U.S artists display excess ammunition artworks

TIRANA, Nov. 14 – Giant artworks created by three American artists using material from the demolition of excess ammunition in Albania are being installed in public squares in the northern city of Shkodra. The publicly displayed works convey the message on the necessity of the destruction of excess ammunition which has taken the lives of thousands of people. The Pavilion of Love is the first artwork which has been installed in the square in front of Shkodra municipality. Genc Permeti, a professor at the Arts Academy in Tirana who is leading the project said three American artists came to Albania to decide on the excess ammunition material. The initiative is part of project on promoting public spaces. “From objects of menace they are now turning into decoration objects giving the message of life,” says Permeti.
The looting of ammunition depots in 1997 turmoil and the Gerdec explosion in 2008 proved how dangerous an estimated 200,000 tonnes of Soviet-Chinese ammunition inherited from the communist was to the population, causing dozens of hundreds of victims.