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

tel:

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

Foreign Body Leone Contini 15.–23.06.2013

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Tirana Art Lab – Center for Contemporary Art and microgallery present:
Saturday 15 June 2013 – 7 pm
Tirana Art Lab – Center for Contemporary Art
Leone Contini
Lecture Performance
Foreign Body

Saturday 15 June – Sunday 23 June 2013
microgallery
Leone Contini
microexhibition
Foreign Body – Antena

We are happy to invite you to the opening of Foreign Body – Antena, Lecture Performance and microexhibition of Leone Contini, the first artist in residency for 2013 at Tirana Art Lab. Between April – June 2013 he was conducting an artistic research in different cities of Albania. The project idea flourished when the artist found an old map of Albania under the Italian occupation. The map belonged to his grandfather who was stationed in the Balkans during WWII. The map marked cities and places with lines and dots, evidencing an invasion, an attempt of control and domination. Today each dot is a void, echoing both a personal and collective amnesia: the map is a “foreign body” for both, the artist’s personal family past as well as for contemporary Italy that has removed its imperialist past from the collective awareness.

Foreign Body – Antena, Lecture Performance and microexhibition can be considered as an attempt to retrace those warpaths from a different perspective: Contini turns the map from a tool of control into a platform to sew relations; his intention was in fact not to decode the dots-voids – this would be the duty of a historian -, but to re-fill them through interaction with people. Out of this meticulous net of journeys – being as much as possible loyal to the original map – he created an audio-visual-textual and very subjective archive and shared it in the form of a blog titled Harta e Thesarit – La mappa del tesoro. The contents of this blog often relate to migration experiences of Albanians in Italy, but also with strategies of survival in the current chronic-crisis of the so-called transition process in Albania. A mixture between interviews, short essays stories, self-reflexive thoughts and images, build up a written and visual archive, making visible the artistic research process and at the same time documenting a part of the country’s everyday reality.
This work process culminates with the Lecture Performance, a format that the artist has chosen to present his practice at the end of the residency and of his research. We can say that the real outcome of Contini’s practice is the research itself and the documentation through the blog, shifting the focus from creation of objects to creation of social relationships. Lecture Performance, a brightly used artistic expression in the last few years, offers the appropriate format for the artist’s self-reflection, discussion, performance and interaction with the public. Comparing it with essay-writing, Jenny Dirksen argues that lecture performance is a critical and reflective method of presentation in which both pragmatic and aesthetic criteria are deployed with equal validity, not in order to make a final point, but to open up the possibilities inherent in any perspective.
In this sense, Contini’s Foreign Body, Lecture Performance is conceived as an inclusive device, able to incorporate the complexity of such a multilayered research, held under the project umbrella of Harta e Thesarit, developed during his residency stay.
Another big subject in Contini’s fieldwork research in Albania relates to homemade aerials built during the communist time, mainly used to reach the Italian TV signal. During his residency, Leone asked people to draw for him their most familiar handmade aerial and collected a wide range of models, this variety answering very different needs: in relation to the materials available and to the geographic specificity of each region – the electro magnetic flow being affected by morphology, weather etc. Through the aerials, Albanians learned a foreign language and got familiar with Italian Pop culture. At the same time the imagery transmitted through these devices was nothing but the idealized simulacra of the consumer society. Watching Italian TV and the subsequent mass emigration was a yearning towards a false promise. When the first refugees arrived in Bari in 91, the Albanians were for the Italians a blank page, ready to write on. Before 91, the immigration in Italy was not “thematized”, nor exploited for political agendas. But the super-iconic image of the crowded refuge ship overlapped with a void of political power and was therefore turned into the archetype of a new collective fear: the fear to be invaded by foreign bodies. Driven by his interest in self-made aerials, Contini developed the work Foreign Body – Antena: an intervention that will be hosted by microgallery, a hybrid Italian-Albanian art project based in Tirana. The project Foreign Body – Antena, microexhibition is answering and at the same time challenging the microgallery “statute”, by connecting this small and intimate space to the vast realm of the real. But Antena will subvert the aerial device too, by turning this tool, conceived to passively receive signals from some invisible elsewhere up there on the air, into a hearty, field-feeler and relational medium.

Curated by Adela Demetja

This project was made possibel by scholarship NCTM E L’ARTE Artists-in-residence