CityX - Unë, Tiranë
Art project 2023/24
In autumn 2023, Doris Graf was invited by the director of the GAT Tirana Art Gallery, Ms. Edit Pula, to start the art project “CityX - Unë, Tiranë” in the capital of Albania as artist in residence.
CityX is a modern and innovative art project in which a cityscape is developed in pictographic images in cooperation with the respective city population, who are initially invited to take part in creative drawing activities.
During her stay in Tirana in 2023, the artist collected around 1,000 drawings from the city’s citizens expressing what connects them with their city. For example, the participants drew what they like or what bothers them and needs to change so that their life in the city will be better in the future. Later, back in Germany, she developed 16 pictograms from them, after an in-depth analysis of all the collected works. The result was 16 symbols that put Tirana on the global map of CityX projects.
The results, selected drawings and the 16 pictograms were exhibited at the GAT Tirana Art Gallery in September-October 2024.
The focus of the project is not on what divides, but rather on what connects various groups of people. CityX stands for cooperation, and also seeks to help strengthen personal identification with the city’s community. It raises awareness about what needs to be preserved in Tirana because the locals love it, or what needs to be changed because it bothers them. Ideally, the project should motivate people to continue to participate peacefully in the city’s development processes in the future.
Drawings
Drawings “CityX - Unë, Tiranë”
Pictograms
