Agim Sulaj

Agim Sulaj was born in Tirana, the capital of Albania, in 1960, but spent his childhood and adolescence in the coastal city of Vlora. Since a very young age Agim experiences his passion and love for paintings and art and the talent is evident very early on.

In 1985, he completes his studies at the Academy of Arts in Tirana and starts collaborating with ‘Hosteni’, a political and satirical magazine. This exposes the young artist to the world of humour and satires, an important element for the formation of his own artistic work. Simultaneously, he develops a hyperrealistic style that is more dominant in the later works.

In his cartoons, he focuses on the major social and political problems of the 21st century, such as world poverty, environmental pollution, the life of an immigrant and other social topics.

For the first time in 1993, Agim presented his works carried out during the communist period, in a personal exhibition “Rally di Rimini” in Italy, where his portfolio was warmly welcomed. Since that time, he has settled in the city of Rimini.

Agim Sulaj is the winner of many international prizes and he has exhibited in famous galleries in Italy, Albania, Greece, Turkey, and recently also in Paris, Oxford and London. And now in Kruishoutem, the Belgian capital of the cartoon.

His work has been called “a fine, surreal, satirical illustration, metaphor for the state of the environment and the failure to protect it”.

See www.agimsulaj.com

Projekt Spięcie

‘Projekt Spięcie’ was selecterd for the 2020 European Press Prize.

“Spięcie” is a new initiative that aims to tackle the issues of polarization and social media bubbles. Five magazines, with diverse political outlooks, came together to look for a way to engage in a public debate that would be honest and fruitful. The point of departure for us is the conviction that the fact that people have different worldviews can be a great start of a dialogue and not the end of it.

Every few weeks we pick a topic those five magazines with different political views each write about – and then we publish each other’s stories. In this way, readers are confronted with new ideas and points of view. Journalists participating in the project cannot preach to the choir and have to write in ways that are accessible for people who may not agree with them.

The project also works on a more symbolic level. Liberal or conservative, Catholic or anti-clerical, left-wing or right-wing, all these magazines acknowledge the right of people on the other side of the political spectrum to engage in a respectful and meaningful public debate.

Projekt Spięcie is supported by “Fundusz Obywatelski”

An overview of all people involved in Projekt Spięcie (authors, editors, and editors-in-chief) – in alphabetical order: