UNDER PRESSURE Facts of socialist architecture in Albania

The architecture of Albania during the communist regime comes for the first time into the attention of an international audience with the exhibition "Under Pressure - Facts of socialist architecture in Albania" opened in Venice, Italy from June 27 to July 21, 2017. The exhibition is based on a research conducted in the Polytechnic University of Tirana during the last three years, which aims to open the debate about pressure and design, ideology and architecture in one of the most isolated communist realities in the world. The exhibition is supported by IUAV, university of Venice, which is hosting the event and encouraging the debate about the unknown reality of Albanian architecture.

This is an effort to envisage the reality of communist Albania by using architecture as a decoding tool. The exhibition invites the visitor to read a storyline, which is neither chronological nor built on sequential facts. Constructing a path would constitute in a way a biased approach or a perspective by the authors. The exhibited material aims to neutralize any possible level of pre-interpretation, which drives the visitor towards his personal exploring and experiential paths into an unknown context.

The generic theme of the exhibition consists in illustrating the many forms of dialogue established between architecture and political power, portraying at the same time a dichotomy that is mirrored throughout the creative process of the architect.
Given the Albanian context, how was architecture impacted by the pressure modeled from ideology and communist propaganda? The answer is revealed through an episodic collage that exposes pieces of distorted, bended or overlapped realities. Eight episodes are served to illustrate the puzzle; Ideology and design, Approach and image, Standardized design, Prefabrication, Dissidence (?), Atheism, The National Form, and Architecture as communication tool.

Through these thematic etudes it is legible how, in many cases, architecture is transformed into a medium, enabling communication between the political power and citizens. Architectural or urban entities become the ground upon which the propaganda is materialized into form or space, and where ideology continuously models the artistic worldview.

an exhibition by: Gjergji Islami, Denada Veizaj, Gjergj Thomai, Enrico Fontanari
graphic concept and design: Ana Pekmezi
with the special attention of: Andrea Maliqari, Rector of the Polytechnic University of Tirana
supported by: IUAV, University of Venice, Polytechnic University of Tirana, Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism Central Technical Construction Archive
venue: IUAV University of Venice, 'Gino Valle' Exhibition Space, Cotonificio Veneziano, Dorsoduro 2196, 30123 Venice, Italy
duration: 28/06/2017 till 21/07/17
visiting hours: Monday to Friday 9.00 till 19.00
web: http://www.iuav.it/Ateneo1/eventi-del/2017/Under-Pres/index.htm
facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1416062511784104/?ref=br_rs
contact:
Gjergji Islami (lecturer and researcher, Polytechnic University of Tirana)
gjergjislami@upt.al
gjerislam@yahoo.com
+355 69 20 79 543
address: Fakulteti i Arkitekturës dhe Urbanistikës, Rruga M. Gjollesha, 54, Tirana, Albania