Fokus Award 2021 – Invitation

“In a world that has been transformed into an alluring vortex, turning us into object more than subject, the true challenge is now ‘removal’. To reduce, to consume, to distil, to strip away the crusts, to crush down to the essence. To keep away from the stimuli of the surface, alone in your own uniqueness. Mono, as the etymological root of thousands of words different from one another, yet as an artistic stance aiming at the essence.”

It is on this concept that the exhibition is based, and this is also the theme of the photography competition within the framework of Fokus Award 2021, this year in its 12th edition. Fokus Award is an annual international festival dedicated to artistic photography and the values it conveys in the field of the visual arts. The exhibition, the most important activity of this event, crowns the annual competition with the participation of hundreds of Albanian photographers, from the Albanian lands as well as many photographers and art lovers from all over the world. This year, 44 participants from 15 different countries have been selected by the curators of Fokus Award as finalists of the competition and participants in the exhibition titled “Mono”, which this edition too will be held in the comfortable and modern premises of the “Vilson Kilica” Gallery, in the beautiful Albanian city of Fier. Fokus Award was born precisely in Fier in 2006 as a National Competition of Artistic Photography and has, over these years, been transformed into one of the most important photography events in Albania, now taking the form of a full-fledged festival with impressive participation from Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, the region and the whole world. Fokus Award has become a ritual of Albanian photography with a concrete approach towards investigating the expressions of what contemporary photography is today. The festival, now well known also on an international level, seeks in each of its events to suggest photography as a mirror in which the world reflects its ideas and, why not, also its dogmas, rites and rituals. The approach of Fokus Award also has to do with its impact on the respective society and, in the case of Albania, this approach is not only innovative but unique and indispensable. This is because in our country we have an acute need to study deeply social, political, societal, environmental phenomena and themes, etc. and further, to intervene in the problematic relationship created and rooted between Albanian society and art, in our case, between it and photography. Beyond all these objectives and aims of Fokus Award, the difficult moments experienced these two years make us even more responsible and aware of the importance of these events for Albanian art and culture. With these premises, the festival has the power to generate participation and activism and to steer public opinion on particular themes suggested by the participating photographers, or towards the thinking and perception of photography as an integral factor of our culture and heritage. This is Fokus Award 2021.

PARTICIPANTS: Enis Abdullahu – Kosovo / Zeni Alia – Albania / Richard Arbas – USA / Boro Arsovski – North Macedonia / Vasilis Artikos – Greece / Ibrahim Aysil – Turkey / Ernest Baba – Albania / Jusuf Bajrami – Switzerland / Ergys Baki – Albania / Ana Batrićević – Serbia / Giuseppe Cardoni – Italy / Francesco Congedo – Italy / Marco Corso – Italy / Antonella Dargenio – Italy / Sualdo Dino – Albania / Parisa Feyzollahi – Iran / Giorgo Galimberti – Italy / Flora Gatsenko – Ukraine / Florion Goga – Albania / Oxana Grinshteyn – Ukraine / Armand Habazaj – Albania / Ahmed Hadrovic – Turkey / Remzi Hasani – Kosovo / Majid Hojati – Iran / Eliza Hoxha – Kosovo / Arton Humolli – Kosovo / Fehmi Içyer – Turkey / Ognjen Karabegovic – Croatia / Stepan Kucheriavy – Ukraine / Marco Marcone – Italy / Diana Maria – Romania / Rosa Mariniello – Italy / Melissa Mey – Turkey / Agon Nimani – Kosovo / Blaz Poljansek – Slovenia / Midhat Poturovic – Bosnia and Herzegovina / Rina Statovci – Kosovo / Vlasov Sulaj – Albania / Blerta Syla Surroi – Kosovo / Roni Shishko – Kosovo / Gent Shkullaku – Albania / Rozafa Shpuza – Albania / Ina Toska – Albania / Ana Vukovic – Montenegro

The winner of the “FOKUS AWARD 2021” PRIZE receives a monetary value of $1000.

A PROJECT OF: “Albania Fokus Center” / The festival is organized with the Financial support of: the Ministry of Culture of Albania, the Municipality of Fier and BenArt Print / In partnership with the “Vilson Kilica” Art Gallery Fier, the Antik Association, FIOF (Italian Federation of Professional Photographers) and EJAlbum / Artistic Director: Arben Alliaj / Project manager: Saimir Ahmeti / The Curatorial Board is composed of: Burim Myftiu, Osman Demiri and Elton Koritari. The jury of the Fokus Award competition for 2021 is composed of these eminent figures of the visual arts field: Maria Lanote, Agron Domi, Massimo Sciacca.

The organizers and the curatorial board of the exhibition have the honor and pleasure to invite You to the opening of the exhibition, the award ceremony during it, and the festive dinner organized as every year with the artists, dignitaries and art lovers. The entire event respects the protocols and measures for preventing and protecting the public from the spread of covid19. The press conference will be held at the beginning of the ceremony. Parallel events will be organized in the days before and during the opening of the exhibition, which will remain open for two weeks in Fier and then also travel to the region. For further information or additional materials you may contact our communications office at the contacts below. A press kit with materials and information about the exhibition can also be requested and downloaded at this link:

www.fokusaward.com
Email: info@fokusaward.com / Socials: FOKUS Awards
Tel. +355693949167 / Whatsapp +355696472272
We look forward to welcoming you and thank you for your support!