By Enxhi Begvarfaj
Four young architects are representing Albania at the 17th International Architecture Exhibition among 60 other countries.
The conspicuous Albanian exhibition opened yesterday, managing to grab the attention of experts and curators from all around the world. However, this is not the first time that Albania has been represented at an event of such a scale.
For the sixth time, Albanians have brought their projects and exhibitions at the Venice Biennale, this year highlighting neighboring experiences as part of the Albanian culture under the name ‘In Our Home’.
Being part of such an event is a great privilege and the highlight of a young architect’s career. This year, it was the turn of Fiona Mali, Irola Andoni, Malvina Ferra, and Rudina Brecani, as a response to the event theme ‘How will we live together?’ Our architects’ response was ‘By knowing your neighbor.’, as a representation of their childhood and past experiences.
“Nowadays, when urbanization has reached a very high percentage compared to before, it has grown to around 60%, people live very close to each other, the population density has increased considerably and is expected to do so more in the future, even though they live very close, people feel lonelier than ever” – says Rudina, one of the architects.
Malvina, another Albanian architect says “During our search we launched an open call to gather as many personal stories about our neighbors as we could. We realized that this is a local topic for the Albanian community, as well as a global one. In this age of globalization, we understand more than ever what it means to have a good neighbor by your side.”
This realization mostly comes due to the fact that the years 1990 – 2000 were probably the last we’ve seen of a strong community and good relations with our neighbors.
This kind of representation is especially important for such a small country like Albania to promote and represent new Albanian historical values through old traditions. The exhibition will remain open until November for all countries.
