“The Whale That Was A Submarine”, featuring contemporary works from Albania and Kosovo, is not only interesting from an artistic approach, but also from a sociocultural point of view. The culture and art of the two Balkan countries show just about as many similarities as differences. This contrast, and often the strong connection between the two nations, is what makes the exhibition captivating and thought-provoking.
Kosovo and Albania were only able to truly paint their colors on the international art palette in the 2000s, following the Yugoslav Wars. Most of the time, the artistic imagery and the aspects of art were affected by the impacts of the war, the economic and social crisis of the area, dreaded dictatorships, and the mellow mood that left its mark on the past and present of both countries.It is clear that the artistic generation of both countries mutually inspired each other. The intriguing title of the exhibition refers to Armando Lulaj’s installation, “Albanian Trilogy: A Series of Devious Stratagems”, that presents the sorrowful-yet-surreal dictatorship of Enver Hodzsa. One of the most emblematic stories of communist times is when an innocent sperm whale fell into the wrong hands, as the Albanian coastguards mistook the massive mammal for a US navy submarine, and shot it. Its skeleton, exhibited in the Albanian National Museum, today serves as a memorable historic milestone.Photographs of depressing concrete bunkers lying on breathtaking Albanian beachsides (there are about 750,000 such beaches altogether in Albania), installations showing the undelivered letters of the nearly 25,000 Italian citizens trapped in Albania, and numerous often-grotesque critical artworks are all found among the exhibits, on view until September 11th, at the Ludwig Museum.
