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Eda Čufer
A conversation with Eduard Muka

You are known as one of the few, if not the only, Albanian who internationally represents the voice of the contemporary art scene. You are an excellent translator of the local complexity into a generally understood political and cultural language. What is your story?

During the second half of the 1980's I studied fine arts at the Academy in Tirana. During the fall of the regime I took part in the demonstrations and then I emigrated to Italy. On my return I received an offer from Edi Rama, the current Albanian Minister of Culture, who was at the time a lecturer at the Academy, to become his assistant. Together we compiled a new programme for the Fine Arts course. This coincided with the increasingly open situation and with the opening of the Soros Centre which enabled us to invite foreign lecturers to the Academy, etc. In this period, which was around 1995, I received an invitation to a course for curators in Kiew, where I made my first contacts with people who I work with even today. One of the lecturers was Geert Lovink, who introduced me to the group gathered around the project Syndicate. This was definitely the most important contact for me, for a number of events and discussions took place which gave me a more detailed look inside current events and enabled Albania to enter the existing cultural and communication exchange.

Was there any so called alternative culture in Albania, a culture, which could have predicted the fall of the regime?

By no means. The pressure was so strong to the very end, that it did not allow any cultural formation of this kind. The worst pressure was applied at the beginning of the 1970's when many artists were jailed for very ordinary paintings which you would find very tame, even conservative. An individual could be jailed if a Van Gogh book was found on him. The repression was so strong that impressionism was not taught at the History of Art Department. Nobody had a clue what was going on outside our closed world, nobody even knew of the possibilities offered by art in the battle against the regime. At the beginning of the 1990's, after the fall of the regime, there was no social or political consciousness amongst the artists, but only a hunger for painting things that one could not paint before - abstract painting. Things changed only with the youngest generation, who can hardly remember the period of repression and who have more information and communication with overseas.

Most cultural institutions in the Eastern European countries were formed during the period of national movements at the beginning of the Century and after World War II. What is the situation in Albania, what is the institutional basis and infrastructure at your disposal?

The history of Albania is different to any of the other Eastern European countries. Albania gained freedom from Turkey only in 1912. After the declaration of independence a provisional government was formed, but chaos ruled the country. We had problems with Serbia, Italy and Greece. A desire was present to divide Albania between these three countries. This government managed to keep the country together, but they lost certain parts, for example Kosovo. Due to all the mentioned processes it is impossible to talk about national institutions, cultural institutions or technological advances in Albania. The only institutional model in Albania is the socialist model, which was first adopted from the Soviet Union. From 1948 onwards the influence of Tito's Yugoslavia was also very strong. However, this is a typically Albanian model, which does not care for the issues of institutionalising cultural life, but is completely ideological.

And what is the situation in the 1990's?

The people who came to power after the fall of communism did not take the issue of institutions seriously, they never even gave a second thought to any kind of reform. They were interested only in power and a quick profit. In fact very little has changed, almost nothing. There are very few people who are able to think differently. And if someone, such as Edi Rama, the present Minister of Culture, tries to change things, they are faced with a difficult task, since resistance to change is great. Rama has attempted reform within the Ministry, which , as far as the structure goes, was completely socialistic. However, the fact remains that there are no modern institutions in Albania. There are no institutions which would be in charge of establishing and preserving the tradition of modernity. The National Gallery, which is the only institution for presenting fine art in Albania, has only begun to be slowly reformed since last year. Apart from that it is also dealing with an important project, sorting the heritage of socialist realism, which was negated straight after the political about-face, as if it had never existed.

Can you tell us more about your last project, Permanent Instability, which included artists from all the Balkan countries?

The project came into being under the patronage of the Ministry of Culture and the National Gallery, actually within the competition project Onufri. Onufri was an eminent mediaeval painter of icons. The initiative arose some years ago when a number of artists wanted to display their abstract paintings, but nobody in Albania had any experience with preparing exhibitions. Exhibitions of socialist realism paintings were set up without a curator and with no concept. This year the Ministry of Culture and the National Gallery showed that they are prepared to expand this event and invited me to co-operate. I had already been thinking for a long time about writing an essay on the problems of art and culture within the frame of the Balkan region, which is defined by permanent instability, so this became the starting point of the project. It was not easy to organise this exhibition, but the results were good and in the end we were all satisfied. I must stress that the motive for the project was certainly connected with the growing interest of the international public for regional projects, which try to establish a reflection of marginal cultures. Therefore I deliberately restricted the project to artists from the Balkan countries and invited some guests from the West as observers. I believe that the Western system is currently undergoing a major crisis and that Westerners are not interested in marginal cultures solely for "exotic" reasons, but also as a means of reflection, through which they try to solve their own problems. And the Balkans are certainly an interesting region, perhaps even the centre of current cultural debates. On one hand all the Balkan countries are truly connected because of a long history of political and cultural changes and instability. One could say they are an explicit multi-cultural area. On the other hand they appear as a disturbance to the realisation of the idea of a unified Europe.

And what is your view of the political events in Yugoslavia?

In Albania we have a very complex attitude towards Kosovo, which is defined by the past policy and ideological propaganda. After World War II there was a possibility that Albania would obtain Kosovo, but Enver Hoxa rejected this possibility, because Kosovo was over developed and it would not be easy to control it. Under communism Kosovo was always thought of as the homeland of Albanians, and we looked upon Kosovo as a paradise with a blooming economy in Tito's Yugoslavia. People from Kosovo were able to travel and they had a much higher standard of living. Of course, in a way, we were jealous. However, the people from Kosovo dreamt of Albania as their homeland and supported Hoxa. We could not forget this. These contradictions are still present in the mind of the population. Before the massacres started Albanians were pretty indifferent to the situation of the people from Kosovo. Reactions started only when there was a large influx of refugees and we learnt about the cruelty of the massacres. At the moment Albanians morally support Kosovars, but I would say that they are not politically engaged or organised as concerns this issue.

How would Albania react if the NATO forces were to bomb military targets in Yugoslavia?

I can not predict this, but I am certain that it would help everybody - Serbia, Kosovo and Albania, if the Kosovo problem was brought to an end. I am also certain that there is no other possibility except for some kind of a defined autonomy. Otherwise events will continue as they have always done - for ever.

First published: Delo, 19. 4. 1999, p. 6.