Olbania

An exhibition from 𝐀𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐳𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐢 𝐕𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐨, an Italian artist collective founded in 2004 that explores the hybrid, blurred territories of post-truth, YouTube neorealism, and deepfake technologies. They conceived 𝗢𝗹𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗮 in 2009, when they were invited to participate in the 3rd Tirana Biennale. The title comes from an infamous mistake born in early-2000s forums and chatrooms—an obvious misspelling of Albania that later circulated widely on social media. It became the tag for a fictional online territory, loosely referencing symbols and stereotypes of Balkan mythologies.

Over the course of a month spent on “internet safaris,” at a time when Albania was experiencing a dramatic shift from old to new media—from “Italian” television to a truly global internet—𝐀𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐳𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐢 𝐕𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐨 assembled an explosive visual archive of more than six hundred Polaroids. 𝗢𝗹𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗮 is an accidental artistic collaboration between Albanians, random fans or detractors, and the artists themselves, and a time capsule of a moment when technology made it possible for an alternative version of Albania to circulate online and, inadvertently, for the country to be reinvented.