TIRANA, June 11 – In Tirana, the OSCE and art students organized and participated in an activity devoted to environmental crimes – they created a visual arts’ exhibition expressing their concern about environmental damage in the country.
Diplomats and artists demanded the cooperation of all parties to protect Albanian nature from irresponsible construction works.
A concrete mixer that blends flowers and trees – this was Monday’s main message in the exhibition titled “Environmental Crime,” hosted at the University of Arts.
By choosing this theme, the capital’s emerging artists aimed to express their concern over the shocks the Albanian environment and nature is receiving from unplanned and redundant construction works.
The Head of the OSCE Presence in Albania, Ambassador Bernd Borchardt, assessed the state Albania’s environment finds itself today as problematic and called for the commitment of all parties to fix it.
“United Nations reports show that environmental crime is one of the fastest-growing crimes in the world. The young people reflected on it and turned it into artwork with a strong message that something is going wrong. By supporting this competition, we are supporting the government in this show, and we hope we can support all ways that society can deal with this crime,” said Borchardt.
He said that as far as Tirana is concerned, the environmental situation has both positive and negative sides.
“On one hand, the city has been cleaned a lot since I first came here. On the other hand, heavy traffic of vehicles causes more pollution. It’s not as bad as in the winter of 2007-2008, when generators took over the city with noise pollution and many cars polluted the air we breathe,” said Borchardt.
“Concrete is penetrating the capital. Most people in Albania want to live in Tirana and need accommodation. But their plan has not been respected over the years. In the last 25 years, at least 160,000 illegal buildings were built, stepping over construction laws and affecting the city, and this can be felt to this day. I feel the heat that concrete mixers release,” said Borchardt.
Borchardt spoke about Tirana’s environmental situation at the exhibition’s inauguration, at the FAB Gallery of the University of Arts.
“The messages in student works are strong and clear. These are events that affect and revolt us. Damage to the environment is a local challenge that requires global response, but students have brought their own experiences and this makes their works very tangible,” said Ardian Isufi, Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts.
This is the second year in a row that the University of Arts becomes a host of competitive exhibitions with prominent themes – last year’s themes were “Coping with the Past” and “Violent Extremism.”
As the students present in the exhibition said, artists believe that visual arts can better attract the attention of citizens.
Last year, the exhibition was about the necessity of facing extremism as it works against art by destroying sculptures, libraries, and paintings.
Art, they claim, can send their messages against crime and violence, just as it has done through the centuries.
