TIRANA, May 3 – Tirana Art Lab – Center for Contemporary Art, and Tirana Ekspres – The Alternative Art Space, are organizing “Tirana Thrash”, the first showcasing of the British punk musician and Slam Poet Attila the Stockbroker in Tirana after 23 years. The event features a concert & exhibition in homage of the artist’s clandestine performance of 1989 behind the walls of Hotel Dajti.
Attila the Stockbroker, a central personality from the British Punk scene, was also one of the very few British citizens who traveled to Albania still before the end of the regime. In 1989, Attila, the nom d’art of John Baines, achieved to gain an entry visa – ‘disguised’ as a soccer fan – in the context of the UK-Albania soccer match held in Tirana. Amongst the many anecdotes that stem from this notable journey, Attila’s visit also culminated into a spontaneous punk concert at the prominent diplomats’ Hotel Dajti. Featuring songs like “Blitzkrieg Bop” by the Ramones and supported by the resident Beatles Cover Band, the unlikely incident counts amongst the first punk performances in town.
Today 23 years later, Tirana Thrash takes this very happening from 1989 as a starting point for an unprecedented review. Borrowing from the artistic concept of ‘Re-enactment’, Tirana Thrash has invited the musician to perform once again his legendary concert – “a live image, in real space and real time, but simultaneously displaced” (Rod Dickinson). The adjoint exhibition offers a rare glimpse at the key memorabilia deriving from the event, such as Attila’s handmade soccer shirt from 1989, snapshots, or the actual “Tirana Thrash,” a self-published fanzine, which Attila edited during the 1980s. “You know socialist realism. I do socialist surrealism,” says Attila the Stockbroker. In addition to the historical playlist of 1989, Attila will perform a selection of “surreal poetry”, pieces which addressed Albania under Hoxha and which will be staged in Tirana for the first time. Their strongly satirical tone is characteristic for Attila’s distinct approach towards dealing with political issues that were central to the British punk movement of the 1980ies.
Tirana Thrash is not asking what really happened in 1989, but provides the grounds from where to transform a historical event into embodiment and involvement of the artist and the audience. It implies the idea of a difference that can be brought out to create something new. A platform for Attila’s lifelong obsession and artistic occupation with the country, Tirana Thrash goes exemplary for the many missing bits and cultural curiosities of the recent Albanian history.
The performance of Attila the Stockbroker proudly features: Ilir Kryekurti (Percussion), and Angjelin Toma (Bass).
Curated by Sonja Lau. Curatorial Assistant: Kerstin Feldmayer Production: Rubin Beqo. Made possible with the support of the Robert Bosch Foundation.
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Exhibition opens at: 7.30 pm
Concerts start from: 8.30 pm
At: Tirana Ekspres, Rr Karl Gega, Blloku i Magazinave
