FRAKTURA - Exhibition / Public Meeting - Ex-Prison of Spaç, Albania
Documentary by Altin Çelmeta.
“FRAKTURA” establishes an alternative artistic intervention - accompanied by a public discussion - in an important place of the Albanian Collective Memory such as the high security ex prison of Spaç. Forced labour camp, where thousands of persecuted Albanians have spent their lives, despite the condition degraded by Time and Forgetfulness, Spaç remains among the emblems of the cruelty of the Albanian communist dictatorship and of resistance towards it. With a great emotional charge, this place invites to dialogue between artefacts, installations, memories, items, documents but also narratives that tell the story of an institution that de jure has had the main task of administering the suffering of prison- ers, but de facto has achieved complete isolation and attempted the annihilation of man. The exhibition emphasizes the essential difference between the places of Memory and their representation - the beginning of an open and concrete discussion about the museumization of these places in Albania. It investigates what Fatos Lubonja describes as “Alba- nian national-communism” - the existence of an ideological system based on violence but also on cultural assimilation, a legacy of the dictatorial period even in today’s Albanian culture. Furthermore, the event invites the public to an active participation through a unique experience, to better understand the past in a reflection on its consequences in the pres- ent, with the sublime aim of actively distancing itself from what remains of its ideology and to try to write a new identity history of the country. Fatos Lubonja and Ardian Isufi are two polyhedral artists who operate in a multidisciplinary way in the contemporary art scene. In this “site-specific” exhibition, as well as in the public sphere, they engage as always between art and political activism, having the deep conviction that the fractures created by totalitarian ideologies are the cause of a cultural clash between intellectual layers of the country and as such, those fractures can never be overlooked, on the contrary, they must be analysed with a critical spirit and thus, must be repaired.
Organised by: Konrad Adenauer Stiftung Albania
Project by: EJAlbum, MeWe Contemporary Art Center
Artists: Ardian Isufi | Fatos Lubonja
Curator: Elton Koritari
With the contribution of: Dr. Tobias Rüttershoff Director of KAS Albania
Dr. Carmela Rosiello, Historian
From design to Setup: EJAlbum Team, Ervin Bërxolli, Marsej Fuçia, Nekije Shahinasi
Photo Credits: Altin Çelmeta, Bledar Hasimi, Vlasov Sulaj
Thanks to: Gjetë Gjoni, Klaudia Zerva, Helidon Haliti, Pajtim Përlaku, Elida Rasha, Ardian Pepa, Naim Spahiu, Altin Lika, Dritan Nasi, Xheni Borakaj, Lindar Muça, Ervin Gjini, Arnen Sula, Alfred Koritari, Barbara Hausammann, Alessandro Masoni, Osman Demiri, Harri Aleksi.
Copyright © - Altin Çelmeta / EJAlbum 2023