On the Wall

Communication and interaction are the essence of society, and they are crucial for

peaceful and wholesome coexistence. When communication is scarce or lacking, relationships become  fragile and often break as easily as glass, which always leaves its footprints. People build walls to mark territories or to emphasize the distance from those with whom we

do not interact, or those who disrupt the harmony within the territory we call our own. Walls are an inherent element of our existence, a structure we have inherited from our past. There

are systemic walls, bureaucratic walls, territorial, segregatory, aesthetic, architectural walls, and even psychological walls. People often seek to protect their territories by constructing crowns of a glass atop the the walls that surround them, crowns  made from  broken bottles and windows. These sharp, gleaming corwns give the walls a sense of pain, of hardship, and even of abandonment, Under the royal primacy within the enclosed territory, the fragility and the sharpness of each piece of broken glass creates a kind of harmony that also serves as a warning to anyone who attempts to cross the wall. The creation of such walls reflects the fragility of human relationships. This fragility takes thousands of forms without losing the origin of the substance itself. Kazanxhiu’s On the Wall makes visible this specific architectural element that governs coexistince and interaction within Albanian society, examining the way that ordinary people use glass as a tool to protect what they consider to be their own territory. The installation seeks to open up a discussion about access, violence, privacy, and the possibility of being open to others.

 

Installation

Materials: glass, wood, plexiglass, LED light

Dimensions: 193 x 212 x 90 cm

2015