La Société Spectrale, Cave Painting, 2018

Cave Painting (2018), is a contribution by La Société Spectrale to DebatikCenter’s Skenderbeg Square series. The most recent changes to Skanderbeg Square, completed in the summer of 2017, have profoundly transformed its character. Every aspect of the planning and construction of the new Skanderbeg Square was mired in controversy; from the sham public hearings organized by the Mayor of Tirana; to the corrupt tendering procedures involving both the architecture firm responsible for designing the square, Belgian studio N514E, and the company that carried out the construction work, FUSHA Ltd.; to the relationship between FUSHA Ltd. and the Prosecutor who “closed” the file on the manslaughter of Ardit Gjoklaj – a minor working illegally in the landfill at Sharrë – only a few weeks after the Mayor of Tirana personally vouched for the safe working conditions at the site. Cave Painting was specifically produced in response to the Mayor of Tirana’s labelling of the citizens protesting the demolition of their homes without compensation in an area known as “Astir” as “cavemen” and “cavewomen”, in reference to the majority of the residents having relocated to Tirana from northern Albania. The painting was spray painted onto one of the large rocks bordering the new Skanderbeg Square, which supposedly features tiles and stones from all territories where Albanians live.