Video summary
The video begins with a presentation of a photograph taken by Tria, who shares her personal journey from studying design in Tirana to exploring media art at Krujë University. She recounts taking a web development course that defied traditional academic expectations, where instead of sitting in a computer lab, students went hiking, had picnics, and practiced knitting in the park. The resulting artwork is a small painting depicting a hand reaching for grass, a tree for silence, a cloud for napping, and a sun for hydration, serving as a reminder to break away from rigid productivity and prioritize self-care. Tria contrasts this liberating experience with the high-pressure environment of her previous university, emphasizing that while useful projects have their place, silly, boundary-breaking endeavors are equally valuable for mental well-being.
Next, the presentation shifts to images submitted by other participants, starting with a black-and-white photograph featuring a surreal blend of human and feline features. This image is explained as originating from analog photography in fascist Italy, where two sisters used cats to symbolize freedom for women who were otherwise restricted. The presenter selected this piece because it visually disrupts the boundary between species, resonating with the session's theme of challenging norms. Following this is a digital artwork by Twiggy, created spontaneously while she was burnt out from her history studies. Her piece depicts a goose traveling toward space, an impossible feat that highlights her desire to break free from the constraints of her busy life and explore creative possibilities outside her main field of study.
The narrative continues with Dina's contribution, a photo taken during a walk in Minja where she discovered unexpected graffiti reading "you're not alone" on some stairs near a castle. Dina admits she initially thought the picture was poor because it lacked grandeur compared to the nearby castle, but the act of descending the stairs to find this message transformed her perspective. This story encourages viewers to venture outside their usual routes and remain mindful of their surroundings, as simple acts of curiosity can lead to profound emotional discoveries. The tone then shifts to a more somber note with an image from Ada showing migrants using homemade ladders to cross a border wall in the United States. This photograph forces the audience to confront the lengths people go to for survival and the arbitrary nature of borders based on birthplace, serving as a stark reminder of global inequality and human resilience.
The video concludes with a brief mention of additional contributions, including references to photographers like Alejandro Kara and Zelda, though the specific details of these final images are less clear in the transcript. Throughout the presentation, the overarching theme remains consistent: the importance of stepping out of rigid structures, whether they are academic, societal, or physical boundaries. The collection of images serves not just as art, but as a call to action for viewers to find their own rituals that allow them to disconnect from screens, touch grass, and engage with the world in unexpected ways. Whether through silly projects like space-traveling geese or serious reflections on migration, each story reinforces the value of breaking boundaries to foster creativity, empathy, and personal growth.
Read the full video transcript
Lightning pictures.
in a museum
photo.
Um,
thank you. Um, I'm already going to
start with a photo. I mean, with a photo
of a painting, but uh, uh, fair enough.
Um, it has a little bit of a story. I I
took it because it probably has the most
story than other way prettier pictures
that I could come up with. And, um, a
little to my background. I'm uh T I come
from Tria originally and I've been
studying design there and I moved to Kru
and I thought like hm I don't want to
quit my studies I'm just going to visit
a equivalent university here and ask if
they can grade it as um part of my
curriculum and I found a you know media
design what's similar to that in we have
media art it's the same building that
the GPN is in the um
and I thought yeah I would visit that
and I would have a similar experience
then with us artists. We are like really
uh pretentious and artsy on our campus
next to the IT. Uh but uh I didn't know
how much more artsy and pretentious can
get but in a good way. Um I arrived
there and I have a bit of organizational
trouble. Sure. Uh eventually
I find a course that looks like
something that I can be interested in
web development. Uh the professor has
two courses. One of them is for teaching
the basics of HTML and CSS. And the
other course is a bit more open-ended
for people to actually work on little
projects a bit less defined and rigid.
And I asked if I can join that cuz I
already know the basics of HTML and CSS.
So I do and it ends up being a course
where I thought we would go to like a
place where we have lots of computers
and we sit there. No. Uh we went to the
park [snorts] and we went hiking and
recorded sounds of nature and we had a
picnic once every two weeks. That was
the course. There was no pressure for
any handin. There was no requirement for
us to do anything other than visit there
and stay with the others for a certain
duration. For that to count as like
getting a paper, getting a grade or
whatever. Everyone got like a perfect
one grade. It didn't matter. Grades in
the design and art world don't matter.
It's uh what you put into your
portfolio. I don't know if I would put
that into my portfolio personally.
However, it was a web development
course. So, what do we do there? Um we
we sat in a park and we did knitting and
reading and eating together and talking
and occasionally there was a tiny bit of
rigid framework. For example, in the
beginning we talked about the kind of
rules that we want to have for the way
that we hang out together. And
um then a task was to create something
that reminds us of these. And so this is
what I created. It is a bit silly. It
was something that we were supposed to
bring with us anywhere. Um I created
this little painting because we were in
the park and um I tried to bring
multiple elements into the composition.
So the hand reminds me to touch grass
cuz I'm into in front of my computer way
too often. Um the tree reminds me to
enjoy silent moments. Like that was
another one of the rules there. Uh
another rule was that there was
mandatory nap time. So, we had to nap
during the time. There were like 4 hours
of being in the park. You had to like
try and nap. Uh, so that's what the
cloud reminds me of. And the sun reminds
me to hydrate and apply sunscreen. Um,
it's a bit funny. It's a bit cringe
maybe, but ultimately
I think that was a very boundary
breaking idea of what a web development
course can be. At the end, we we did
make a little website together. It's
more of an art piece which fits in with
HalfK. If you've been to any of the
exhibits there, it's all
very artsy. Um, you can find it if you
want to try on um forest goblins
gunfishing
I think.org or uh but basically everyone
submitted a bunch of pictures and
writings and also HTML CSS art and we
bunched it together into like one
website and that was it. I think that
was really cool coming from this other
university where we had a lot of
pressure to perform and and create
projects that like the design world is
very much rigid to do something that's
useful in the world. Do something that
someone would pay you to do. And I think
that has its place. But this course
stayed with me way more than most of the
courses I did at my old university cuz
it reminds me to actually take care of
myself and go out and touch grass and
enjoy the silent moments and take a nap
and not to die of skin cancer when I
actually do go outside with my very
white skin. Um, yeah. And it is small.
It fits perfectly behind my little I
don't know where the camera is pointed.
It fits perfectly behind my phone. So, I
carry it with me all the time when I
have this cursed rectangle with me. And
I hope it reminds me for many years to
come that I should touch grass, get off
the screen. And I encourage you to do
the same. Find your own rituals that
take you out of the rigid you're
supposed to be useful. You're supposed
to create something that someone pays
you for. do a silly project like bring a
bring a laptop with like one battery
charge worth somewhere and do something
in that time and when it dies off have a
snack
gaze at the sky and maybe that will do
some good for you. Definitely did for
me. Thank you. [snorts]
Thank you T for the picture. Think for
the next nukie here. No, I think not.
Then we have this one next with Ada.
Thank you. Have a warm round of applause
for Ada.
So this picture just randomly after the
call for proposals for lightning
pictures showed up just cropped up in my
newsfeed and I was kind of intrigued
because well this seems to be some sort
of bizarre mixture of a cat and a human
in a weird way in a black and white
photograph photograph and it is in fact
something that came out of um yeah
analog photography from fascist Italy
actually that's two sisters who did a
lot of photography there apparently
according to the news article I read
about this um yeah they were doing a lot
of it and Um so so this picture in the
in the in the article was contextualized
as sort of more feminist peace because
um in fascist little Italy women didn't
really have a lot of freedoms in the cat
in this way as supposed to symbolize
freedom. Um, but when I saw this
picture, I didn't really think that
because I I saw this and I mainly
thought
like because it sort of seems to be
breaking this boundary between human and
animal in a weird way like this this
sort of cat and like like woman thing
that that sort of sometimes goes to the
like core of some of the people around
in this bubble and it felt strangely
appropriate for this session and that's
why I picked it.
For the next picture, we have this one
from Twiggy from Applause for Trigy.
So yeah, I mean this is also talking
about silly little projects. Uh it's I
didn't study art or design. I just
someday while I was kind of burned out
from my actual study of history started
picking up like [gasps] a digital art
program and I started making digital art
and uh yeah after like years of doing
that I'm think I'm fairly proficient in
doing that but like it's kind of like
breaking a boundary in the sense of like
just taking time out of my quite busy
life to make some art and I don't know I
just spontaneously who thought about
this duck because we're like I mean it's
a gray goose actually. It's not a duck,
it's a goose. Uh
because it's just kind of breaking the
boundaries of what's normally possible
for geese. Uh I don't think a goose has
ever gone to space. At least not that
I'm aware of. And I think this one is
just going to towards the stars
and not not
So for the next one, we have this one
from Dina.
>> Great to have you.
Um
yeah. Um,
[snorts]
this is a photo I took some years ago
when I decided to go outside.
Sometimes it's nice. I can recommend it.
Um, and like this is like I don't know
when I took walks like it's it it's
basically
often the same routes but like I still
try to
be a bit mindful and like look at things
and sometimes I notice things that I
didn't notice before. And so,
uh, this was like in the middle of a
street somewhere in in mines. And, um,
yeah, I just noticed this, uh, like I
said,
uh, I thought before like, um, this is
actually quite a bad picture because
right next to it is like a castle.
[laughter]
But like um yeah, I just noticed this uh
stairs uh and like I was so curious
because like I saw there was some
lightning down there and like um I
thought uh the the the gate was open and
I thought okay I I just go there and
look what's up there. Like I don't know.
I don't know. It's like
there's some It took some effort to like
be able to think oh yeah I can actually
do that. I can just go down there. Um,
and yeah, and I actually have a uh a
second picture that reveals what I
found. It was this very nice graffiti uh
where it says um
you're not alone and like the little
trans thingy and like uh I thought that
was really cool. Like that was totally
unexpected to see it there and like I
was so happy that I [laughter] did go
down the stairs and uh yeah uh I can
encourage you to go
outside and see what's out there.
[laughter]
Thank you.
[applause]
Great.
So we have
No, we No, not this one. We have this
one. I think this is Ada again.
Nightlight.
>> Oh, there's a there's a button there,
isn't there?
>> Is there a nightlight?
>> Oh, on your on your Yeah, because
Yes, it is.
>> We We can do it here.
>> Awesome.
>> So, there's not a lot to say about this
picture because it's literally just what
this theme is about. people breaking
boundaries. Uh this is at a border wall
to the United States. There's a part of
the exhibition that was previously
mentioned. Um there's a bunch of
migrants here using a sort of homemade
ladder with the help of some smugglers
to get across the border. And I just
really like to have this sit here for a
couple of seconds at least and make you
think about what lengths people go to to
try to keep people out of some spaces or
really just because of where they're
born and where they live. And I'm sorry
this is a bit more somber than the
previous thing I suppose but
great.
So
and for the end I also brought a
picture.
This is often Alejandro
Kara like the [snorts]
lightning pictures.
on trail not America.
for
mention
from award.
We
uh they be
women
also photograph
is photographic
And here we are.
laptop.
And this kind
Thank you Zelda.