Concrete Albania – Publication Launch

Concrete, in Albania, has never been merely a material. Concrete is a language. A mythology. An alphabet of pores, dust and cracks. Once a symbol of communist stubbornness, today it is the arrogant signature of Balkan turbo-capitalism…

…There was a time, not long ago, when Albanian concrete was poor, raw, odorless. It paved the floors of houses, formed the walls of prefabricated schools, shaded the open-air bus stops with no windows, was buried in communist bunkers and prisons. Concrete that smelled of survival and ingenuity. Concrete used as a carpet, as a plate, as a deckchair. The grey concrete of a grey country under a grey sky ruled by a grey regime.

Today, that concrete is rich. Gleaming, vertical, panoramic. Concrete for top-floor apartments, for luxury resorts, for glass towers in the center of Tirana, for luxury restaurants and high-concept art galleries. It is visionary concrete, disguised as culture, as art, as urban planning…

Thanks to the artist Fabrizio Bellomo for his courage, Creativita Contemporanea for their support, Italian Council and MeWe Contemporary art center for the project, Ardian Isufi for the excellent work, Friccicarella Film for the design of the book, Onufri Books and Gent Print for its production and distribution, and to all the wonderful staff of EJAlbum for their tireless work this year on this publication.

In 1991, we built with what we had. In 2025, we build with what we lack.

…in the end, concrete is an archive. Yesterday concrete defined the East. Today the world is united by LED?
Welcome to Concrete Albania