Bazament Art Space presents Dramamine, the latest project of artist Lek M. Gjeloshi, curated by Zef Paci. This exhibition will be open for the visitors during the period of September 3rd – October 10th, 2021.
The title of the exhibition coincides with the name of a medicine that is used to prevent nausea caused by travel or heights. But what it’s introduced in Bazament, according to the curator, acts more like a rolling exercise therapy that prepares pilots for their flights while still on the ground, while inviting the visitors to go down the stairs and enter the basement of this building in the area of former Blloku. This artistic project was particularly made for the premises of this space.
In this exhibition, the work of the artist comes as a structure of the gallery space itself, which means that the work in this case becomes one with the space of Bazament. The intervention through the work of art comes from this collaboration between the artist and the curator, in the form of four stained glass windows installed in the structure of the existing windows.
While crossing the narrow and dark corridor, the only source that brings natural light to this space comes from the work itself, the windows in the technique of stained glass. In the first space there is a small room where visitors are introduced to the first work. In the next room, a larger space, three stained glass windows are exposed in a horizontal line.
In two of these stained glass windows you can notice the symbol of a Cross. This symbol takes references from reality, made by human hand, such as the planimetry of the two buildings. One of them is the building of Kinostudio (film studio) “Shqipëria e re” (the Ministry of Culture today) and the other one was a psychiatric hospital in the city of Shkodra. Referring to the planimetries shown on the stained glass windows, it is noticed that the element of the stained glass positioned in the center of the second space, which takes its references from an institutional building located in the center, has static and rational shapes, while the stained glass window of the first room, from the psychiatric hospital in the suburbs, has dynamic and irrational shapes. While in the two stained glass windows located on the sides, the element of a star is noticed, which this time takes reference from the decorative elements of the tiles on the gallery floor. It seems that the stars are now rising from the ground and moving to the stained glass window.
For the artist Lek M. Gjeloshi, the discovery of the silhouette of the Psychiatric Hospital was an inspiration for the research and creation of this artistic event. Then he combined these two layouts of secular buildings by placing them in another secular building, as configurations that evoke the same symbol.
Lek M. Gjeloshi was born in 1987 in Shkodra, where he lives and works. He studied visual arts at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence (graduated in 2010). His solo exhibitions include: All My Colors Turn to Clouds (2016); Off-Cells (2016); N’jerm (2018 – 2019). In 2015 he was the winner of the “Idromeno” award, given by the Art Gallery of Shkodra. A year later (2016), he won the “Ardhje” award for young Albanian visual artists. Since 2017 he works as the Head of the Conservation and Management of Collections Department at the National Museum of Photography “Marubi” in Shkodra. He has participated in many joint exhibitions since 2007, such as: Untitled (2008); Nuovo Cinema Masaccio 2014); Fuori posto (2013); Proiezioni 2013; Lontano da dove (2012); A time for dreams(2014); Terranauti (2015) Kreuzung der Vögel (2015); Pa titull 2 (2016); Me fjalë të tjera (In other words) (2016).
Zef Paci was born in 1963 in Shkodra. He studied Monumental Painting at the Higher Institute of Arts in Tirana (graduated in 1984 – 1988). He currently works as a professor of History of Art and Painting at the Faculty of Visual Arts, University of Arts, Tirana. In addition to his didactic and research activity, he has participated in exhibitions and has also created some theatrical scenography (2008 – 2009), some frescoes for the cathedral of Shkodra (1995) and stained glass windows for the cathedral of Vau i Dejës. Zef had various curatorial experiences both abroad and in Albania. Some of his curatorial projects are: Mbi jetën politike dhe atë të përditshme (On political and daily life) (2015); Persona (2017 – 2018); ARDHJE (2009 – 2010 – 2011 – 2012); IDROMENO (2008 – 2010 – 2013 – 2015 – 2017); Marubi, objektivi i lëvizshëm i një arkivi (Marubi, the moving objective of an archive) (2014); Marubi (2015 – 2016); Marubi, Life in images (2017); MARUBI Il Rituale fotografico (The photographic ritual) (2018); Pjetër Rraboshta (2021).
