Publications from 2007 – Present

Ekphrasis Studio has published material since 2009, including in newspapers, magazines, blogs, as well as with the Council of Europe.  Our work includes publications about the management of art and cultural heritage in Albania and beyond! Scroll the list to view more!

 

HERITAGE FOR DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTH- EAST EUROPE (2014)

Stuck on Nostalgia (March 5, 2015)

Ish-Kinostudio, Ish-Eksposita, Ish-Kombininati, ish Blokku, ish Fusha Aviation, Lek I vjeter, Pazari i ri…

These and others, are examples of modern day places and things, that are no longer actively relevant, yet remain the preferred name. Ish translates as “former” and vjeter is “old”. So why do we insist on referring to things by what they once were, and not what they are? Is it laziness, or ignorance, or is it nostalgia?  More…

 THE BORDER BETWEEN VANDALISM AND INTERACTION (Sept. 21, 2012 @ S28Mag )

Every day whether we realize or not, we are interacting with and within common spaces. Though they are for our use, they are managed (or neglected) by different levels of government and in the process define our daily selective memory and representation of place, in other words what we see and how we see it. Just as these spaces are used and enjoyed, in Albania they also face regular interaction with urban development, public policy, thieves and vandals, and those with hatred or ignorance (see cognitive dissonance). More…

 

THE MOSAIC – WHAT RESTORATIONS?! (National History Museum, Tirana, Sept. 2012)

In July of 2010, during a press conference at the National History Museum, phase 1 of a project was implemented for the restoration of the 440 square meter mosaic “The Albanians” by artists Vilson Kilica, Josif Droboniku, Agim Nebiu, Anastas Kostandini dhe Aleksandër Filipi, on the facade of the museum. More…

WHEN A TREE FALLS IN TIRANA (National Art Gallery, Tirana, July, 2012)

Recently in Tirana a landmark was destroyed.  And what was left in its place?  Well…nothing so far.  I am referring to the now notorious 200 year old tree that disappeared overnight in June 2012 from the centre of  Tirana. More…

 

FANTASTIC ALBANIA BY IBRAHIM KODRA (September, 2011)

Albania Fantastica (also known as Shqiperia Fantastike or Fantastic Albania is a painting by the Albanian artist Ibrahim Kodra. The style of the artwork is Cubist while the technique is oil on canvas and mixed media, painted in 1997, measuring 100x150cm. It is interesting to note that Kodra completed this painting in 1997, during a time when Albania was going through major domestic difficulties. Leading up to the 1997 rebellion in Albania, Albanians had lost nearly $1.2 billion in failed pyramid schemes and by January had taken their protest to the streets. More…

 

ART HEIST IN ALBANIA ( An ongoing list of looted heritage in the country, February 2011)

Art theft is a crime! Stop looting heritage in Albania!

This is a chronological database on the heritage loss in Albania as far as we have been able to gather from media outlets and reports. The purpose of this database is to raise awareness and security for the protection of Albanian heritage.  Some stolen items have been recovered, seized or bought and returned…most have not, and many have been destroyed entirely.

According to the Albanian Penal Code, Section 138 on Stealing works of Art and Culture states that stealing works of art and culture shall be punished by fine or imprisonment up to five years, while stealing works national importance shall be punished by imprisonment from five to ten years. Section 138a on Trafficking works of Art and Culture states a punishment of imprisonment from three to ten years, and for repeat offenders imprisonment from five to fifteen years. ( Added by Law No. 8733, dated 24.1.2001, Article 39). More…

ONUFRI COMPETITION 2010 – MORE OF THE SAME ( National Art Gallery, Tirana, January, 2011)

Edicioni i 17-tё i “Onufrit”, quajtur “I Am Art(ist)” (Une jam Art(ist)) po zhvillohet nё Galerinё Kombёtare Tё Arteve tё Tiranёs, dhe pёrngjan shumё me edicionet e kaluara. Aq shumё pёrngjan, saqё gjashtё nga artistёt e ekspozitёs tё vitit tё kaluar janё pjesёmarrёs edhe kёtё vit. More…

The 17th edition of “Onufri”, entitled “I Am Art(ist)”  is now taking place at the National Art Gallery in Tirana, and it is much like the previous ones.  So much indeed, that at least six of the Tirana based artists from last year’s exhibition are back this year. More…

PUBLIC ART IN ALBANIA ( Photo blog on Flickr- 2010)

An ongoing attempt to present Albania’s public art. More…

 

TREASURES OF ALBANIAN CULTURAL HERITAGE (Italy, December, 2012)

From November 20 until January 6, the exhibition “Treasures of Albanian Cultural Heritage” will be at the Vittoriano Museum Complex in Rome, and from January 23 to April 7, 2013 at Palazzo Madama in Torino*. More…

 

 

“MESHARI” OF GJON BUZUKU ( Tirana, December 2012)

There is much to discuss on the subject of the “Meshari” by Gjon Buzuku.  Leaving history to the historians and language to the linguists, we will try to give a summary of the first time, the first Albanian book came to its linguistic home. In short, “Meshari” is a 188 page Catholic text published in Venice in 1555, and is considered the first book written Albanian.  Nearly 200 years later it was discovered  in the Apostolic Library at the Vatican in 1740, only to be lost again and rediscovered 170 years later in 1909. More…

ALBANIA IN THE INTERNET ERA (August, 2011)

The internet is hard to miss these days in Tirana. According to the website Internet World Stats, by June, 2010 there were 1,300,000 internet users in Albania, of which by August, 2010, 864,760 users were signed up on Facebook.   According to a report by Social Bakers, that accounts for 78% of all internet users. More…

 

ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM DURRES (August, 2011)

On July 19, 2011, Albanian Prime Minister Berisha celebrated the inauguration of a 100 million ALL project by declaring  “There is no country in the world with such a small territory and such a large cultural heritage.”  (Note: Israel has a smaller territory than Albania, while Belgium is just slightly larger yet has 10 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, compared to Albania’s 2 – Berat & Gjirokastra are considered extensions of ‘the same site’.) More…

 

LIBRARIES- ALBANIAN INSTITUTE OF STATISTICS  (June, 2011)

The following is a statistical analysis of the data provided by the Albanian Institute of Statistics as of June, 2011. More…

CULTURAL STIMULATION IN ALBANIA – BRIEF STATISTICAL SUMMARY (July 2010)

What do Parrots and People have in common? TIRANA.  I was reading about parrots lately.  First of all, they say that parrots can have the intelligence of a 2-5 year old child.  I found that “providing him with varying levels of physical and mental stimulation will help to combat boredom and the unwanted behaviors that are triggered by it. More…

 

CULTURAL INERTIA, OLD LEK AND THEATRE OF THE ABSURD (Sept. 2010)

“Old Lek”. In Albania children use it.  Teenagers use it.  They were not yet born when the change was made, yet they overload their lexicon with extra decimal points, zeros and the words ‘old’ or ‘new’ before each mention of it. Adults use it.  While this may have a stronger argument for the continued use of the “old” lek, a similar transition more recently was embraced across Europe, when in early 2002, each member state had fully moved to the Euro, and abandoned the use (and words) of their legacy currencies. More…

DURRES- KUKES HIGHWAY: CONNECTING TO OR THROUGH. (Tirana Times, July 3, 2009)

Along Albania’s newest motorway, it now takes 1:40 minutes to drive from Durres to Kukes.  This is perfect for quick travel, trade, emergencies and is an amazing feat of engineering.  But what if I want to take it slower?  What if I want to learn about and celebrate this ‘newest’ part of Albania?  Is there any place – or reason to stop and visit?  Why was the celebration on June 25^th only for the Democratic Party?  And was it just me, or was the crowd all men and mainly female singers on stage?! Interesting way of involving women in politics! More…

TEN YEARS LATER, TEN DAYS WITH MOTHER TERESA/ GAFAT E SHQIPTAREVE NE EMER TE NENE TEREZES (5 Shtator, 2007)

5 Shtatori shënoi përvjetorin e dhjetë të vdekjes së Nënë Terezës. Me këtë rast, dhjetë ditët e nderimit organizoheshin prej Ministrisë së Kulturës e Turizmit, veprimtari që rezultoi në një fushatë publicitare të dukjes. Evenimentet nisën duke zbuluar një pllakë në mur, në një zonë urbane. Pllaka sikur përpiqej të ngatërronte historinë. E përkthyer dilte se “Në këtë shtëpi ka jetuar familja e nënë Terezës”. Aspak prej anglishtes jokorretkte, pllaka s’kishte të bënte fare me Nënë Terezën. More…

 

 

MARTYRS AND MEMORIAL IN BAJRAM CURRI, TROPOJE (October, 2012)

Oct. 24, 2012. TROPOJE. Located along the national road SH22 less than 2km from the City Hall of Bajram Curri is the degrading cemetery of the Martyrs. It contains the tomb of man the city was named for, and dozens of others who died in the name of Albania, mostly young men from the region, although Bajram Curri himself was in his early 60s at the time of his death. More…

 

WATER IN THE CITY – Berat and Gjirokastra (October, 2012)

Water as a symbol can be found in cultural and historical aspects in the cities of Gjirokastra and Berat.  Geographically, both have a river, Drino & Osum, running below cities that are largely set on the side of mountains. Artistically represented as source of life in “The life-giving spring”, an early 19^th century icon from the church of Illia in the “Përrua” quarter of Berat, dated 1812-1814, around the same time that Ali Pasha Tepelene had a 12 km aqueduct built from the Sopoti mountains, increasing Gjirokastra’ s drinking water supply to 28,000 gallons a day. More…

 

A TICKET TO THE PAST AND FUTURE (August, 2012)

Recently, Aldo Bumci of the Ministry of Tourism, Culture, Youth and Sports was on hand at the archaeological site of Butrint together with U.S. Ambassador Arvizu to open a new electronic ticket office. How far we have come since the writings of Faik Konica, who 99 years ago recalled “one morning in November 1913, I was handed an “official” ticket in Durrës, surprising in itself because it was still written in Turkish and in the police prose of the day.“ More…

 

ALBANIA’S SUSTAINABILITY “PYRAMID OF DIALOGUE”/ QENDRUESHMERIA NE SHQIPERI “PIRAMIDA E DIALOGUT (Tirana Times, Nov.18, 2010) English/(Gazeta Tema, Dec. 2, 2010)

In recent weeks there have been many ideas from the public on the function of the Pyramid. They have been informal monologues with the aim of creating dialogue, however they have all fallen on relatively deaf ears. This has caused a lot of discontent among professionals of different fields. We present this article as a call for dialogue and a need for space for dialogue right now! More…

Gjatë javëve të fundit ka pasur shumë ide nga publiku mbi funksionin e Piramidës. Ato kanëqenë monologje jo formale me qëllim për të krijuar dialog, megjithatë ato kanë rënë në vesh tëshurdhër. Kjo ka shkaktuar shumë pakënaqësi për njerëzit dhe ekspertë të fushave tëndryshme. Ne prezantojme këtë arikull si një thirrje për dialog dhe një nevojë për hapësirë për dialog, tani! More…

 

MANAGEMENT OF CULTURAL EXPRESSIONS IN ALBANIA (Tirana Times, November 20, 2009)

Almost 20 years after the first student called “We want Albania like the rest of Europe”, the strong, ancient history of artistic and cultural information of the Albanians continues to be a persistent dialogue alongside not yet developed policies, qualifications and education. The result of this combination is un-planned, sporadic cultural organizations and events. Arts and heritage boards have almost the same character; they depend on which political wind is stronger. More…

GREEN PAPER ON THE FUTURE OF THE EU BUDGET TO SUPPORT 3RD COUNTRIES – DIALOGUE CENTERS PROPOSAL  (January 31, 2011)