“Operation Tirana” might sound like a military adventure into Albania. But the artists behind this project did not spray the city of Tirana with bullets, but rather with paint. Lina Hartwieg interviewed the brains behind the operation.
Street art has long existed as a release valve for individuals to communicate outside the mass media. Using stickers, stencils, or characters, thousands of artists flood the streets with their political or social messages. The streets of New York, Berlin, or Barcelona would not be the same without it.
But Tirana’s streets were devoid of street art. That is, until Güven and his team of artists came along. In May 2010 the artist used the streets as a medium – a medium with which to communicate with the Albanian people.
Interview with Coskun Güven, gallery owner and brains behind “Operation Tirana”:
“Operation Tirana” sounds like a military operation. What does it stand for?
CG: “Operation Tirana” was an art tour where we invited six different artists from New York (Ripo), Amsterdam (The London Police and Morcky), Berlin (Attila), Warsaw (Swanski) and Duesseldorf (DXTR) to join our trip and conquer the capital of Albania, Tirana. Our goal was to fight with our weapons – brushes and cans.
When we think of street art, we think of cities like London, New York, or Berlin. Why did you travel to Tirana?
CG: Honestly, I didn’t know a lot about Albania before I came here; just the basics. I knew that Albania was Communist until 1991 and since then it has really struggled to get up to speed. It is still one of the poorest states in the European continent. Besides that, I didn’t really know much about Albania.
So, we came to a city that is in Europe, feels like Europe and also is very far away from what we know as Europe. Sometimes it is shocking to see, but other times it is very pleasant. Like the warmth and hospitality of the people we met. Understandably, some were sceptical about why we volunteered to work for free. But, once a wall was finished, we were being offered more walls than we would have had time to hit. It is great to see how this kind of medium and action can facilitate communication, exchange, leave traces on one place and take traces to another place. This is great and I doubt that we would have had similar experiences in New York or Berlin.
Would you say that street art can also be an instrument of political or urban commentary?
CG: We came to Albania in a time where there had been a ten-day hunger strike protesting the last government elections. It was a heavy climate but we didn’t care about that too much. I don’t mean that we were not sympathetic. But our politic is to be on the streets, talking with people and starting to know the neighbourhood. The reason we found so many walls is because we spoke to the people.
Art is a universal language that promotes dialogue and understanding. This is a different kind of politics. It is one where you meet the children and you stand on the streets. That is what I like about the so-called street art. It is being on the street, putting out something that is not trying to drive people in a certain direction. In the end it is just sharing some love and that is what happened on the trip.
What was the most striking experience in Tirana?
CG: The kids were one of the highlights of the trips. The more walls we painted the more children showed up. It was like a snowball effect. They wanted to know where we are from and what we are doing. They even started to grab some cans and tried to do it themselves. It showed that street art is an instrument for overcoming boundaries between cultures and generations. The kids gave us the chance to learn about the real Tirana and we, hopefully, gave them a hint to what to do with their ash-grey walls.
Nowadays a lot of people are jumping on the street-art bandwagon. Why is that?
CG: We are living in a moment of time where there is not a lot of trust anymore. We are very sceptical of political systems, media and religion. At the same time we get swamped with advertisement, either from a company or a political campaign. Everything is there to tell you what to think. But street art is an unpaid voice that is speaking with you and not trying to convince you of anything. It is a kind of injection into that visual media landscape. With our art tour to Albania we started a cultural exchange and, hopefully, built a foundation for the future.
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CG: Falemenderit – Thank you Tirana!
Photos by Alexander Malecki
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