to find new ways of exhibiting and curating which break with the temporary / unique features of the contemporary exhibition and propose enduring ways of working together. The first exhibition of this series will be developed under the title “Center of Integration” and aims to reflect visually, poetically and theoretically on the notion of integration. Center of Integration is a joined project of Tirana Art Lab and the art collective Patriotisme that will have its first public appearance at Tirana Art Lab from 24 to 29 of July 2018. Various Albanian and foreign artists, curators and theorists/researchers have been invited to contribute to the program through lectures, talks, performances and installations.

On the occasion of "Center of Integration" the space of Tirana Art Lab will be furnished and transformed into an apartment, re-creating the former circumstances of the premises.

PROGRAM

Day 1 – Tuesday 24th July
7 p-m – OPENING
Introduction of Center of Integration
ANGELO CARERI, ADELA DEMETJA, TANCRÈDE RIVIÈRE

Day 2 – Wednesday 25th July
7 pm – 8 pm
ROMEO KODRA
Lecture
The mystery of the Albanian art between lines

The integration, starting from the definition Center of Integration, etymologically regards to the untouchable (ìntegrum, ìnteger, in-tàng-ere). The first Albanian laic painting, as defined by Gëzim Qëndro, Kolë Idromeno’s Motra Tone, seems to paraphrase this etymology presaging the anxieties of the future Albanian modern and contemporary artists and their context. These anxieties, oscillating between inadequacy, sense of inferiority, illusion of expectations, betrayal or braking of the law of the Other / the Foreigner, characterize or mark not only the subject-artist, but also the artworks. In other words, this intervention explores and experiments, on the line of the anxieties and their oscillations, through art examples, critique writings and historiographical data, fugues for an Albanian art history and art critique.

Romeo Kodra holds a Master in “Theory, Techniques and Management in the Arts and Entertainment” of the Faculty of Human Sciences, Bergamo University of Studies, Italy. In 2016 he was an Invited Researcher at “Institut National d’Histoire de l’Art” – Paris, France. His theoretical interest focuses on the generation of meanings in challenged spaces by arts and politics in transitional and contemporary societies. His interest is explored through researches on curatorial events, theater, writings on arts, architecture and urban planning. He joined Tirana Art Lab- Center for Contemporary Art team in 2014 as Project Manager.

8:30 pm – 9:30 pm
ANGELO CARERI
Lecture
Poets on strike

This lecture’s starting point is a recent event that took place in the context of the 2017 edition of Val-de-Marne’s International Poets Biennale in France. Following the last minute cancelation of the 100 euros fee that each invited poet ought to receive, a majority of participants started a “poets strike”. This unprecedented event raised a number of questions about the ambiguous role of poets in today’s society. In what exactly consists the work of the poet? How is its value measured and what kind of salary is he entitled to? What are the theoretical consequences of the practice of strike in the field of art? First I will recount the achievements of this particular event, but also address some of its paradoxes. Then I will use it as a starting point to rethink my position by introducing a piece that I have been working on for seven years, Théorie (“Theory”). Théorie is an auction house that I use to sell my poems directly to collectors. It aims both at mimicking the valorization process that is the current standard in the art world, and also at attempting to emancipate myself from it by selling my work without middlemen.

Angelo Careri is the co-founder of the Patriotisme art group and the chief editor of Immersion magazine. He teaches French Literature at Sorbonne-Nouvelle University (Paris).

Day 3 – Thursday 26th July
7 pm – 8 pm
RAINO ISTO
Lecture Performance
“…but at least I’ll be going to Albania soon”[Images from an Imagined Utopia]

In 1991, Euronymous, the guitarist, for the infamous Norwegian Black Metal band Mayhem, gave an interview with the important underground metal zine Slayer. In the interview, Euronymous discussed his own connections to politics. Euronymous professed a marked interest in Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, in particular in their Southeastern European varieties. Throughout the course of the interview, Euronymous specifically mentions socialist Albania and Romania several times, claiming to be a member of an Albanian-inspired political group in Norway and asserting that “I don’t know if I have any ultimate goal, for me it would be perhaps to play live in Albania, North Korea, Laos, Vitnam [sic], or Kampuchea.” He laments that he did not have time to visit communist Romania “like [it was] in the old days,” but says “but at least I’ll be going to Albania soon.” Euronymous apparently never visited Albania (two years later, in 1993, he was murdered by his bandmate Varg Vikernes, a neo-fascist). Even if he had, however, in 1991 he would have found a country that had toppled the statue of its former dictator, following a particularly harsh and lengthy period of national Stalinism: far from the communist utopia he must have imagined. “…but at least I’ll be going to Albania soon”seeks to explore the ways that Euronymous’ obsession with extreme modes of politics seemed to find a compatible utopic space in socialist Albania. It examines how one extreme ideological imaginary became fruitful grounds for an extreme cultural movement that was almost as far removed aesthetically as one could imagine.

Raino Isto is a PhD candidate at the University of Maryland, College Park, working mainly on monumentalism and memory in the Balkan states during the socialist years. His research focuses on public sculpture in socialist Europe and in highlighting the global meaning of socialist realism during the postwar period. He blogs at www.afterart.org.

8:30 pm – 9 pm
GABRIELE RENDINA CATTANI
Performative Lecture
STENTOR EVENING

AS THE SUBTITLE SCROLLS FROM RIGHT TO LEFT,
YOU STARE BLANKLY AT THE MONITOR, UTTERLY BORED.
[…] I UNDERSTAND YOU BETTER THAT ANYONE ELSE DOES, SO JUST LEAVE EVERYTHING TO ME, OKEY?
[…] AND AS THE SOUND OF TRUMPET GREW LOUDER AND LOUDER, SPOKE, AND ANSWERED HIM IN THUNDER. HE SPOKE LIKE FIFTY MEN

Gabriele Rendina Cattani is an Italian artist who predominately makes soundtracks: immersive computer generated compositions focused on limits and boundaries of a digital sound environment, and how it could influence our memory and our surrounding comprehension. Cattani, studied from 2011 to 2016 Music Composition at the Conservatory of Santa Cecilia Rome and at Institute for Music Research, Civica Scuola di Musica Claudio Abbado Milano, Italy. He holds a double Master in Fine Arts and Music Theory from Ecole National des Arts Decoratifs and E.H.E.S.S. Paris, France.

Day 4 – Friday 27th July
7 pm – 8 pm
FREDERIK STAMATI
Lecture
The flags of some of the most important events of Albania’s history

The Albanian National Museum was organized based on a decision by the Lushnja Congress and opened to the public in 1922. It ceased his activity during the Second World War years. The Museum was enriched by the purchase of objects, but also by many donations from the museum’s supporters. Among the donated objects are the flags of some of the most important events of Albania’s history. From the current status of documents it turns out that the museum had no inventory for the flags, which leaded to enormous difficulties in identifying these objects. In 1947, the objects of the National Museum were transferred under the management of the Albanian Institute of Science. Later on, the still unidentified flags were handed over to the Albanian Ethnographic Fund. During the years 1999-2011 Frederik Stamati was introduced to these flags. While working on restoring and preventing their further degradation, he also began to research in order to identify them. His research encompasses nearly twenty years. For the identification of the flags, Stamati used documents from the Albanian State Archive, various publications on the history of Albania and he meet with collectors and people related to the events. Currently, the conservation of the flags is at stake.

Frederik Stamati graduated from the Department of Industrial Chemistry at the Faculty of Natural Sciences of the University of Tirana. After working for five years in the industry, he started working as a research fellow at the Institute of History and Linguistic at the University of Tirana, where he organized for the first time in Albania the archeometry and conservation laboratory, which he directed for forty years. He is the author of three monographs and numerous articles published in national and international scientific journals. He has participated as well in numerous national and international scientific projects. He has restored and conserved over 20.000 material culture objects. One of his recent projects was also the identification of flags of the Albanian National Museum.

8:30 pm – 9:30 pm
TANCRÈDE RIVIÈRE
Film – Conference
DIG?

“Dig?” is an open reflection on the fantasy of archaeology, both as a scientific field and as a ground practice. While coming back to the origins of the Center of Integration and Patriotisme collective moving to Albania, it explores the complicated links between art and archaeology, and tries to raise the question of their common ground. Is that common ground a shared obsession with the past, as supposed by Dieter Roelstrate? Is it an ideology? Is it a pure matter of representation?
Formally, “Dig?” draws its inspiration from the problematic category of the “film-performance”: it refers to the current expansion of the various practices that are grouped under that name and which happen to be often part of the experimental cinema’s specific obsession with the “archaeological imaginary”.

Tancrède Rivière is a PhD student in comparative literature at Paris VII University (Paris, France). Alongside his researches, he works on various projects whose main mediums are poetry, translation and experimental filmmaking. He is co-founder of the art group Patriotisme.

Day 5 – Saturday 28th July
7 pm – 8 pm
ADELA DEMETJA / ENI DERHEMI / AURORA KALEMI
Performance
Integrational Conversation

Adela Demetja is a curator and author. From 2010 she is founder and Director of Tirana Art Lab – Center for Contemporary Art. As an independent curator she has organized, managed and curated various international exhibitions and events in different European countries.

Eni Derhemi has a Bachelor Degree in Design and Arts from the Free University of Bolzano, Italy and now she is continuing her Master studies in Visual Arts (Theory and Critic) at the University of Bologna, Italy. Her artistic practice is mainly focused on poetry and its melting with different methods of visual representation.

Aurora Kalemi is a visual artist and her practice develops between the medium of painting and video art. She pursued her Bachelor and Master Degree at the Art Academy of Tirana, Albania.

8:30 – 9:30 pm
LUMTURI BLLOSHMI
Performance
Menu Kama Sutra

“Kama Sutra is Art!
It’s an acrobatic music decorated with mystical Indian ornaments beyond imagination.
It is not a matter of the inappropriate moment, because Kama Sutra can be found in every spontaneous aspect of life.
You would probably ask why the frogs?
I invite all my art friends for a Kama Sutra dish and for a discussion about it.“
Lumturi Blloshmi

Lumturi Blloshmi (born in 1944) graduated in 1968 at the Academy of Arts in Tirana. After the 90s she was one of the few artists of her generation that managed to reposition herself and her work within a contemporary art discourse and one of the few artists to introduce installation and performance in her work. Her works in painting, photography, installation and performance are characterized by an ironic and satiric way of reflecting and criticizing the reality in which she lives. Her works has been showed among others in group and solo exhibitions in institutions like; Chelsea Art Museum in New York, Municipal Art Gallery of Bydgoszcz Poland, Alexandria Biennale for Mediterranean Countries Egypt, Albania National Gallery of Arts, Kosovo National Gallery of Arts, ViennaContemporary Art Fair.

Day 6 – Sunday 29th July
7 pm – Closing Remarks
8:30 pm – APERITIVO

Artistic Interventions
SOKOL PEÇI
Video
No More Class War, 2013, 02:35 min

In a cold day of winter, rain can be a burden for the daily job. As the gaze of someone who observe himself from outside, the camera documents the working day of a gambling casino’s watchmen. His jobs consists of him standing and move all the time, in order to control the situation. Every time cars of clients are coming, the worker jump across the street helping them to park the cars in the reserved place. In an extreme close-up shot only his feet are captured, as the most visible bodily part carrier of stress. Two wet feet from rain stand as testimony for a half man; the upper part of his body is less needed.

Sokol Peçi (1984, Tirana) graduated from the Art at Academy of Fine Art of Venice and finished the Master studies at Academy of Fine Arts of Bologna, Italy. Some of the exhibitions and events he participated include: „What is waiting out there, 6th Berlin Biennale, DE, „The Symbolic Efficiency of the Frame, Tirana Biennal, Satellite Project, AL, „Testimony and Desire“, 9th Onufri Prize, National Gallery, AL, „87th Collective Exhibition“, Fondazione Bevilacqua la Masa, IT, „Double Feature # 6“. Tirana Art Lab.

ERGIN ZALOSHNJA
Intervention in the city / Publication
Sputnik Nr:14 – Center of Integration

Sputnik is a political, sub-cultural Fanzine. Critical and without censorship. Another point of view as a contrast to mainstream media propaganda. Ergin Zaloshnja will observe the developments of Performative Exhibition #1 – Center of Integration and will create the next number of the fanzine Sputnik with the topic Center of Integration.

Ergin Zaloshnja was born in 1979 in Tirana and lives and works in Tirana, Albania. He is an engaged and activist artist working in the media of photography, installation and video. He is the founder of the political and sub-culture fanzine “Sputnik”.

This project is supported by Italian Culture Institute in Tirana and STEP travel grant managed by ECF with the support of Compagnia di San Paolo.

www.centerofintegration.org