Miza Galeri, housed in a basement on Gjon Buzuku Road, is the only artist-run space in Tirana. Since 2012, it has hosted independently curated exhibitions of young artists from Albania, Kosovo, and other countries. The small gallery, run by Endri Dani, Blerta Hocia, Olson Lamaj, and Remijon Pronja, has a vital role in the fragile ecosystem of the Albanian art scene, a role which it once again confirmed with its most recent exhibition.
On Friday December 16, Iva Lulashi and Deborah Ieranò opened their duo exhibition in Miza Galeri, entitled “Where I Feel, There I Am.” Ieranò, French of Italian descent, and Lulashi, who moved to Italy from Albania at age 10, have shared a studio for over 7 years, and it is clear from this exhibition that their art practices are intimately related.
Iva Lulashi is not a stranger to the Albanian art scene. Last year, she had a solo exhibition in Tulla. Her work always departs from found footage, film stills or photographs reflecting the visual language of an Albanian history she never consciously experienced. The work she presents in this exhibition has started to incorporate pornographic footage, blurring the line between communist propaganda film stills, sex scenes, and healthy outdoor activities.
For Deborah Ieranò it is the first exhibition in Tirana, and like Lulashi’s, her work departs from found footage material. Initially it seems difficult to distinguish their work from each other, but slowly distinct features of Ieranò’s style emerge: a more classical draftmanship that brings a clarity that Lulashi often avoids on purpose. She further uses other materials, such as fabric in her work creating a more sculptural effect.
The exhibition shows their work juxtaposed on several walls, with several smaller painted objects on tables or hanging from the ceiling. There are no title cards, which creates a harmony between the two artists’ oeuvres that blurs the boundaries of the individual. The space itself is set up as an apartment, as a space in which Lulashi and Ieranò recreate a common childhood home of memories, in spite of their very different backgrounds.
This curatorial approach is successful in the sense that it truly manages to create the feeling of an “environment” more than just an exhibition. This feeling is amplified by the gesture of removing any reference to individuality focuses the viewer on the work, rather than on metadata such as author, date, or medium.
Unfortunately “Where I Feel, There I Am” was closed on Sunday December 21.
