The works of six outstanding Albanian artists can be viewed at the “Długa” gallery (Forum cinema). The exhibition is part of the programme prepared for the South Slavic Culture Festival, which will take place on Saturday.
Graduates of the Academy of Fine Arts in Tirana have depicted contemporary Albania in their works. A country grappling with its communist past. Isolation, fear of the West and today’s political theatre.
- Adriana Kapo’s work shows the dramatic reality of this past regime most powerfully – said Danuta Pałys, curator of exhibitions at BWA in Bydgoszcz, at the opening. Danuta Pałys. – It is a stark presentation of a world scratched out in black. In it, the artist creates prison spaces, deprived of light and hope.
Sadik Spahija depicted in another work the immense desire of Albanians to communicate with the world. After years of isolation, dialogue with other people and other nations is needed. His ceramic work (an installation) depicts the domes of satellite dishes mounted on bunkers, which covered Albania during the communist era (the bunkers served as shelter from a potential attack by the West).
Another artist, Fatmir Miziri, also speaks about the need to re-establish severed ties. His painting is meant to symbolise a registered letter.
- A registered letter requires a recipient – said Pałys. – Confirmation of receipt. Europeans are to receive it in person, thereby testifying that they remember Albania and know of its existence.
Krystyna Gay-Kutchenreiter, an artist from Bolesławiec, admired her colleagues’ exhibition but did not hide a certain sense of dissatisfaction.
- I expected stronger emotions – said the long-time curator of the International Ceramic and Sculpture Workshops. – Albania is a wild country, with untamed nature and difficult living conditions that foster great resilience, while the works of Albanian artists are too polished, too European. I miss the fierceness, the strength that allowed Albanians to survive such a tragic period in the country’s history.
The exhibition can be viewed until 11 July.
(information: Grażyna Hanaf)