Our next activity will mark the end of this year’s edition of Capture Albania and the opening of the selected photographs exhibition. There will be 45 carefully selected photographs amidst 100 works submitted by young photographers. This year’s photographs show many aspects of modern Albania. They fall into three categories: The natural landscapes, the urban landscapes and the people.

The natural landscapes of Albania show more things than any words could ever describe. As for the urban landscapes and the people, they hint to what the participant’s eye values as aesthetic, authentic and representative. This is why “Aesthetics of Transition” would have been a good name for this year’s photo collection. In essence, each photograph conveys a genuine social concern subtly shared by the author. If the whole transition of Albania could be summarized in one picture, we would like it to be a beautiful postcard. In reality, the transition has produced varied images of great interest for architects, urban developers, sociologists etc. Our daily use of the word transition has made it a synonym of economic distress, institutional reforms etc.

In photography, the transition takes as many shapes and colors as light carries through the camera lenses. Interactivity is the way through which life in society expresses itself. It draws a picture that inspire to the creation of poetry, mysticism, nostalgia, comedy etc. These are albanian pictures that give colors, shapes and expressions to an albanian reality. They were primarily taken by albanian professional and amateur photographers and show a need to self-actualize in our surrounding. After all, we all draw inspiration from Mr. Martin Parr’s participation as a jury director in this edition of Capture Albania.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Parr

This edition of Capture Albania is brought to you by the British Council in collaboration with Tirana Ekspres. Three pictures, selected by Mr. Parr will receive th best photograph award. One picture, selected by the rest of the jury, will receive the special award.Our next activity will mark the end of this year’s edition of Capture Albania and the opening of the selected photographs exhibition. There will be 45 carefully selected photographs amidst 100 works submitted by young photographers. This year’s photographs show many aspects of modern Albania. They fall into three categories: The natural landscapes, the urban landscapes and the people.

The natural landscapes of Albania show more things than any words could ever describe. As for the urban landscapes and the people, they hint to what the participant’s eye values as aesthetic, authentic and representative. This is why “Aesthetics of Transition” would have been a good name for this year’s photo collection. In essence, each photograph conveys a genuine social concern subtly shared by the author. If the whole transition of Albania could be summarized in one picture, we would like it to be a beautiful postcard. In reality, the transition has produced varied images of great interest for architects, urban developers, sociologists etc. Our daily use of the word transition has made it a synonym of economic distress, institutional reforms etc.

In photography, the transition takes as many shapes and colors as light carries through the camera lenses. Interactivity is the way through which life in society expresses itself. It draws a picture that inspire to the creation of poetry, mysticism, nostalgia, comedy etc. These are albanian pictures that give colors, shapes and expressions to an albanian reality. They were primarily taken by albanian professional and amateur photographers and show a need to self-actualize in our surrounding. After all, we all draw inspiration from Mr. Martin Parr’s participation as a jury director in this edition of Capture Albania.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Parr

This edition of Capture Albania is brought to you by the British Council in collaboration with Tirana Ekspres. Three pictures, selected by Mr. Parr will receive th best photograph award. One picture, selected by the rest of the jury, will receive the special award.

Dear Friends and Supporters of Tirana Ekspres,

This Saturday, March 17th 2012, at 19h00, Tirana Ekspres will host the opening exhibition of Heldi Pema’s most recent work, a series titled “Station to Station”. It consists of an art installation that began durin Pema’s participation in the Artists in Residence program at the “Kultur Kontakt” in Vienna. This huge “mixed technique” installation encompasses various objects, some of which are recycled. He makes special use of fashion magazines as well as old Soviet magazines taken from East Germany’s vast DDR archive (Auchtung Berlin).

Pema playfully manipulates and transforms all these archival and recent materials recalling the California paranoia illustrated in Mike Kelley’s “Destroy all Monsters” project. During the opening, the artist will also introduce a sound project entitled “TAXI”. This is an album of soundtracks produced in collaboration with seven other artists, among which are Anri Sala, Bert Theis and Steve Piccolo.

Mr. Pema was born in Tirana in 1977. Upon completio of his studies in the Visual Arts department of the Academy of Fine Arts in Tirana he attended the International Summer Academy in Salzburg, the Real Presence in Belgrade, the O’Artoteca in Milano and the Kultur Kontakt in Vienna. In 1998 he worked for “Manifesta 2” in Luxembourg.

From 2003 to the present, he has worked as a curator in the National Gallery of Arts of Albania. In 2008, Mr. Pema won the special prize in Onufri’s Contest followed by the second prize in the same event in 2009. Hes works have showcased in the 52nd International Art Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia, in the Haus Lutzoplatz of Berlin, in the Museum of Contemporary Art Villa Croce in Genova, in Tirana’s Institute for Contemporary Art, in the National Gallery of Arts Prishtina, the National Gallery of Arts Tirana, the Biennale of Europe and the Mediterranean in Athens, in the second Biennale of Tirana, etc.Dear Friends and Supporters of Tirana Ekspres,

This Saturday, March 17th 2012, at 19h00, Tirana Ekspres will host the opening exhibition of Heldi Pema’s most recent work, a series titled “Station to Station”. It consists of an art installation that began durin Pema’s participation in the Artists in Residence program at the “Kultur Kontakt” in Vienna. This huge “mixed technique” installation encompasses various objects, some of which are recycled. He makes special use of fashion magazines as well as old Soviet magazines taken from East Germany’s vast DDR archive (Auchtung Berlin).

Pema playfully manipulates and transforms all these archival and recent materials recalling the California paranoia illustrated in Mike Kelley’s “Destroy all Monsters” project. During the opening, the artist will also introduce a sound project entitled “TAXI”. This is an album of soundtracks produced in collaboration with seven other artists, among which are Anri Sala, Bert Theis and Steve Piccolo.

Mr. Pema was born in Tirana in 1977. Upon completio of his studies in the Visual Arts department of the Academy of Fine Arts in Tirana he attended the International Summer Academy in Salzburg, the Real Presence in Belgrade, the O’Artoteca in Milano and the Kultur Kontakt in Vienna. In 1998 he worked for “Manifesta 2” in Luxembourg.

From 2003 to the present, he has worked as a curator in the National Gallery of Arts of Albania. In 2008, Mr. Pema won the special prize in Onufri’s Contest followed by the second prize in the same event in 2009. Hes works have showcased in the 52nd International Art Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia, in the Haus Lutzoplatz of Berlin, in the Museum of Contemporary Art Villa Croce in Genova, in Tirana’s Institute for Contemporary Art, in the National Gallery of Arts Prishtina, the National Gallery of Arts Tirana, the Biennale of Europe and the Mediterranean in Athens, in the second Biennale of Tirana, etc.

Tirana Ekspres will host the exhibition of the works of a group of international artists.

Participating artists: Ana Daci, Áron Birtalan, Diomen Bariçi, Eric Peter, Fatlum Doçi, Frederic Janssen, Gosse de Kort, Moritz Geremus, Nika Volkova, Pim van der Heiden, Ronald Schelfhout, Silvia Jánosková, Vincent van Gerven Oei, John Fenning.Tirana Ekspres will host the exhibition of the works of a group of international artists.

Participating artists: Ana Daci, Áron Birtalan, Diomen Bariçi, Eric Peter, Fatlum Doçi, Frederic Janssen, Gosse de Kort, Moritz Geremus, Nika Volkova, Pim van der Heiden, Ronald Schelfhout, Silvia Jánosková, Vincent van Gerven Oei, John Fenning.