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    sabato 25 febbraio 2012

    Penxhere

    Note: Penxhere is the Turkish and also the Albanian archaic word for "window".

    (Lemon Tree by Fools Garden)

    Today it's 13 degrees and sunny, now I am keeping my window open to enjoy more the warm weather.

     I have always had a passion for windows, most of people are passionate about doors because they live with the cliche that doors may represent an opportunity, a better future, the exploring of the outside or in the extreme case "a door closes, another opens". 
    At the other hand, I see windows as a point where the outside meets the inside (or otherwise), a place where to hide and still have an opportunity on seeing what is happening outside, the mystery that is hidden behind the curtains, where interior decor opens up to the public,  etc. 
    While living in Albania, there were a lot of elder women (grandmas) that spied on their teenager grandchildren or in the other vast case (spying) on all the neighborhood; when there were no cellphones children playing in the garden used to shout to their moms in the window to deliver an information. 
    Windows are also a celebration of green in apartments. 

     Skiathos 

     Bologna

     Boston
     Boston

    Milan

    domenica 19 febbraio 2012

    A Dreamy & Decadent Delight


    As I am in the peak of a nerve break down, because of tomorrow's exam and I am still pretty behind schedule with my project; I decided to post a little old thing that I had written back in the times. 
    What got me into thinking about those times was an old photo that a friend of mine mailed me as a present and a reminder to still live and do everything in the most passionate and foolish way. 


     In my high school, all of our walls are painted in dull colours that do not foster creativity in the classroom. The lack of harmony and creativity were the primary reasons why I and a group of classmates decided to repaint the walls. After ten long hours, we transformed the ceiling into a chess board, designed an aluminium painting that looked like a fish aquarium. Furthermore, we drew two contemporary art frames, hung a poster, and repainted the walls. The most difficult part was painting the ceiling as the paint dripped over our heads, but we were determined to finish it.

     We drew a chess board so that during literature classes we could drift away and feel more as part of a game than of a classical lecture. The fish painting reflected our question of existence in the big “pond”. The art frames represented our shifting mood; the first was a monochrome painting composed by nails and strings (troubles), and the other one was a splash of various colours (be me!). Finally, students could better express themselves by writing on the poster.

     At the end, we were faced with dual reviews; all of our peers loved it but none of the teachers did. The teachers saw our creative expressions as a bad influence in school. After several meetings with the principal, and without clear explanations, we were forced to repaint the walls back to the original colour. Today one question lingers in our minds, “Why were we seen as a bad influence, when all we wanted to do was to create a class environment that fostered creativity”?

     ¿now feel you do how 'me tell

    Unfortunately I don't have any photos of our art work, but I felt like this picture is suited for this case, it can be "nothing" or  "something".


    domenica 12 febbraio 2012

    Last Night

     Note: Last night= early morning of 10 February 2011, the post was written in pieces during the timeline from that early morning (last night) till now (post publication)

     Today I wake up pretty late and I found my fb news feed in red. There were so many red pictures and two other blogs talking about what happened last night in Tirana. As it looks like, last night Lenin & Stalin were painted red.


    At the back of the National Art Gallery, there is a statute of Lenin, one of Stalin, one of a man worker, one of partisan girl and maybe some other ones, but that's what I remember. These statues since the early 90s (probably 91, when the system changed) have been moved here and there all over the city, to be hidden to the public. During the dictatorial era such statues could be found all over the country as a symbol of glorification of those days public figures (Stalin, Lenin & E. Hoxha) or other working figures. In 1991 when the system changed, (the huge statue of) Stalin was thrown down by democratic youngsters and other people who were celebrating the end of an obscure era.

    Now days the back of the national art gallery, by late night is used as a hiding place by youngster, who go there with their friends to chit-chat, to think about those times that they never tried (I myself am part of what is called the democratic generation, ppl who where born in the early 90s) and to drink and smoke whatever. My point is that, even if the government hiddest such statues, people who are curious about them will always find them or at the other hand you can not erase a part of history by hiding it.


     Yesterdays action can be seen in various ways: the rise of the young left; you can not hide from your past, it will always be there; an art movement etc.

    Politics in my country is a real chaos, there is an endless number of parties, it's like everyone who has more than 100 followers can open a political party. Even though there are two huge political camps, the right and the left (there is also a center, but at the end they will be part of the coalition who offers more goods) you can not tell what one or the other wants to get done if they get the power, it's like you vote for the party leader without having a clear idea about the party's program. The worse part is that either if the left or the right gets the power they wouldn't care much about the people.
    Labors union has no power, so it's time to have movement which will raise the social, political and environmental awareness.

    As I said before, the government for a long time has tried to hide from the past, the communist past. People may like it or not, there was an era when we were under dictatorship so by just moving some statues or other pieces of art of that era you can not just forget what has happened.

    I mostly like to see last nights movement, as an art movement. I see it as a "work in progress" over forgotten art pieces, a way to make them feel alive again.

    photo copyright: Xheni Alushi

     For more info you can check these other blog posts:
    http://albanianpyramids.wordpress.com/2012/02/10/komunikate/

    http://continentcontinent.cc/blog/2012/02/the-unofficial-view-of-tirana-36/

    giovedì 9 febbraio 2012

    V



    I saw today at the news, that the lagoon of Venice was all iced up.

    I think that as more tragic the weather is the better Venice looks, it's like an obscure mystery makes it even more charmant (english for charmant is charming). [note: I always use charmant in it's original french way that the english misused version, it's like the english version trivializes a little bit all the beautiful meaning of this word] 

    The city in the summer sun is a bit agonizing because of the heat and the super high prices of cold drinks, in the late autumn or winter rain is smooth & poetic but sometimes it get's really difficult to visit it due to the unexpected high-water, as for the snowy weather I have no idea but my feelings aren't that positive.




    martedì 7 febbraio 2012

    11 photos dedicated to these white days

    It’s been a week that is snowing and I hate it! Another thing that I hate, is the song “Snow (hey oh)” by RHCP.

    I have been that bored to death these days, that I didn't feel like doing Anything with this cold, but from tomorrow on (even if the weather gets worse) I will start improving my life (I know that you have heard this thing a lot of times and it has become kind of a common joke) and and aaand do more blog posts ^_^