I Have Left You the Mountain

Simon Battisti, Leah Whitman-Salkin, Åbäke (Eds.)
I Have Left You the Mountain
Contributions by Etel Adnan, Mourid Barghouti, Michel Butor, Claire Fontaine, Yona Friedman, Anri Sala, Michael Taussig, the singers of Fier, Vlorë, Himarë, and Tirana, Yanis Varoufakis, Ornela Vorpsi, Finn Williams

“I Have Left You the Mountain,” published on the occasion of the Albanian Pavilion at the 15th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, presents ten new texts written by contemporary writers and thinkers on the architecture of displacement. These texts have been set to music and sung by some of the last remaining groups of Albanian iso-polyphonic singers, an art form now protected as “intangible cultural heritage” by UNESCO.

A living art form in step with the generations of migration and transition, “singing migration” has been a core part of processing departure, longing, and return. The Albanian Pavilion is a space of collective listening; of “individuals in company.”

“I Have Left You The Mountain” initiates a conversation about the urbanism of displacement, projecting the Albanian case onto an international stage, with the express intention to transmit that dialogue and its speculations back into Albania.

The singers of Fier: Petrit Canaj, Llazar Dumi, Kastriot Halihoxha, Nesim Meno, Muharrem Mezani, Guri Rrokaj, Fatmir Tahiraj, Shaban Zeneli; the singers of Vlorë: Adriatik Cenko, Viktor Gjoka, Sinan Gjoleka, Vendim Kapaj, Piro Latifaj, Dejrim Mustafaraj, Trifon Malaj; the singers of Himarë: Luljeta Çipa, Valentina Gerdhuqi, Violeta Gerdhuqi, Zaharulla Koka, Polite Merkuri, Eglanda Prifti, Vojsava Zenelaj; the singers of Tirana: Dhurim Ballo, Sotir Ballo, Nazo Celaj, Trifon Golemi, Hyso Xhaferraj

Published on the occasion of the Albanian Pavilion at the 15th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia.

31×31 cm, 24 pages, 12" vinyl LP and catalogue in gatefold cover