30 Jan 2012

aMAZElab presents OSSERVATORIO BALKANI

As part of the cycle of meetings entitled A SOCIALLY ENGAGED DRINK organised by Via Farini /DOCVA on the theme of art in the public sphere, aMAZElab has been invited to examine the contemporary status and the future trends of art and society in the Balkans.

This interdisciplinary meeting, featuring contributions from a host of different sources, will be given over to the presentation of the book entitled Arcipelago Balkani (published by Silvana Editoriale) as well as the interpretations of this diverse and youthful centre of transformation, through the testimonies of artists, journalists and travellers, such as:

- Claudia Zanfi, cultural promoter, long committed to studying the Balkan territories, speaking to:
- Emina Cervo Vukovic, journalist, Milan/ Sarajevo;
- Eugenio Berra, for the 'Viaggiare i Balcani' organization;
- Igor Sovilj, Bosnian activist and founder of the Tac.ka research group;
- Alterazioni Video, and for the first time in Italy the artists' collective Tirana Ekspres, who have recently completed a major project together in the public space of Tirana.

The opening of the OSSERVATORIO BALKANI exhibition will follow:

Osservatorio Balkani is a project dedicated to the reading of this wide and young site in transformation. On the occasion of the publication Arcipelago Balcani (Silvana Editoriale), carried out by aMAZElab in collaboration with the European Commission Culture, the international collective Alterazioni Video (Milan/ Berlin/ NYC) together with Tirana Ekspres group, presents the over 1.000 Polaroids taken during their stay in the Albanian land. The trips to the seaside, the social life, the workaday, the sport, the leisure time, the eclectic architecture, the spontaneous design: elements of identity narrated from the same Albanians, in a kaleidoscope of visions and ambitious dreams, that form an alternative mapping of territory and places.