Venice Biennale of Architecture – Albania concludes first ever participation with Beyond Colour exhibit

VENICE, November 22 – The first-ever Albanian pavilion with its exhibit entitled, “Beyond Colour”, participated in the 12th International Architecture Exhibition: People meet in architecture in Venice. In the presence of Engelbert Ruoss, Director of UNESCO Venice Office, Ols Lafe, representative of Albanian Ministry of Tourism, Culture, Youth and Sports, the curators, and representatives of city of Venice and other pavilions, the exhibit was successfully concluded on 21 November 2010.
The Albanian participation to this year`s Biennale was located in the Artiglierie of the Arsenale and sponsored by the Albanian Ministry of Tourism, Culture, Youth and Sports. The UNESCO Venice Office supported in part the Albanian Pavilion through the UN Joint Programme, “Culture and Heritage for Social and Economic Development”, which is funded through the Spanish MDG Achievement Fund.
The pavilion was composed of a multimedia presentation of Albanian architectural traditions, featuring the colourfully-painted buildings of the capital city of Tirana. It also promoted an online architectural competition that is taking place this autumn, in which three Albanian cultural monuments will be featured for architects around the world to compete in designing new economic uses for these historic structures.
As this is also the International Year for the Rapprochement of Cultures, the “exchange and dialogues between cultures are the best tools for building peace” according to Ms Bokova, the Director-General of UNESCO. To attain a peaceful climate for cultural dialogue, architectural creativity can be tool to teach and share common values.
Engelbert Ruoss, Director UNESCO Venice Office, underlined that: “the UNESCO Venice Office seeks to support the participation of South Eastern European Countries to such an important event. It is an occasion for promoting their culture on international level and creates an opportunity to view different perspectives of European architecture.”
According to the curator of the Pavilion Gjergj Bakallbashi, “the first Albanian Pavilion at the Architecture Biennale was the culmination of a coordinated research project undertaken by architects, Albanian and non, professors of history of architecture and of art from Harvard University, artists, students of architecture, under the support of the Albanian government and UNESCO. Titled `Beyond Colour` it has shown problems and emergencies with Tirana`s architectural and urban heritage as well as the potential of this heritage to shape the future. The pavilion became not only an opportunity to exchange ideas but also a source of knowledge for architects to rely on in their efforts to shape the city. We hope that this work will continue during the next two years and in the next architecture biennale.”
The Government of Albania is very proud of this first participation. “The Ministry of Tourism, Culture, Youth and Sports believe that Venice Biennale of Architecture and the participation of Albania will create vast opportunities for maximizing the exchange of ideas and visions among the experts of the field. This first successful participation in the 2010 Biennale is only the first good representation of Albania which we hope to take further and enrich in terms of content and form in the upcoming Biennale in 2012” said Ols Lafe, Director of National Heritage, who participated at the closing ceremony on behalf of the Ministry.