Dammi i Colori

Abstract

In his capacity as city architect in the German town Magdeburg in 1921, Bruno Taut introduced strong colours in facades. In a project namned Das bunte Magdeburg (The Colourful Magdeburg), Taut invited artists and private house owners to repaint the city. Not only the buildings, but also kiosks, clocks, and advertisements were designed in expressionist colours. Bruno Taut’s intention was to build a society open to people’s view, to give the citizens the opportunity to obtain a clear insight into their own community. Taut was a forerunner of using colour in architecture. A hundred years later, we find a similar approach in Tirana. Using colour, the artist and Mayor of Tirana, and now the Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama, transformed the rather neglected city environment. Rama’s intention of the painting on the concrete buildings, was to give the population a contribution to a brighter democratic future. In 2003, the Albanian contemporary artist Anri Sala documented the ongoing project in his video Dammi i Colori (Pass me the Colours). This paper will investigate and discuss the expressions of the new colours on the buildings in Magdeburg and Tirana. What intentions lie behind the two projects? Are there relations and correlations between the cities? Did Edi Rama have knowledge about Taut’s project?