Zeta Gallery presents the exhibition of the “Ardhje” award finalists, it will run from 01. 06. 2018 until 20. 06. 2018 and this year it will be this award’s 10th aniversary. This year the international jury consists of Barnabas Bencsik, Anthony Elms and Alketa Ramaj. The exhibition includes artists: Blerina Muça, Fatlum Doçi, Sokol Peci and this year’s winner Remijon Pronja. (Winner of a two-month practice for the residency program at Residency Unlimited Residency in New York, as well as the opportunity of a personal exhibition at the Zeta Center.)
Remijon Pronja
The video “Au Die Freude, Nushid Alfarah” (2016) was filmed during a class at the “Medrese” school in Tirana, in a female only class where girls, led by the music teacher, sing the European Union anthem in Arabic. According to the curatorial text, this video is driven by author’s experience as a student: when the EU anthem was introduced in the curriculum.
The contadiction in the case of the “Medrese” school, if we can say so, lies in the clash between being an Albanian school ( the curriculum implemented) and being a religious school (in this case the EU hymn has been translated into Arabic). To what extent can politics influence through culture? This is the video’s point of view. A viewpoint which recalls , not only, the geographical location (but multidirectional) of Albania between the West and the East.
Blerina Muça
Artist Blerina Muça paints (in acrylic and acuarel) a series of tableaus of her son, labeled “Roy, somewhere at home” (2015-2018). Her paintings are characterized by a gray background, her child in the center, as well as a secondary figure from time to time. The chosen colors are only a few, but what stands out is the red color: a sticky linen sheet with which the child covers his senses one at a time, occasionally the entire portrait; some other times he tears it. Transformed into a series of tableaus, these creations awake not only individual parental concerns, but also they call for attention to the phenomena relating to this age group, in these relationships.
Fatlum Doçi
The “Seeds” (2017-2018) is the work with which the artist Fatlum Doçi participates in “Ardhje”. It s an installation that combines natural material with industrial equipment, created with pumpkins, willow branches, hydraulic tubes and lamps. The installation creates the impression of strange, enormous climbing plants (ramps, bends, extensions, full of light) of various dimensions extending upward, creating a sense of intimidation- despite the sensation that should have caused the understanding of the creation name, “Seeds”.
Sokol Peçi
“Homeland, a mirror to spit on” (2012), a photo printed on paper reflecting Albania’s map, created by human secretions on a dense earthy background. Although in essence the homeland is each one of us, from the curatorial point of view “the homeland (constitutes) a subject to be hated” …
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“Ardhje” award” is the initiative of Wendy Luers and the Foundation for Civil Society Development in 1990 and is organized in collaboration with the YVAA (Young Visual Artists Award Residecy Unlimited, New York) network and the Trust Mutual Understaning, New York.
“Ardhja ” award is an international award for contemporary Albanian visual artists up to the age of 35.
* Remijon Pronja was born in 1984, in Tirana. He studied in Italy and received a MSc in Painting at the University of Brera in Milan and MSc in the Department of Contemporary Art Research at Brera University in Milan. He opened 3 personal exhibitions as well as participating in a series of joint exhibitions in Albania and abroad.
* Blerina Muça was born in 1985 in Fier. He graduated from the Academy of Arts in Tirana. Participant in a number of exhibitions, including exhibitions held at the National Art Gallery in Tirana.
* Fatlum Doçi was born in 1991 in Shkodra. He graduated from the Multimedia Atelier at the University of Arts in Tirana. Participant in a number of exhibitions in Albania and abroad.
* Sokol Peci was born in 1984, in Tirana. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice and received a Masters degree from the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna. Participant in exhibitions in Albania and abroad.
