Tirana Biennale 2

U-Topos Utopia: (gk. nowhere land); an imaginary island described in Sir Thomas More’s Utopia (1516) as enjoying perfection in law, politics, etc, any ideal place or state; any visionary system of political or social perfection. The fall of the last big Utopia, Communism, and the establishing of Capitalism as the only World Order, made Fukuyama proclaim the end of History. What has occurred recently has seriously questioned his thesis while the end of history is not yet in sight. The fall of universal and monolithic ideologies has dematerialised the topos , making it an impossible topos (place), while claiming that the only true topos is U-Topos, it is YOU and yourself as THE TOPOS, it is your personal realm where your dreams and hopes come true. Is there a Utopia today, and if so, is it more a personal or a collective one? How does today’s artist deal with imagination and memory; how does he get access to both private and collective memory, in its static and dynamic forms? In these times of great structural changes of the collective mind and rapid globalisation, the artist's task is to make people aware of such changes and create the new decors and sensory experiences connected to them and discover the suitable metaphorical artistic language. On the other hand, are we living in a world where laic or religious messianic message is outdated? Is the art of today able to convey such messages and is our society really interested in them? Art today is not anymore a reflection of any utopian reality but the only topos where still exists a possibility of dreaming; the only possible topos which reflects the inner beliefs, truths and doubts; the land of impossible promises or the promise of the impossible, the unreachable realm of unrealistic social and political projects, together with its collective dreams and universal beliefs.

p.s. ...we regret to tell you that our art foundation can’t finance the Biennale of Tirana, simply because we don’t believe that an event of such proportions can take place in Albania”. Sincerely yours.... This was the official answer of a foreign foundation to our request for financial help. Like Saint Thomas, they wanted to see the proof before believing in resurrection. We must admit that partly they were right. How can you expect someone to believe in a sign of resurrection, (as the Biennale certainly is), of collaboration, hope and tolerance, normality and common values, in a country crucified for so long by isolation, disgrace, intolerance, abnormality and provincialism? This is an excerpt taken from one of the texts of the catalogue of the 1st Tirana Biennale. The first Biennale already took place, with its many problems and excitements. Organizing the second one is again a reason to generate the same disbelief, the same doubts and the same reactions, many of which proved to be wrong already. Tirana, together with its lack of hope, disgrace and intolerance, abnormality and provincialism, and its Biennale too, seems to be the U - topos, the place that best fits the desire and the need to dream. (Auszug Pressetext)

2nd Bienniale Tirana 2003 "U-Topos"
Kuratoren: Ann Demeester, Vasif Kortun, Hans Ulrich Obrist & Anri Sala, Giacinto di Pietrantonio, Sandra Antelo Suarez, Branislava Anelkovic

mit Halil Altindere, Maja Bajevic, Matei Bejenaru, Sokol Beqiri, Otto Berchem, Tania Bruguera, Pierpaolo Campanini, Violeta Carku, Jota Castro, Jan De Cock, Alexia Dafni, Adam Dant, Olafur Eliasson, Charles Esche, Lara Favaretto, Hans-Peter Feldmann, Rainer Ganahl, Liam Gillick, Dominique Gonzales-Foerster, Sagi Groner, Igor Grubic, Pinny Grylls, Todd Haynes, Carsten Höller, Krunoslav Ivanisin, Jan Jeffrey, Lulzim Kabashi, Masato Kobayashi, Anders Krüger, Marta Kuzma, Yael Lepek, Frederik Levrat, Emanuel Licha, Milena Maksimovic, Miltos Manetas, Goranka Matic, Rudina Memaga, Ottonella Mocellin, Edi Muka, Tanja Ostojic, Giorgios Papadatos, Gregor Passens, Nicola Pellegrini, Stephanie Pelz, Heldi Pema, Nicola Petrovitch, Pedro Reyes, Arian Risvani, Mario Rizzi, Michele Robecchi, Pietro Roccasalva, Anri Sala, Zolykha Sherzad, Shimabuku , Erzen Shkololli, Terry Smith, Bert Theis, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Piotr Uklanski, Enzo Umbaca, Gillian Wearing, Verdi Yahooda, Yi Zhou, Florian Zeyfang, Fani Zguro, Serkan Ozkaya ...