Albania special (2). Vincent van Gerven Oei: 'This country is a better breeding ground than the Netherlands'

If anyone can give a good picture of cultural development in Albania it is Vincent van Gerven Oy. This Dutch philosopher and artist has been living in the country for five years and therefore, as an insider and outsider, has a strong opinion.

I meet him in café Bukowski in a hip entertainment district of Tirana. When the embassy told me about Van Gerven Oei, I estimated him as a musing pensionado. But the art school lecturer and philosophy professor turns out to be a hyperactive thirty-something who, from behind his macchiato formulates at lightning speed and sometimes overtakes his own thoughts. With quite a few studies behind him, he settled in this country: because there was still a lot to discover and life is cheap.

After five years of immersion in Albanian culture, the talented thinker and curator has become wiser through trial and error. He sees similarities between the former Albanian totalitarian regime and its relationship to culture, and that of the current political order: 'There's all sorts of things wrong. I have found that complaining is a bit part of the culture, as in the Netherlands, but there is a lot missing, and there is only a glimmer of hope for a better future.'

Leaders and art

Chief responsible for this seems to be prime minister and artist Edi Rama. He evokes both admiration and frustration from Van Gerven Oei. He has mixed feelings about government leaders' love of art: 'It is true, of course, that when it comes to artists with actual power over a country, we have had only one other - and very unpleasant - example in Europe. And Rama is someone with a strong vision, but also someone who doesn't like to be contradicted.'

A dictator? That danger would lurk with Edi Rama who likes to present himself as an enlightened leader of the Balkans. One example is his Centre of Openness and Dialogue: an exhibition space open to the public near his office. By the way, I don't enter it but it was open for a week when Angela Merkel visited in July. Again, art is dragged in during state visits to lubricate relations. Then art does matter.

Painter Edi Rama, son of the country's most prominent sculptor during communist rule, became mayor of the capital Tirana in 2000. He made it to prime minister in 2013 and created expectations with it. 'I see Albania as my canvas,' he declared during his keynote at the Creative Summit in Stockholm in late 2014.

After initial joy at seeing a visionary artist take office as prime minister, disappointment struck. Not everyone is happy with his appointments: he is said to be engaging in nepotism. In addition, Albania's economic situation is far from rosy. The country is in danger of sliding into depression, so innovation and leading art do not need government subsidies.

Independent

There is one artist who operates completely independently: Armando Lulaj. He Representing Albania this year at the Venice Biennale, while he is not favoured by the prime minister. Lulaj is critical. Van Gerven Oei: "Art and politics are always and everywhere connected. Every work of art has a political implication. Of course, this does not mean that all artists have lines of communication with politicians, but the fact that Lulaj is in Venice without Rama's help is extraordinary and offers hope.'

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Those who want to make it as Albanian artists study abroad or emigrate. The education system for culture is at a standstill or corrupt. Albania lacks a broad underclass of good art students and teachers. Therefore, the only way up for culture in Albania that Van Gerven Oei sees is a "radical and reflective one". One that puts the country's rich history in perspective. Because in addition to the many foreign dominations it knew former Illyria maintain their own identity and language. That is a touchstone.

But there are also relatively recent traumas: those from the time of dictator Enver Hoxha. Earlier, for instance, I spoke to relatives of painter Vangjush Tushi, who was jailed for his work and drew a portrait in the sand there: reason to cut off his hand. I met the renowned choral conductor Milto Vako whose music was deemed 'too angelic': he had to go to a penal camp. He has since been rehabilitated, but the country's recent history and identity is not still embedded in today's culture.

Again: the aforementioned Centre for Openness and Dialogue is the finest exhibition space in the country, according to Van Gerven Oei. However, it is still limited to exhibiting foreign artists. That has no real function and certainly no educational one, Van Gerven Oei thinks: 'There is no knowledge of its own history: the decades under dictator Hoxha had absolutely no open debate about what art or what Albanian history is. The prime minister's prestige project would therefore gain value if you address people first on what their own background is. Only then can you place international art and your own relationship to it.'

Better than the Netherlands

Van Gerven Oei thinks the semi-anarchic state the country also finds itself in offers opportunities for culture. He cites as an example the insignificant function of museums in Berlin and how galleries better fulfil their function there: 'In Albania, too, the solution must lie outside politically influenced cultural institutions. If necessary, abolish them or hijack them. Conduct a constant cultural assault.' Shaping social realism in a new way: that is an interesting challenge. 'Portraying the truth, the reality, of socialism.'

Expressing the truth of current socialism in art is bound to clash with the political world, whereas a true social expression would fit well with the population's background. That's how you create admiration. That's not easy, sighs Van Gerven Oei: "The ironic thing, of course, is precisely that that is the whole thrust of Rama's Centre for Openness and Dialogue. That is why it will fail, precisely because it is initiated from politics. This debate can only work if it arises in the public space, and not the space of real estate trading, corruption, hypocrisy and immorality, which is, of course, Albanian politics through and through. It applies equally to Dutch and European politics, by the way. I certainly don't want to appear colonial here.'

Perhaps it is even worse in the Netherlands. He left for a reason: 'If you make an exhibition in the Netherlands, it means nothing at all. It has no impact on politics at all. You can make 10,000 more exhibitions and it won't have any effect on Rutte.' He therefore sees huge potential for Albania to become an incubator for artists, including foreign ones: life there is cheap, studio spaces almost free, the engagement around certain exhibitions is remarkably high and the country is beautiful.

'Have fun,' the prime minister wishes me for my remaining holiday. I try to speak to him because after talking to the critical Vincent van Gerven Oei, I get the feeling that I need to hear the other side too: Edi Rama himself. But he has no time.

Also read part 1. Or part 3.