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Bittersweet
Edi Muka on Tirana Biennial

In this reportage we look back at a manifestation which, due to all the publicity for the Istanbul Biennial, has got little attention: The Tirana Biennial. The following is a short interview in which the Albanian artist Edi Muka outlines the chief ideas behind its recently concluded third edition.

Domeniek Ruyters

The third Tirana Biennial was set up as a sequel. One show after the other, five episodes in total. Can you explain the idea behind opting for the series of exhibitions?

Edi Muka

‘It’s a fact by now that the format of the biennial has had a mushroom effect and is multiplying very fast all over the world. An increasing number of biennials and art fairs surround us every year and there is also a growing similarity between these formats. If the art fair has a short life expectancy – only a few days – so does a biennial. During the couple of days of the opening the international crowd comes in, what happens further on seems to be of no relevance.

It was in response to this situation that we decided to come up with a different structure, one that would offer more possibilities for a deeper connection with the local public, while still offer the chance for the international crowd to attend and judge its qualities and all it offered. For this reason we decided to break the standard way of organizing the event, with its research/preparatory work, installation period, two days of opening and the ensuing emptiness during the show’s duration. Instead, we decided to fragment the event into five episodes or shows, curated by the respective curators.

The whole biennial grew time-wise and content-wise with the shows being added to each other. The picture was completed by the last opening that not only replaced the traditional vernissage, but also provided deeper insight and a wider participatory engagement for the local audience. By having an event every ten days, for a total of sixty days, we sought to avoid the customarily passive visit to an exhibition, however big or small, and tried to turn it into an active, dynamic, eventful period.

Even though this was an experiment for all of us, and a quite unusual structure for a biennial, to our pleasant surprise the effects were very positive. Not only was public awareness increased, but also the interest in the event itself. It caused a certain necessity for the local audience to return. Even if you had missed one opening you could still catch the other one and see the previous show too.

On the other hand, careful coordination with local media secured the necessary coverage and attention that again worked to attract public. I think a lot had to do with the choice of the unusual exhibition space -an immense garage area of a building still under construction, a deliberate choice of a typical contemporary Tirana feature- as well as the combined order of the openings organized according to their themes and approaches. However, the structure was a bit difficult for the international public to understand and due to a lack of resources we didn’t manage to communicate it properly, so I guess it suffered from the lack of consistent attention from the outside. Also, even though we had planned it beforehand, again, due to a serious lack of resources, we missed out on developing a more theoretical debate/discourse around the event.’

Domeniek Ruyters

Sweet Taboos was the main topic. What kind of taboos were meant? Is this issue of ethics in art a typical subject for society in Albania?

Edi Muka

‘This year we decided to focus on analyzing one of the handicaps of Albanian society, its inability to self analyze or self criticize. This we believe is mostly due to the communist legacy that seriously killed every attempt for disagreement, critical thought and so on and so forth. The last fifteen years have also been dominated by an attitude that encouraged a lack of collective responsibility, turmoil in political changes, and left unchallenged unacceptable social and economic circumstances. Our approach was addressed towards the notion of “taboos”, as something you don’t touch, you don’t talk about, but still are very much tempted to challenge or be part of. There’s a strong seductive element in the notion of “taboo”, which can almost be perceived as sweetness – hence the title Sweet Taboos. On the other hand, even though a local context served as our departure point, we strongly believe that taboos are present everywhere in today’s society, in different forms – consequently the invitation to the group of international curators.

I remember that in the first meeting we had in Tirana, we understood that the theme was a peculiar one that bore the risk of easily falling into illustration and artistic/aesthetic boredom. However, we were keen on strong statements and encouraged each curator to approach the general theme from an entirely personal angle.

Five episodes emerged, all very different, but all interconnected through a common root – reflection on the notion of taboos – and this is what made the process interesting. The selection of artists in the first episode Temptations that focused on the concept of “power” as an ever-present taboo, was more of an open-ended situation, more of a questioning of the notion rather than an attempt to clearly define it. Phil Collins, Biljana Djurdjevic were part of this episode, as well as Olafur Eliasson. The second, To Loose Without Being a Looser, curated by Roberto Pinto was marked by a very free curatorial approach, where open discourse was motivated by the works of the artists rather than a strong pre-selection process of specific art works. For instance a more poetic position was countered by strong, singular pieces like the bloody performance with dog, by Tania Bruguera.

Zdenka Badovinac’s Democracies was a very different kind of show, a conceptual approach to parallel realities, explored and offered for contemplation through the artists’ works. Most of the show was produced in Albania and reflected on the realities of Albanian society, like e.g. Huseyin Alptekin’s and Camilla Rocha’s installation Tirana Catch Up comprising bi-dimensional images the artists collected from the local homes of some Tirana residents, not only served to display a completely unrecognized kitschy parallel aesthetics, but, by displaying them for the first time in the very demanding spaces of an art museum (the show took place at the National Gallery of Arts in Tirana), changed their status into “high art”. Joa Ljungberg’s Bittersweet was a clear-cut statement on power balances in today’s modern world. The artists selected by her were strongly commenting on notions of love and sexuality in relation to power. The exhibition touched a very sensitive area within Albanian society, with its many problems regarding the relations between the genders or phenomena such as prostitution, codes of honour etc. The selection included some strong pieces by very young Albanian female artists, such as Suela Qoshja, which later won the prize for best Albanian contemporary artist at the biennale. The last episode was the well installed Go Inside show by Hou Hanru. After visiting Tirana and the spaces of the collection of the National Gallery, Hanru felt like revisiting his childhood, tucked inside a weird web of memory. His decision to install the show and have the invited artists operate inside the existing collection of the Gallery was an attempt to renegotiate a negated part of history, at the same time, the comment on the (im)possibility of using the museum’s collection in Tirana in this manner was also very evident.’

Domeniek Ruyters

What do you think is the importance of the Tirana Biennial on a local level? And what is it on an international level?

Edi Muka

‘Today we experience a clear division on the nature of events going on that are mainly connected to power structures increasingly fuelled by the art market. Luckily, environments like Tirana do not offer anything of interest for these networks; but still they manage to lure a great number of artists and curators attracted by the pure adventure such place and context can offer. Completely free from the scrutiny of the official power structure, the type of challenge is more pure, the connection to the context stronger, the experience more incisive and, after all, one doesn’t have to observe any balances or feel any pressure other than doing his/her best they can with their work.

As for what is left after the third edition of the Tirana Biennial, there are several significant points realized so far: the visibility of a new generation of Albanian artists, distinct and even younger from well established artists like Anri Sala, Adrian Paci, Sislej Xhafa, etc; more interaction between international curators and artists and local ones; increased participation of the public; the creation of an annual Prize for contemporary art for the best Albanian artist together with the general sponsor of the Biennial, in a country where there’s no subsidies or galleries that can offer you a chance to survive as an artist; a growing reputation and an increasing interest of our reality and its potential; and last but not least the great fun to work with all the many people and the new connections and links that are created by the event and multiplied in many smaller initiatives that are going on at the moment.’

Domeniek Ruyters

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