ALBANIAN VISUAL ARTS AND NEW TECHNOLOGIES: INTERACTIVE AND AESTHETIC CHALLENGES

Jelldes ASANI, Mixhait POLLOZHANI

Abstract

There is no doubt that art is the most eloquent segment of our culture. As such, it transcends linguistic, social and cultural boundaries, thus enabling man to realize himself, but also to find his powerful voice in the awareness of society. Art has done this once, and continues to do the same today. But while art has traditionally been multimedia, in recent decades it is becoming more interactive with new technologies. Globalism is a reality, but digitization is becoming more and more widespread and influential in accelerating major changes in the art world as well. Therefore, even today, when we are living in the age of global communications, images are still dominating the word. So the visual obviously replaces the verbal. And since the image is becoming the most significant element in the world of visual arts, which includes visual arts, stage music, theater performances, film, etc., it as such, represents and controls the structures of our feelings, beliefs and mindsets. Seen from a perspective of certain historical contexts, through this statement entitled "Albanian visual arts and new technologies: interactive and aesthetic challenges" we will deal with some of the socio-cultural aspects, approaches and opportunities, which depending on the time vary a lot, have obviously conditioned the development of Albanian nationwide visual arts. While Albanian visual arts in the past have mainly had a mimetic, hedonistic and documentary character, in contemporary times, facing the interactive and aesthetic challenges of new technologies, they, although not as much as they should, nevertheless appear more interconnected with them and engaged artistically. In these times of globalization accompanied by digitization and mass communication, Albanian visual arts are cultivated in several geographical and cultural spaces: Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, as well as in the Diaspora. Thanks to the deepening of physical contacts and especially virtual communication with different people and cultures, our visual art reflects less on the arts of other peoples and more on building the cultural and artistic identity of individual (personal) and collective (national) Albanians. This can be proven with various works and visual artistic projects realized by Albanian creators.

Pages: 102 - 113