There’s something quietly magical about cycling through Tirana. Even when I follow the same path, the ride never feels the same. The city keeps shifting: light changes, colors evolve, people bring new energy. Tirana is alive in a way that makes every pedal stroke feel different from the last.
For me, cycling is not just movement. It’s a way to explore, to pause, to connect. And what makes these rides even more special are the stops I make along the way: small art “pit stops” that feed something deeper.
As a graphic designer since 1998 and a film director, I’ve learned that creativity needs constant nourishment. You have to feed your spirit. And honestly, that inspiration isn’t only found in big museums in France, Italy, or Austria. Here in Tirana, it’s just a bike ride away. A few kilometers, a quick stop, and suddenly you’re inside an exhibition space, looking at something that shifts your perspective.
That’s why figurative art draws me in so much. It makes me see everyday life differently. It gives me new angles, new thoughts. Art is breathing. It’s energy. It’s necessary.
Here are some of my recent stops (February – March 2026):
Byzantium, Reimagined in the Present
XXXVI Exhibition by Bledar Gramo
📍 Gallery of Contemporary Art Tirana (GOCAT)
📅 February 2026
This is the kind of work where you immediately feel the time behind it. Details are precise, almost obsessive in the best way possible. You can tell it took hours, days, maybe more, to bring these pieces to life.
Gramo revisits the Byzantine period, but not in a nostalgic way. He brings it into today. There’s a sense of continuity: history being reshaped, not just remembered. It feels like a quiet but powerful contribution to the Albanian artistic identity.
Light, Glass, and New Dimensions
“Constellation” by Joana Dhiamandi
📍 Gallery of Art Tirana
📅 March 2026
This one really stayed with me. The way glass interacts with light creates something unexpected. It’s not just visual: it feels spatial, almost like stepping into a different way of seeing.
Dhiamandi plays with transparency, reflections, and color in a way that opens new possibilities. As someone working with visuals and film, I couldn’t help but think how these ideas could translate into motion, into video, into something alive.
Breaking the Frame, Breaking the Silence
“Lakuriq” by Oltsen Gripshi
📍 📍 Gallery of Contemporary Art Tirana (GOCAT)
📅 March 2026
There’s courage in this work. You feel it immediately.
Gripshi speaks through installations that go beyond comfort zones. He challenges limits, breaks clichés, and doesn’t try to soften the message. It’s direct, sometimes uncomfortable, but real. And that’s exactly why it works.
Color, Form, and the Energy of Masks
“Mask” by Viktor Ferraj
📍 Galeria FAB
📅 March 2026
This exhibition feels dynamic from the first moment. Strong colors, bold contrasts, a mix between sculpture and painting that creates tension and movement.
Ferraj builds a visual language that feels alive. There’s rhythm in the forms, almost like capturing fragments of life and pushing them into a new dimension. It’s expressive, energetic, and hard to ignore.
What I like most is that none of these stops are strictly planned. They just happen. That’s the freedom of moving through Tirana by bike: you’re open to discovering things without forcing them.
You ride, you stop, you enter a space, you look, you think… and then you continue.
And somehow, every time, you carry something with you.
So, if you’re riding through Tirana, don’t just focus on the road. Let yourself drift a little. Take a turn. Stop somewhere unexpected.