The Center for Openness and Dialogue presented Parallel 42 – A Circle of Humanity, an exhibition that brought together Albanian and international visual artists, sponsored by the Imago Mundi Foundation and curated by Elton Koritari and Albes Fusha. The exhibited works belong to 3200 artists and were made on canvas, 10×12 cm. The exhibition remained open from November 11 to December 31, 2021.
The works exhibited in Parallel 42 – A Circle of Humanity come from artists of different cultures and techniques of contemporary art and (those with traditional roots) not only, and they were presented according to the respective countries, divided into sections that were created specifically for each of them. All artists will be promoted internationally through these dedicated catalogs, by the moving exhibition, which will travel to several countries of the world. The collection by Imago Mundi invites countries into the community through art which aims to break down the walls that were previously erected by the global pandemic and unite them through parallel 42.
The COD space exhibits 15 sections that carry works of artists from different countries such as: North Korea; Spain; Portugal; Canada; Mongolia; Japan; France; China; United States; Russia; Ukraine; Moldova; Armenia; Uzbekistani; Georgia; Bulgaria; Turkey; Italy and Albania.
At the entrance of COD the exhibited works started with North Korea, which presented 210 works in its section, made in different techniques such as: embroidery, calligraphy, colored inks and cultivated perspectives; Spain exhibited over 200 works from the contemporary collection developed with a new asset of styles, inspiration and artistic trends; Portugal brought works that were created by more than 200 young artists and masters of color; Mongolia introduced a new collection with 210 previously unexposed paintings. The works were created by young artists who incorporate conceptual art and new media into their work, with the common goal of fighting and understanding what the future holds; Canada presented a collection of 210 works which deal with the natural landscape and are dedicated to contemporary Canadian art; Japan came with a range of works created by 207 renowned young artists representing a feature of Japanese culture by treating them in contemporary techniques. Calligraphy is also a part of these works, a tradition which in the East involved in their artistic practice; France presented 210 works in contemporary technique.
In the small space on the right, the exhibition followed with the sections of the representative works from: China, which through its catalog presented 200 paintings made by young and affirmed artists of contemporary art; The United States exhibited in its section 270 works created in the name of the diversity of expression for the community of individual identities that this exhibition represents; Looking Eastward included: Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Armenia and Uzbekistan, countries that came together to bring a diverse artistic creativity, thus crossing political boundaries to become part of a wider, figurative culture.
The corridor on the left continued with Georgia, which was represented by 140 works created by artists, illustrators, video artists and filmmakers. The works were realized in different media such as: abstract paintings, sculptures, collages. While Turkey exhibited in its section 227 works that combine culture and modernization, where 20 of them were created by crude artists, who belong to a large ethnic group in the country; Bulgaria presented a collection of more than 140 works created by artists of different generations who were divided between classical and contemporary; The Italian mosaic consists of 210 artists who belong to different profiles, such as: painters, architects, designers, photographers, publicists, musicians and actors. Their works are brought together by Luca Beatrice displaying a moral, social and artistic vision through them. The exhibition concluded with Albania, with 163 artists, which presented a collection through realism, interpretation and metaphor, combined with a visual language to create a new artistic community, to later become part of the collections of international contemporary art.
