The Center for Openness and Dialogue (COD) at the Prime Minister’s office has transformed into a promotional space for another Albanian artist, Bujar Luca, who made a comeback to Tirana after 33 years of working and living in France to stage an exhibition entitled “Touching the Invisible”, which features a collection of 71 artworks, including painting, drawing and graphics, selected as a retrospective of his artistic creativity.
Addressing the opening ceremony of the exhibition, Prime Minister Edi Rama highly praised painter Luca’s talent and contribution to contribution to the contemporary history of Albanian visual arts.
“You are one of those who give the contemporary history of Albanian visual arts something without which history would be poorer,” Rama said in his remarks.
The exhibition is open to public from November 2 through December 30, 2023.
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Good evening and welcome everyone!
I am very pleased that we have come together to open this retrospective exhibition by Bujar.
The exhibition is an idea that came up when we were together in Paris and Bujar gladly accepted the invitation to consider staging such an exhibition, yet I didn’t think that he would display here works from his entire collection, and indeed, some artworks he has painted several years ago are on display in this very small hall and it is about works Bujar used to create when still in his old Tirana house with the well and hackberry trees, the very place where we happen to meet before the dictatorship collapsed during the very first visit by a foreign delegation to the then Academy of Fine Arts and the delegation included the renowned editor-in-chief of the art magazine “Connaissance des Arts”, who wrote a feature story about all our creations back then and became the first contact point with the world of art beyond the walls within which we pursued our activity.
Bujar stood loyal to something I actually found hard to verbalize, but Bujar put it in words, when he said the reality of my ideal, and I believe that in a way his works are his spiritual self-portraits, which speak volumes about what Bujar is in relation to the mirror and in relation to the environment or the world.
Bujar has naturally positioned himself in a highly respectable position and has been frequently called to cooperate and contribute to a significant number of shows staged at Garnier opera, the new temple of opera songs and arias in Paris or other shows that feature both classical and contemporary music, cooperating with leading directors, including the director and choreographer Angjelin Preljocaj.
And I would like to really sincerely thank Bujar.
I would like to thank him for his investment in time, energies and for seriously and profoundly thinking about this exhibition and he has also done hard physical work, as he has packaged and transported all these works without receiving any payment from the government. He is far from being a government or court artist as in fact many or almost all of those who exhibit here are and I would like to see many more come here, even to stage anti-government protests here and they will get the rent-free hall.
Bujar, many compliments and many thanks, and believe me it is not a kind word for a friend here, in this space, who needs to be told some nice words, but it is a very sincere word and I truly believe all that I am saying and you are one of those who give the contemporary history of Albanian visual arts something without which this history would have been poorer.
Thank you so much!
