Adrian Paci on Art, Dictatorship, and Albania’s Cultural Shift

In an interview with Artribune, Albanian-born artist Adrian Paci (b. 1969) reflects on his journey from growing up under a repressive dictatorship to becoming an internationally recognized figure. He describes how the communist regime in Albania used art as propaganda, censoring movements from van Gogh onward as 'degenerate art.' Despite the lack of private space and freedom of thought, his generation sought to recover lost time. Paci left for Italy in 1992 on a scholarship from a Catholic association, experiencing a 'liberation of gaze' that allowed him to reassess both his homeland and his new country. He notes the vibrant Albanian art scene of the mid-1990s, when Edi Rama (now Prime Minister) became Minister of Culture, and figures like Anri Sala, Edi Muka, Harald Szeemann, and René Block helped connect Albanian artists internationally. Today, Paci runs Art House in Shkodër, a home-based program hosting artists and thinkers such as Michelangelo Pistoletto, Willie Doherty, and Angela Vettese. He observes that while Albania has changed dramatically, the initial international curiosity has waned. He calls for more structured residency spaces, citing T.I.C.A. and Tirana Art Lab as existing but insufficient.