ZINES

1.
LET’S PRETEND THIS HOUSE IS NOT ON FIRE
by Driton Selmani, 2020

The images, illustrations, and writings in this zine summarize Driton’s personal notes during the period of ‘lockdown’. This work is strongly connected to the project he made for Manifesta 14, Love Letters (2018–ongoing), a series of aphorisms rendered on flattened plastic bags. ‘I wish you were a plastic bag, so you could be eternal’ appears in black marker on one; ‘let’s pretend this is not a house on fire’ on another. These philosophical, poetic, and political snippets, taken from the artist’s notebooks, are reminiscent of Jenny Holzer’s large-scale, text-based works, such as Survival.

Kosovar artist Driton Selmani has developed a practice rooted in local interventions with works like Utopia, The Place that Doesn’t Exist, 2009 (in which he replaced ‘Prishtina’ with ‘Utopia’ on a motorway sign) and God’s Sake, 2008 (in which he covered a statue of Mother Teresa with a chador-esque black cloth).


2.
Q. ESCAPING PLANS
by Ledia Kostandini, 2020

With her drawings, Ledia Kostandini aimed to illustrate a plan to escape the
pandemic by transforming her home environment into an individual microcosm.

In her work – photography, paintings, and installations with mixed media objects – Ledia Kostandini takes an ironic approach to national events by juxtaposing cultural and social icons. Influenced by her country’s communist past and its threat of violence, Ledia analyzes the power of images and how they function within varied ideological systems.


3.
STAGE SIEGE
by Blerta Hoçia, 2020

Blerta Hoçia reflects on the consequences of the pandemic in Albania, from the quarantine of the population to the state of siege, where, as a result, basic human rights were significantly reduced. Her zine tells the story of one night, May 17, 2020, the demolition of the National Theater and police violence against citizens, artists, and activists.

Blerta Hoçia is an artist and independent curator. She mainly works with the mediums of photography, video, and installation. She was co-founder of Miza Gallery, an artist-run space in Tirana, and was the Head of the Conservation and Management of the Archive at the Marubi National Museum Of Photography in Albania. She currently lives and works in Pristina, where she is part of
Foundation 17, a collective that fosters cultural activism.


4.
HUNTINGAMES
by La Société Spectrale, 2021

1. La Société Spectrale is an open collective of artists that has emerged out of the Debatik Center of Contemporary Art.

2. The vast majority of the art produced in Albania in the last three decades, but especially during the last seven/eight years, has almost programmatically avoided antagonism, which underlies society but also the relationship of the individual with the state.

3. La Société Spectrale chose to document sites and events such as the Astiri protest, the River Bank protest, the miners’ protest, the National Theatre protest, or the June 30, 2019 election process precisely because they were sites and events where antagonism was significantly heightened.

4. During the filming of HUNTINGAMES, La Société Spectrale used a stealth camera, the type used to hunt wild animals but also study them.

5. In the HUNTINGAMES film series, La Société Spectrale has tried to trace and capture the existence of an energy which, in a still unimaginable future, could be transformed into a spark that has the potential to overturn the status quo itself.


5.
ADNAN SAY YES
by Atdhe Mulla, 2022

Adnan Say Yes! by Atdhe Mulla compiles a series of photographs collected
during an online campaign by the Albanian community to persuade Adnan Januzaj, a young and talented footballer, to play for the Albanian national team in 2013. The images demonstrate how fans used photography and other visual media to support their cause and promote their team. Adnan Say Yes! is an example of how the medium of photography can be used in a time of worldwide sharing and the challenges and opportunities that this provides for the expansion of creativity.