2017 (EN)

MEDITERRANEA 18 YOUNG ARTISTS BIENNALE

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Tirana-Durazzo  ||  04 May 2017
Tutte le Attività (EN) - Anno 2017

A multitude of artists from Albania, Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Great Britain, Greece, Italy, Lebanon, Malta, Montenegro, Morocco, San Marino, Palestine, Portugal, Serbia, Slovenia, Turkey and Tunisia are the protagonists of the 18th edition of the Biennial of Young Artists of Europe and the Mediterranean entitled "Mediterranea 18 Young Artists Biennial": a multidisciplinary international event that took place in Tirana and Durres, Albania, from 4 to 9 May 2017.
A great event that, through the presence of more than 230 artists from Europe and the Mediterranean, has brought beyond the Adriatic the deepest and most contemporary sense of Mediterranean and European culture.
Since 1985, the year of its first edition, the Biennale has been held every two years in a different city in the Mediterranean area and is aimed at young artists and creatives. BJCEM is an international network with over 60 members and partners in Europe, Middle East and Africa, whose support makes this event possible by guaranteeing the participation of artists from their territories.
The aim of this international network is to create opportunities for young artists by promoting mobility, exchange, mutual understanding, intercultural dialogue, collaboration and training. The Association supports their creativity and puts them in contact with local and international realities in order to help them to grow personally and professionally.
230 visual artists, directors, writers, writers, actors, musicians and graphic designers aged from 18 to 34 years (born from January 1,1982) have been selected in the visual arts, applied arts, cinema, music, shows, literary creation sections.
In Italy, in particular, the sections involved different local realities: for Visual Arts, the Municipality of Ferrara was in charge of the selection; Music, Cinema and Graphic journalism were taken over by ARCI; the Teatro by ARCI Regionale Emilia Romagna; for Performance the GAI-GiovaniArtistiitaliani; for Literary Creation ARCI Regional Puglia.
The artists were invited to think about the general theme "HOME", elaborated by the Artistic Director Driant Zeneli, who articulated it in the four themes History + Conflict + Dream + Bankruptcy = Home. This issue is particularly relevant in a country like Albania with a history of isolation and an extremely rapid transition. A geopolitical area in which history, conflict, dream and failure constantly pass through everyday life.
The artists' journey was, therefore, on the contrary, strongly desired by the Puglia Region, in support of cultural and integration policies, in deep synergy with the Albanian Government.
It has been a kind of migration of young creative minds who have gone to live a land in full social and cultural rebirth: from Bari in over 120 have climbed on a ferry that brought them to Durres, and on board there was a conversation on the theme of "Art and migrations" with the Greek sculptor Costas Varotsos, Albanians Adrian Paci and Roland Seiko and other internationally renowned guests, who are now joining the initiative.
The event was also attended by schoolchildren from Puglia, selected through an online Call, on the theme that characterizes Mediterranean 18: migration. In this way, the winning youngsters also had an exceptional opportunity to board the project, participating in the opening ceremony in Albania.
The Apulian theatre pubblic, to which Regione Puglia has entrusted the organization of events, has published (www.teatropubblicopugliese.it) the CALL on the general theme of the 18th Biennale of young artists in order to identify the 3 classes that have participated in the initiative alongside the artists.
Secretary General of the United States of the World Michele Capasso, one of the founders of the Biennial since 1985, participated in the events in Bari and Tirana and awarded all participating artists from the various countries the title of "Standard Bearers of the United States of the World": for sport, for peace.