TIRANA, Feb. 1 – In context of the 2018 Albania-Austria cooperation year, attention will be given to cultural and scientific exchanges between the two countries.
The aim is to strengthen cultural ties and intensify intercultural exchange between Albania and Austria, as well as present culture affectionados and the wide public impulse to generate creative ideas and foster stable future cooperation.
Based on the motto Rediscovering Common Things, the focus is not simply to highlight the historic, cultural and artistic meeting points, but to also explore the aspects of the current friendship between the countries.
A scientific conference and a common exhibition at the grand hall of the National History Museum of historic pictures dating back in 1916-1918 and showing both the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Albanian state of the time inaugurated the series of activities that will culturally enrich 2018.
The calendar of activities announced by Minister of Culture Mirela Kumbaro and Austrian Ambassador in Albania Johann Sattler includes a range of events focused on music, history, opera, literature and even geography.
“The weapons of our national hero Gjergj Kastrioti Skà«ndà«rbe, saved in a museum in Vienna, seem to have served as good omens for the cultural revival of Albania to also be tied to Vienna’s empire of the 19th and 20th centuries,” Kumbaro said.
Ambassador Settler added it was no coincidence Albania was selected for this partnership, as the countries currently share a close political relation with an admirable past of cooperation in many fields.
More importantly, it is the project’s aim to mainly promote art, culture and contemporary innovations, thus paying more attention to young artists and scholars from Albania and Austria.
The calendar of activities thus aims at a very specific goal, which is creating a stable medium that will register the common perspective of the countries not by simply keeping the memory of those participating in this event, but also by providing an idea starting point for further cooperation.
All 60 activities will be supported by partnering organizations, such as the National Theatre of Opera and Ballet and the National History Museum, as well as famed soprano Inva Mula, who was the first to give a concert in Austria titled Tirana Salutes Vienna in Nov. 2017.
“It was a real presentation of Albanian art in Vienna and it will be repeated in the Palace of Congresses on Feb. 15, when Vienna will salute Albania,” Mula said.
Other than events such as a Viennese Ball or jazz concerts, a special place will be dedicated to literature activities through a program curated by Albanian author and translator Lindita Komani.
This program will include artistic exchanges among authors during which famed Austrian writers will visit Albania during the Austrian literature nights.
