Syndicate: message from the pyramid

["Edi" <ediqnk@albaniaonline.net>]

hi everybody and sorry for missing for a while and being a bit 
late with the information. because of this i'll start with an earliar report of 
the events in tirana.
 
on 20th of December last year, the annual exhibition of 
contemporary visual art "Onufri 99" had its second international edition. the 
exhibition was curated by Gazmend Muka and the international participation was 
coordinated by Edi Muka (there's no link between the two despite the same second 
name). this year's edition had a wider geographical spread, including artists 
from both Eastern and Western Europe. following the selection and invitation 
processes the exhibition saw a show of about 65 artists (there was a much bigger 
number of albanian artists this year, even though it wasn't properly selected). 
the participating list of artists was as below:

LIST OF PARTICIPATING ARTISTS AT "ONUFRI 99" IN TIRANA
GERMANY:

  BRIGITTE WALDACH
  RUDI BEIER
UK:

  CATHERINE YASS
  SHONA ILLINGWORTH
  JENNIFER IDRIZI
  ANDREA DATES 
SWEDEN:

  ANIKA VON HAUSSWOLF
  LOTA ANTONSSON
  OLA PEHRSSON
ITALY:

  "BRIGATA S" (2 PERSONS)
  QI-KAI ZHANG
  CLAUDIA LOSI
  DAVIDE. R. COMI
MACEDONIA:

  ISKRA DIMITROVA
CROATIA:

  IGOR KUDUZ
  IGOR ZLOBEC
KOSOVA:

  SISLEJ XHAFA
  GANI LLALLOSHI
  LALA MEREDITH-VULA
AUSTRIA:

  TOMY SHNEIDER
ZVICRA:

  GIANNI MOTTI
UKRAINE:

  MIROSLAV KULCHITSKY
  VADIM CHECKORSKY
SLOVENIA

  ZIGA KARIZ
  BOSTJAN PLESNICAR
ISRAEL
1. ANAT LITVIN
CANADA
1. PATRICIA ELLIS
ALBANIA

  ALBAN HAJDINI
  ASTRIT VATNIKAJ
  EDI HILA
  VLADIMIR MYRTEZAI
  PJERIN KOLNIKAJ
  BLERTI MURATAJ
  GENTI SHKURTI
  SHPETIM KERÃ?OVA
  SILVANA NINI
  RUDINA MEMAGA
  ADRIAN PACI
  EDI RAMA
  GENTI GJIKOPULLI
  HELDI PEMA
  ROVENA AGOLLI
  HASAN NALLBANI
  THOMA THOMAI
  ALBES FUSHA
  LUMTURI BLLOSHMI
  SUELA MUÃ?A
  KASTRIOT DERVISHI
  ILIR KUKE
  SADIK SPAHIA
  GAZMEND LEKA
  ARTUR GORISHTI
  ERMIRA TURKESHI
  ALI OSEKU
  ARDIAN ISUFI
  ARBEN GOLEMI
  BESNIK & FLUTURA HAXHILLARI
  STEFAN TAÃ?I
  VALMIR HAJDARI
  SULEJMAN PRRENJASI
  ERGYS & ARDIT FAJA
  SHAQIR VESELI 
  ILMI KASEMI
  SOKOL SINANI
  SUZANA VARVARICA
  ILIR MARTINI
  KLEVES KRISIKO
  PERIKLI Ã?ULI
  EDITH PULA

CRITICS AND CURATORS INVITED
SLOVENIA 

  SASA GLAVAN
KROACIA

  SABINA SABOLOVIC
  NATASHA ILIC
BULGARIA

  DESSISLAVA DIMOVA
ITALY

  GIANCARLO POLITI
  GETULIO ALVIANI
  MICHELE ROBECHI
  GIANNI ROMANO
GERMANY

  MATTHIAS HARDER
UK

  RICHARD WENTWORTH
SWEDEN
JOA LJUNGBERG
due to the bigger number of participating artists, the range of 
artistic _expression_ as well was wider. several performances took place at the 
opening like that of the kosovar artist Sislej Xhafa, in which a quartet of four 
young ladies performed Mozart, while wearing police masks (very typical for the 
albanian image of 97). at the entrance public was astonished by the performance 
of Andrea Dates, argentinian artist based in UK, that dressed and udressed her 
red clothes while hardly walking on a circle with high hills and tied to the 
center. also four real police men stood by the ironic/painful piece of Sadik 
Spahija (al) giving homage to the many albanian policeman killed during their 
service. 
the show had two spaces, the bigger part at the national 
gallery and a smaller one at the pyramid. at the top of the 
pyramid door stood a huge installation from Jenny Idrizi (uk). it was 
a 6m high doll made of tiny little dolls, refering to some kind of 
tedy bear, which is very much used in albanian house construction to "take away 
the look of the bad eye". inside a soundblast from the work of Iskra Dimitrova 
(mac) invaded the whole pyramid space, while the dark corner of her 
installation was hidden behind a black curtain. also swedish artist Ola Pehrson 
installed his computer interactive installation "Yuca trade plant", which 
worked even after the plant was withered.
the international jury, composed by Gezim Qendro (al), 
Richard Wentworth (uk), Matthias Harder (D), Edi Muka (al) and Giancarlo Politi 
(it) decided on the following prizes: first prize ex-aequo (shared) between Edi 
Hila (albanian painter) and Shona Illingworth (videoartist uk); second prize 
Sislej Xhafa (kosovar artist); critics prize Brigite Waldach (D)
in a disorganized presentations table attenders could follow the 
presentantions of Gezim Qendro on his exhibition called Socialst (sur)realism, 
Matthias Harder on his space "Empty rooms", the nice presentation of young 
Bulgarian art scene from Dessi Dimova, etc.
the nights were spent amongst too much drinking and fish and 
pizas at "La Voglia", bar-pizzeria "Soros", an anonimous fish restorant, while 
everybody enjoyed the fancy-named hotel Palma. 
the show is open until february 15th.
greetings till next message (just after this)
edi