Twelve hundred photos photo project for the capital
“Tirana, a city’s shapes” is the newest photo exhibition opened up in the Albanian capital. The exhibition is a project of six scholars from Germany, Czech Republic and Poland, who have been walking every single street of Tirana since March 2009 and shooting more than 12 hundred photos. Supported by Hertie Stiftung, the exhibition displays a special selection of the best and most interesting photos by six young researchers, bringing together disciplines as varied as politics, art history, physics, archaeology and philosophy. This variety of approaches allows them to deal with the research questions comprehensively, but also with great freedom.
Each photo shoot tries to answer a questions such as: How does Tirana’s urbanization unfold to the photographers; what does this entire city represent, and; in the meantime it reflects perceptions of the scholars’ in a growing European city. How lightly such statements escape our lips: “New York is a lively city” or “J’aime Paris” or “Ich bin ein Berliner” – thoughts which reduce a daily experience to a handful of words. A city in four words? The research group ‘Physis City Tirana’ aims to go beyond such simplifications in its investigation of the variety of urban life. “We want to comprehend the city by perceiving it with the senses. We want to make a record of the entire city – as viewed from the streets. In March 2009 we walked through every street in Tirana, experiencing the city and capturing and documenting what we witness. Tirana is particularly interesting for us, since despite its dynamic and rapid development it is still a blind spot in the awareness of most Europeans” explain the researchers.
The first public presentation of the research’s results was on July 7th 2009 at the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften. The presentation was accompanied by an exhibition of the documented material. This one year project is taking place as part of the Studienkolleg zu Berlin; a program funded by the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes and the Hertie Foundation.
