Photographs by Corinna Sauer, Sebastián Laraia, Jeffrey Ladd, Holger Biermann, Shinji Abe, Patrick Becker, Jiri Makovec, Dimitri Mellos, Richard Sandler, Gilles Roudière, Roger Minick, Jan Zappner, Georg Knoll, Andreas Pein, Jan Michalko, Jonathan van Smit, Jia Jia Zhang, hannah goldstein and Charlie Jouvet.

at TÊTE art space in Berlin 15 march 2013

artist talks 20 march 2013 – Jan Zappner, Corinna Sauer and Holger Biermann

> Download PDF

22 June to 16 September 2012

The Albanian Ambassador in Vendome:
> read the article (in french only)

Download PDF

22 June to 16 September 2012

What happens in Albania? The former closed Communist country with its long undiscovered coastline and spectacular Alpine interior retains an air of mystery in the midst of familiar old Europe. Albania is the close neighbour of Italy and Greece but, despite the fall of the Iron Curtain 20 years ago, has kept its secrets from us for too long.

This exhibition combines the work of six photographers based in Berlin, who for three years have been regularly exploring Europe’s least-known nation. They have immersed themselves in its unique and complex society successively moulded by the long period of Ottoman rule, the autocratic grip of communism and today by the excitement of emerging as a new democracy into modern Europe.

The idea of the project was to create a picture diary of a nation familiar by name but whose lifestyle, whose people and whose dreams are only slowly revealing themselves. Each of the photographers has followed his own unique approach to tell an unfolding story of discovery through images and other media.

This long-term project could never produce a straightforward narrative or even a journalistic documentation of a place as intriguing as Albania. Instead we offer six essays that build into a mosaic to capture what we found in a land just a short way away, but far from familiar.

L’ Albanie ? …

Pays autrefois retranché derrière un rideau sombre imposé par l’une des dictatures communistes des plus rigides, l’Albanie tarde toujours à nous livrer sa lumière restée longtemps sous le boisseau. Son littoral pittoresque encore ignoré par le tourisme et l’arrière pays offrant de spectaculaires reliefs montagneux gardent une tonalité mystérieuse au sein de cette vieille Europe qui nous semble pourtant si proche. L’Albanie est voisine de l’Italie et de la Grèce mais, malgré cette proximité et plus de deux décennies après la chute du rideau de fer, elle conserve encore aujourd’hui bien des secrets.

Cette exposition regroupe le travail de six photographes basés à Berlin qui, trois années durant ont régulièrement exploré la nation la plus méconnue d’Europe. Ils se sont immergés dans une société à l’histoire singulière et complexe successivement influencée par une longue domination ottomane, puis par la férule plus récente d’un communisme autocratique et dictatorial et enfin par une fièvre nouvelle d’inclusion dans le monde des démocraties émergentes de la nouvelle Europe.

L’idée du projet est de créer un journal intime, recueil de photographies, d’une nation au nom familier mais dont le quotidien, les gens et les rêves nous échappent encore. Dans cette perspective, chacun des photographes a poursuivi sa propre démarche apportant une vision personnelle et adoptant une technique particulière (format, support, couleur…) pour raconter l’histoire d’une découverte à travers ses images.

Ce projet à long terme ne pouvait pas produire un récit documentaire ou un compte-rendu
journalistique sur un sujet aussi fascinant que l’Albanie. Les photographes nous offrent ici six essais constituant une mosaïque riche et intimiste au fil de la découverte de ce pays proche de nous et cependant loin de nous être familier.

Albania is terrific and fascinating.

Albania has a bewitching soul that cannot fail to haunt you; it exhales something mysterious, a sort of indescribable magic. The beating streams of a Mediterranean sunlight, the meeting with unlikely landscapes, the smoke from burning wild rubbish dumps rising up into the air, the whirls of dust in towns and the sandstorms along the coasts lend the land a specific atmosphere and a strong personality. A kind of chaos prevails in the country, from out of which seeps fantasism; Albanians are probably keener to follow traditional conventions than a modern legislation. Mutual aid, honour, respect and hospitality are finally the true driving forces of the nation, building up a strong common thread that connects people to each other and to their territory.

What mattered to me was my desire to capture my own intimate experiences of the country, my inner-feelings, steering clear of Roland Barthes’ qualified “studium”. More than any classical documentary issue it is Albania as a photographic theatre with its inhabitants performing in their daily scenery that my images intend to reveal.

contact:   email   web

Group Project: ALBANIA

What happens in Albania? The former closed Communist country with its long undiscovered coastline and spectacular Alpine interior retains an air of mystery in the midst of familiar old Europe. Albania is the close neighbour of Italy and Greece but, despite the fall of the Iron Curtain 20 years ago, has kept its secrets from us for too long.

This exhibition combines the work of six photographers based in Berlin, who for three years have been regularly exploring Europe’s least-known nation. They have immersed themselves in its unique and complex society successively moulded by the long period of Ottoman rule, the autocratic grip of communism and today by the excitement of emerging as a new democracy into modern Europe.

The idea of the project was to create a picture diary of a nation familiar by name but whose lifestyle, whose people and whose dreams are only slowly revealing themselves. Each of the photographers has followed his own unique approach to tell an unfolding story of discovery through images and other media.

This long-term project could never produce a straightforward narrative or even a journalistic documentation of a place as intriguing as Albania. Instead we offer six essays that build into a mosaic to capture what we found in a land just a short way away, but far from familiar.

• Georg Knoll
• Sebastián Laraia
• Jan Michalko
• Andreas Pein
• Gilles Roudière
• Jan Zappner

I travelled to Albania, even though I didnt have a connection to either the Eastern Block countries or to the Balkans.  It was just a white spot, and not only on my map but also in my imagination. Directly in front of my house door, in the middle of Europe.

It fascintated me to travel to places that didn’t actually interest me.

That was exactly how I felt.
Like a fish out of water.

It seemed to be a country ruled by a dictator and whose culture seems to have been completely erased. Unable to see something, it left me completely bored.
I saved myself by running from Coffee to köfte, from köfte to Raki and from Raki into my bed and then awoke to start again.
This land seemed to me to be so heavy and still.

I caught a frame, that  pushed me to discover something interesting in the hope that this overall feeling of „nothingness“ would not overtake me.  But in the end, nothing happened and I was worn down, but also sure that something would come again.

contact:   email   web

Group Project: ALBANIA

What happens in Albania? The former closed Communist country with its long undiscovered coastline and spectacular Alpine interior retains an air of mystery in the midst of familiar old Europe. Albania is the close neighbour of Italy and Greece but, despite the fall of the Iron Curtain 20 years ago, has kept its secrets from us for too long.

This exhibition combines the work of six photographers based in Berlin, who for three years have been regularly exploring Europe’s least-known nation. They have immersed themselves in its unique and complex society successively moulded by the long period of Ottoman rule, the autocratic grip of communism and today by the excitement of emerging as a new democracy into modern Europe.

The idea of the project was to create a picture diary of a nation familiar by name but whose lifestyle, whose people and whose dreams are only slowly revealing themselves. Each of the photographers has followed his own unique approach to tell an unfolding story of discovery through images and other media.

This long-term project could never produce a straightforward narrative or even a journalistic documentation of a place as intriguing as Albania. Instead we offer six essays that build into a mosaic to capture what we found in a land just a short way away, but far from familiar.

• Georg Knoll
• Sebastián Laraia
• Jan Michalko
• Andreas Pein
• Gilles Roudière
• Jan Zappner

Andreas Pein

Although a country’s history is certainly not comparable to another one’s, i couldn’t help but notice a few similarities. Infact, Albania evoke well‐known, almost forgotten feelings within me. Not only because i was born and raised in the former socialistic East‐Germany, also due to a sort of numb feeling, still noticeable as an impact of the harsh dictatorship in Albania. I guess it have been these feelings i was trying to make visible. But aside all subjects i was trying to photograph in Albania, to me, these pictures have unexpectedly become a visualization of memories and feelings of my own past.

contact:   email   web

Group Project: ALBANIA

What happens in Albania? The former closed Communist country with its long undiscovered coastline and spectacular Alpine interior retains an air of mystery in the midst of familiar old Europe. Albania is the close neighbour of Italy and Greece but, despite the fall of the Iron Curtain 20 years ago, has kept its secrets from us for too long.

This exhibition combines the work of six photographers based in Berlin, who for three years have been regularly exploring Europe’s least-known nation. They have immersed themselves in its unique and complex society successively moulded by the long period of Ottoman rule, the autocratic grip of communism and today by the excitement of emerging as a new democracy into modern Europe.

The idea of the project was to create a picture diary of a nation familiar by name but whose lifestyle, whose people and whose dreams are only slowly revealing themselves. Each of the photographers has followed his own unique approach to tell an unfolding story of discovery through images and other media.

This long-term project could never produce a straightforward narrative or even a journalistic documentation of a place as intriguing as Albania. Instead we offer six essays that build into a mosaic to capture what we found in a land just a short way away, but far from familiar.

• Georg Knoll
• Sebastián Laraia
• Jan Michalko
• Andreas Pein
• Gilles Roudière
• Jan Zappner

These pictures are loose photographic collection of moments throughout the last three years. Its an Essay about a country with spectacular nature and people with a raw personality still recovering from the „Years of the gun“, when an exodus of millions hit society. I met children raised in Britain, Germany or France and now being expelled to a remote village in the mountains. The  desparate view of the people on the future unites them as much as their ability to make the best out of nothing. I could feel the strength it takes to live on the edge, yet unknown to most of Europe.

contact:   email   web

Group Project: ALBANIA

What happens in Albania? The former closed Communist country with its long undiscovered coastline and spectacular Alpine interior retains an air of mystery in the midst of familiar old Europe. Albania is the close neighbour of Italy and Greece but, despite the fall of the Iron Curtain 20 years ago, has kept its secrets from us for too long.

This exhibition combines the work of six photographers based in Berlin, who for three years have been regularly exploring Europe’s least-known nation. They have immersed themselves in its unique and complex society successively moulded by the long period of Ottoman rule, the autocratic grip of communism and today by the excitement of emerging as a new democracy into modern Europe.

The idea of the project was to create a picture diary of a nation familiar by name but whose lifestyle, whose people and whose dreams are only slowly revealing themselves. Each of the photographers has followed his own unique approach to tell an unfolding story of discovery through images and other media.

This long-term project could never produce a straightforward narrative or even a journalistic documentation of a place as intriguing as Albania. Instead we offer six essays that build into a mosaic to capture what we found in a land just a short way away, but far from familiar.

• Georg Knoll
• Sebastián Laraia
• Jan Michalko
• Andreas Pein
• Gilles Roudière
• Jan Zappner

The pictures were taken on 5 short-trips in different parts, mainly towns, of Albania. Huge Mountains and ancient traditions still mighty, as the heaviness of the weight of Hoxha’s dictaturship, it seems there was left a tabula rasa. This, in its resting Lethargie, has been filled in a cheap way with american and european status-symbols and its infrastructure. Not at least of the many emmigrants sending money home, there is a big affinity to the west. Daily life is very often a fight against poverty and corruption.
My photography is a short personal visual meeting with this country. Without any judgements I want to transfer the inspiration I got in this great Balcan-culture.

contact:   email   web

Group Project: ALBANIA

What happens in Albania? The former closed Communist country with its long undiscovered coastline and spectacular Alpine interior retains an air of mystery in the midst of familiar old Europe. Albania is the close neighbour of Italy and Greece but, despite the fall of the Iron Curtain 20 years ago, has kept its secrets from us for too long.

This exhibition combines the work of six photographers based in Berlin, who for three years have been regularly exploring Europe’s least-known nation. They have immersed themselves in its unique and complex society successively moulded by the long period of Ottoman rule, the autocratic grip of communism and today by the excitement of emerging as a new democracy into modern Europe.

The idea of the project was to create a picture diary of a nation familiar by name but whose lifestyle, whose people and whose dreams are only slowly revealing themselves. Each of the photographers has followed his own unique approach to tell an unfolding story of discovery through images and other media.

This long-term project could never produce a straightforward narrative or even a journalistic documentation of a place as intriguing as Albania. Instead we offer six essays that build into a mosaic to capture what we found in a land just a short way away, but far from familiar.

• Georg Knoll
• Sebastián Laraia
• Jan Michalko
• Andreas Pein
• Gilles Roudière
• Jan Zappner

The photographs are of ordinary Albanian life. I wanted to capture the mood of the times and the realities of daily life. These photos focus inwards on the individual and outwards on the general milieu in the cities. They capture the interaction between people and their environment at work, at leisure and going about their daily lives. We see the asthetic juxtapose of socialist past and the newer touches of Western influences characterized by an explosion and bright colours and the sporadic introduction of new technologies.

contact:   email   web

Group Project: ALBANIA

What happens in Albania? The former closed Communist country with its long undiscovered coastline and spectacular Alpine interior retains an air of mystery in the midst of familiar old Europe. Albania is the close neighbour of Italy and Greece but, despite the fall of the Iron Curtain 20 years ago, has kept its secrets from us for too long.

This exhibition combines the work of six photographers based in Berlin, who for three years have been regularly exploring Europe’s least-known nation. They have immersed themselves in its unique and complex society successively moulded by the long period of Ottoman rule, the autocratic grip of communism and today by the excitement of emerging as a new democracy into modern Europe.

The idea of the project was to create a picture diary of a nation familiar by name but whose lifestyle, whose people and whose dreams are only slowly revealing themselves. Each of the photographers has followed his own unique approach to tell an unfolding story of discovery through images and other media.

This long-term project could never produce a straightforward narrative or even a journalistic documentation of a place as intriguing as Albania. Instead we offer six essays that build into a mosaic to capture what we found in a land just a short way away, but far from familiar.

• Georg Knoll
• Sebastián Laraia
• Jan Michalko
• Andreas Pein
• Gilles Roudière
• Jan Zappner