People inside the Tek Bunkeri space (photo To the Bunker )
They are young, educated and with a strong civic sense. They created the creative space Tek Bunkeri (at the Bunker) to offer an opportunity to the communities of the urban area of Tirana to come together, reflect and act for their rights. Tek Bunkeri is among the finalists of the New European Bauhaus 2023 award
It’s a hot and humid day. The sweet scent of blossoming linden trees can still be felt in the air. Low-lying gray clouds threaten potential summer showers. The streets are crowded and I almost regret choosing to walk to the socio-cultural space To the Bunker . It is located in a densely populated area and I find it hard to cross the busiest intersection in the capital, the one in Piazza 21 December.
A few hundred meters away is the villa that houses the Tek Bunkeri, one of the few still standing. The rampant overbuilding of this area has disfigured the existing urban fabric. The villa is surrounded by some low-rise buildings, reminiscent of the communist period, and large recently built condominiums, which have sprung up like mushrooms after the rain. Just raise your eyes a little to the sky to notice the presence of a tangle of electricity and internet cables, a metaphor of the perennial transition process in the Balkans. However, the villa does not give up, it pulsates with the vitality and energy of the young urban activists of Tek Bunkeri.
Terrace of the Tek Bunkeri center (photo Tek Bunkeri)
One space, many souls
Crossing the entrance door, you find yourself immersed in the typical courtyard that distinguishes traditional Albanian houses, surrounded by flowers and fruit trees, and the flight of stairs leading to the first floor. Inside, I find Arnen Sula working on audio recordings, surrounded by several clay masks. With a sense of pride, which he tries to hide, he invites me to initially visit the spaces of the Tek Bunkeri, which literally means al bunker: double symbol of a destination and a meeting place.
The approximately 175,000 bunkers scattered around the country are there on display to depict our communist past. They required a lot of physical and intellectual energy and huge flows of money to build. From here somehow the idea of Tek Bunkeri was born, giving back to the community the concept of bunker in a new guise. The intent is to regain possession of the collective memory and the destiny of a nation that still dreams of Europe.
Interno del Tek Bunkeri (photo G. Madhi)
“The idea of giving life to the Tek Bunkeri space was born out of a need for society”, begins his story by Arnen, who is an architect by profession and has done extensive research on bunkers for study purposes. “It all started by chance, perhaps it was destiny… Initially we were in the spaces made available by the Backpackers Tirana hostel to discuss topics such as ‘what is democracy?’. We felt the need to talk about it, because in Albania there is a dualism between the right and the left, but nobody knows what it is”.
As the weeks went by, the voluntary meetings increased and the awareness of wanting to have one’s own space available to express oneself, discuss and give a voice to the different communities emerged, passing from LGBT+ themes to feminist activism, not forgetting even the reflections on the unbridled process of urban transformation of the city.
Shortly afterwards, Tek Bunkeri moved to its current location, the villa near Piazza 21 December, whose renovation was possible thanks to the commitment of 45 young volunteers, in compliance with the principles of self-construction and reuse of materials, which made a place of community open to all and all. The floor of one of the rooms depicts a mosaic of paintings on newspaper sheets covered with a layer of resin. “We conceived it as a free expression of creativity and we liked how it turned out,” says Arnen. “Newspapers and the media as a whole are among the main elements that make powers so long-lived. We decided to keep it like this, to walk on it, because it depicts the list of our society’s problems”.
This is just one form of protest for those who do not recognize themselves in the different facets of the current Albanian democracy. Tek Bunkeri activists are well known for their skills in animating civic, non-violent, non-partisan protests. “We stood out for our group of drum players (drum) and invite us to participate in the protests,” he jokes.
Back to the past
Although born after the collapse of the regime, the activists of Tek Bunkeri are committed to dealing with the theme of memory through innovative tools to reach young people directly. Thanks to a grant from the European Union, they have been able to use art as a form of expression, activism and mobilization of young people, organizing around 300 activities in the last two years, crossing the urban perimeter of Tirana to reach remote areas of the country.
“We noticed that in one out of three businesses it was impossible to avoid the topic of dictatorship, which divided our society categorically into two – pros and cons. Typically highly divisive issues, as was for example thedemolition of the national theatre, are a kind of trauma that society needs to address and discuss”.
Currently Arnen and his colleagues are collecting life fragments and creating artistic clay face masks of 50 ex-political prisoners held in the infamous Spac prison. By sharing their experiences they aim to tell the story in an artistic key, stimulating reflections among young people. “They don’t know what Spac prison was, they don’t know the story well. Albanian society still carries those sufferings on its shoulders, as can be seen for example in the lack of mutual trust. During the dictatorship one in three people was a spy for the regime”.
Tek Bunkeri activists, together with others, would like to transform the neglected and half-destroyed Spac prison into a veritable museum of memory. Many promises have been made in these thirty years but in fact nothing has been concluded so far. Tek Bunkeri activists would like to make an exhibition near the prison and donate all the materials collected, a civic contribution so as not to forget the suffering suffered by political prisoners.
“Young people have to understand that things don’t come by themselves, they have to feel and seek change in society,” concludes Arnen.
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