Onufri exhibition, one of the few events in Tirana

TIRANA, Jan. 9 – The Onufri visual arts competition which has been on display at the National Art Gallery since December 26, continues drawing a considerable number of visitors as one of the few cultural events in the first days of this year.
Twelve artists have been selected to participate in the Onufri visual arts competition which in this 20th anniversary comes as an international event focused on the ‘Praise of Doubt’ concept. The annual competition named after Onufri, Albania’s famous 16th century icon painter, is showcasing at the National Arts gallery artworks by young contemporary artists from Albania, Kosovo, Italy, France and Bulgaria.
Praise of Doubt, proposed by Italian curator Claudio Cravero for the new edition of the Onufri Prize, investigates some of the new artistic practices and areas of research, demonstrating their links to today’s changeable political situation, as a mirror of the constant doubt. In the selected artworks, doubt emerges as something that inevitably affects everybody.
Artists like Driton Selmani (Kosovo, 1987), Endri Dani (Albania, 1987) and Irgin Sena (Albania, 1982, based in New York) are “half way”, between a desire to create and build for their own countries, and a sense of delusion over former cultural and social promises. Nevertheless, in this global era of hyper-flexibility and hyper-speed, artists from Albania to Kosovo, but also from Italy to Egypt, are taking a new approach to tackle the present day. There is no particular significance to the medium employed, but rather to the in-depth search for meaning. Jasmina Metwaly (Poland, 1982, based in Egypt), Alban Muja (Kosovo, 1980), Ivi Topp (Albania, 1985, based in France) and Marzia Migliora (Italy, 1982) are torn between a political and a revolutionary era that does not seem to take them very far: it seems neither to delve into the past (in terms of nostalgia for yesteryear), but nor does it look to the future.
“Praise of Doubt becomes a metaphor for being positively hesitant when we make a strong mental effort in the attempt to achieve effective, or ineffective, action.”
The exhibition featuring artworks by artists who come from Albania, Kosovo, Italy, France and Bulgaria will remain open at the National Art Gallery from December 26 until February 2, 2014. The Onufri Prizes will be awarded by an international jury at a ceremony on January 30.