TIRANA, July 9 – Fourteen Albanian contemporary artists have been selected to participate in the Albanian Contemporary Artist Salon, an event which will be held next November at the National History Museum in Tirana.
The artists, many of whom are based in Italy, Germany or Austria are already, or will soon be part of the international art stage and offer a broad view on the current Albanian contemporary art, organizers say.
Endri Dani, Klodian Dedja, Yllka Gjollesha, Alketa Ramaj, Driant Zeneli, Fani Zguro and Enkelejd Zonja are some of the artists selected among 65 applications.
“This selection reflects the liveliness and diversity of the Albanian artistic scene, and all media and techniques are present, from painting to drawing, from installation to video and film,” said the jury.
The selection process was carried out in Tirana by an independent jury of art professionals which included Christine Macel, the chief curator of the Centre Pompidou, Alicia Knock, the curator for the Centre Pompidou and Saadane Afif, a French artist.
The Albanian Contemporary Artist Salon, an initiative of the Albanian Culture Ministry and the French embassy in Tirana, targets promoting the work of a selection of Albanian emerging contemporary artists and curators in Albania, in France and at an international level, by organizing a two-weeks event in Tirana and inviting international professionals to experience the artworks of contemporary Albanian artists and curators during the Salon. This event will also be the ground to the preparation of an exhibition to be held in Paris, in 2016 or 2017.
“By highlighting Albanian emerging artists and their works during the Albanian Contemporary Artist Exhibition in 2015, and with the exhibition of two French and Albanian curators in Paris in 2016, our mutual goal is to show at an international level the contemporary and modern Albania, its youth and strengths, in order to fight the stereotypes and to give the Albanian art stage the place and the image it deserves,” organizers say.
