Paysage desertique

Johannes Peter Holzinger, Paysage desertique (maquette)

Death Denial

By Marc Parry, May 22, 2015

http://chronicle.com/article/Mortal-Motivation/230303/

The Traveler and his Shadow

Cat's Cradle

LOS

Antonina Sofronova, “LOS”, 1920

Ink on paper, 28.8 x 21 cm

La Mer

Once in a while our table conversation might

concern the perception of the sea in Charles Trénet’s “La Mer”

which was recorded in the mid-forties.

I myself had grown up by an entirely different sea

but seemed to share

a sea which was not mine but yours:

I suggested that our perception

was determined by “a certain way of filming the sea”

which we associate with the forties –

black-and-white, of course, but above all

with slow, almost dawdling reflections of the sun,

single, slowly twinkling silver flashes

in the sea shot looking south,

in the sea at noon.

Black shadows in the foreground –

they make the soundless play of the sun

seem even more dazzling out at sea.

It is as if these dawdling reflections had given me access

to a world which was not mine –

for a moment I really believe

that communication is possible,

that the images have an inner life to convey,

see you on the Mediterranean beach:

the periphery is blurred but in the middle of the picture

the definition is so strong

that I see the glitter in the little girl’s eyes

where she stands in the glittering waves,

where she is overcome by the sea today,

by merely existing near a summer sea,

where without a doubt she hears voices shouting

though she cannot make out what they are saying in the surge

– while the clouds imperceptibly have come to a halt

in the depth of the clearest of bays.

Jesper Svenbro

© Translation by John Matthias & Lars-Håkan Svensson

Tirana Open 1

Tirana Open 1 presents the first of its kind initiative in the Balkans, bringing together under one umbrella an unprecedented array of Albanian and International cultural institutions presenting a rich multi-disciplinary program of exhibitions, events, and public interventions.
Reflecting on a city that is at once an old Roman center, Ottoman outpost, Italian Novecento archetype, Fascist utopian dream, an example of Stalinist brutalism, and finally, a model of contemporary (non) architecture run amok, Tirana Open 1 explores its locale as a vibrant lab of cultural hybridity and an alternative model for urban development and audience engagement.
“Tirana Open 1 is an invitation to a pass-the-word that Tirana is the urban square that has no cultural barriers, but only porous borders of cultural belonging” says festival co- director Helidon Gjergji. “By inviting international cultural institutions to participate in this city-wide happening, we hope to make the local institutions and citizens of Tirana feel a bit like visitors in their own city, and to make visitors feel like citizens of Tirana. This is not a role play, but a playful reality.”

Kostis Velonis, How One Can Think Freely in the Shadow of a Temple, 2008, Video Mod HD, Duration : 2'45''

Pamur, the festival’s contemporary arts section, presents a special guest project by celebrated artist William Kentridge (South Africa), alongside a a juried competition of video art by prominent international and local artists, including Yuri Ancarani (Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Torino), Olivo Barbieri (MAXII, Rome), Henry Chapman (T293 Gallery, Naples), Donika Cina (Galeria e Vogël, Tirana), Alberto Di Fabio (Gagosian Gallery, London), Nathalie Djurberg (Museo Pascali, Polignano a Mare, DZT Collective (Stefano Romano & Eri Çobo) TICA (Tirana Institute of Contemporary Art, Tirana), Yllka Gjollesha (Zeta Gallery, Tirana), Elis Gjoni (Art Kontakt, Tirana), Felix Gmelin (Stacion - Center for Contemporary Art, Prishtina), Ibro Hasanovic (Tirana Art Lab, Tirana), Aurora Kalemi (Zenit Gallery, Tirana), Santiago Mostyn (Moderna Museet, Malmö), Alban Muja (Tulla Culture Center, Tirana), Marzena Nowak (Galerija Gregor Podnar, Berlin), Matilda Odobashi (FAB, Tirana), Anri Sala (Hauser & Wirth Gallery, Zurich), Sissi (MAM Foundation, Tirana), Cauleen Smith (Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago), Stefanos Tsivopoulos (Thessaloniki Center of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki), The Two Gullivers (Flutura Preka & Besnik Haxhillari) MAI (Marina Abramovic Institute, Hudson, New York), Nasan Tur (Blain/Southern Gallery, London), Nico Vascellari (The National Gallery of Arts, Tirana), Kostis Velonis (Kunsthalle Athena, Athens), Driant Zeneli (Fondazione Pistoletto, Biella). Granting an award named after the renown Albanian artist Danish Jukniu, competition jury includes Edoardo Bonaspetti (Mousse Magazine), Cathryn Drake (Artforum & Frieze Magazine), and Michele Robecchi (Phaidon). Artist Adrian Paci (Shkodër/Milano) will be delivering a featured artist talk.

Tirana Open 1 Directors: Arlinda Dudaj, Helidon Gjergji & Vladimir Myrtezai- Grosha. Tirana Open 1 is organized by Tirana Open, under the auspices of Edi Rama, Prime Minister, and the Ministry of Culture, Republic of Albania. 

 6-13 May 2015

www.tiranaopen.org