494
Arte Útil archive nr:
494
Initiator:
Edi Rama
Location:
Albania
Category:
politics, urban-development, economy, social
Users:
Helidon Gjergji, Anri Sala, Hans Ulrich Obrist and other artists, tenants of the building, citizens and visitors of Tirana.
Maintained by:
The intervention was produced by the City Hall of Tirana and is maintained by the tenants of the building.
Certification:
implemented
Duration:
2009 - ongoing
Edi Rama
-
Project for the Tirana Facades
Description:
Since 2001, the mayor of Tirana, Edi Rama was the main promoter of the project Tirana Facades. The goal was to reconsider the urban architecture, in a city marked by a strong urban decay. Edi Rama decided that color was the way to change the urban image, to revitalize former socialist blocks and housing complexs. In fact, the first work was made right on the mayor’s own façade.
Goals:
The main goal was to create a project that would further stimulate civic pride, faith in progressive public politics, and a taste for communal aesthetics.
Beneficial Outcomes:
The immediate beneficiaries of this project are the inhabitants of the building who got a resurfaced, repainted and iconic façade. But, and perhaps more importantly, both the inhabitants as well as passers-by are the beneficiaries of a reconstituted social environment and a manifest hope in the transformative powers of public art.