Onufri 2006 competition won by Armand Lulaj

After about one month since its official opening, 13 December 2006, the Onufri Competition headed towards its closure. This annual exhibition of contemporary art saw the works by thirty artists, Albanian and foreign ones. Armand Lulaj, an Albanian artist, was declared the winner of the competition. The three prizes were with videos. Lulaj’s was a parallel video titled “Time without places” though there was no description on why it won the first prize. The second prize was given to Greek artist Anna Tsouloufi Lagiou for her video projection “Metamorphosis Cannabis”, and the third prize to Kosova’s artist Bekim Bllogu “Sugar spilling out.” None of them was present at the ceremony. Most of this wealth of art came in the form of paintings, but there were also photographs, installations, videos, etc. An international panel of judges was brought together to valuate these works. That panel was headed by the “honorable member” of this body of international judges, Bonnies Clearwater, a well known expert on modern art. As the Deputy Director of the Arts Gallery Rubens Shima underlines she was “one of the most important individuals of these past 17 years in the field, Director of the Museum of Modern Art in Miami the USA, and this is her first visit to Albania.” Another member of the panel of judges was Ricardo Caldura, Professor of Phenomenology of Modern Art at the Academy of Arts in Venice and also Director of the Gallery of Contemporary Art at Mestra, Venice, Italy, and a well known public gallery that focuses on the developments of contemporary art. Another member of this panel of judges was Genc Mulliqi, Director of the Gallery of Arts.