POLIS University and Co-PLAN at TRIENNALE XXI DI MILANO
Albania is a country that is so close to Italy, yet at the same time unknown be it to the great majority of Italians, as well as to the international public. Despite its tormented history, the “Albania of today” finds itself amidst rapid changes, yet inviting for numerous reasons to better know the Albanian society, its hopes and ambitions.
For the first time in its history, Albania takes part in the Triennale through an Academic Institution based in the capital, Tirana. POLIS University, a research and development platform in the Western Balkans, together with its founding entity Co-PLAN, Institute for Habitat Development, introduce a reflection on the subject of design after design, based on their story in the Albanian context of the past 2 decades.
The approach is based on the socio-economic and political sitution of a country, a kind of radical cross-section of the Albanian society, where the challenge of design is always coupled with a critical and problematic of that context. Following a brief introduction on what Albania is now, the Albanian pavilion focuses on demystifying the challenges related to the consolidation of a democracy and a market economy through the POLIS and Co-PLAN work, addressed in four main columns. Each column represents a challenge of the Albanian context and its concrete answer as a project of physical and cultural change.