Group members:

Fritz Tudyka, Babeta Ymeri, Peri Bausch, Friederike Humpert, Niklas Krekeler, Ivo Krug

Project:

Tek Bunkeri started as a small crowdfunded university project in 2016. Our initial idea was to transform an abandoned military base into a temporary open space for artists and citizens. With Tirana Ekspres we found the right partner, and in a former military base on a hill on the outskirts of Tirana the perfect location to do so.

From the dawn of the bunkerization to 2008 the complex of bunkers, tunnels and buildings was in use as a military base. Even though it has been abandoned, access was still prohibited, leaving a beautiful spot of nature, useful infrastructure and a marvelous view over Tirana locked to the people who built it and live around it.

Over the course of two weeks and with the help of many hands from the neighboring village communities and the creative scene of Tirana we cleaned the areal and bunkers and rebuilt benches. Several artists applied to our open call to paint the bunkers and tunnels, turning the grey space into a temporary open-air gallery and cultural community space. The whole project was financed by a crowdfunding campaign in Germany with the support of Ostblick e.V. and by travel grants from the European Cultural Foundation.

To celebrate our little transformation, we created a small festival with painting workshops, screenings and discussion sessions about the past and possible future of Albania’s bunkers and concerts on a stage build from materials we found in the bunkers.

The satisfaction we felt while doing this project, the friends and partners we found in our local volunteers, and the feedback we got from the local communities and the surprising media interest lead us to the development of our current project. We were featured in ZIB Magazin (ORF, TV) and the Europa-Journal (ORF1, Radio), Swiss Newspaper Blick, Euronews, and “Albanische Hefte” the Albanian-German-Friendship-Society.

Projekt partner:

Tirana Ekspres

Funding partners:

Ostblick e.V., European Cultural Foundation