[NYC-L] Albanian artist Maks Velo at Cornell University (fwd)

[Mentor Cana]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 6 Mar 2003 17:55:59 -0500 (EST)
From: em92 at cornell.edu
To: em92 at cornell.edu
Subject: Albanian artist Maks Velo at Cornell University

Please distribute:
Ju lutemi shperndaheni:

MAKS VELO AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY
Albanian dissident to speak about his experience as an
artist under the communist dictatorship.

Public lecture open to the community:
March 12, 2003 at 5:00PM
Cornell University Campus
McGraw Hall 165
Ithaca, New York 14853

One of Albania's most prominent dissidents, Velo is
trained as an architect and works across the areas of
art, poetry and fiction, criticism, and urban planning.

Accused of "modernist tendencies" in his artistic and
architectural work during the communist regime, Velo was
arrested in 1978 and interrogated for six months. His
personal collection of paintings, sculptures and
collectibles was brutally destroyed. He was released
from prison in 1986 and sent as a manual worker in a
factory in the capital Tirana.

Following the political changes of 1991, Velo was
appointed architect at the Institute of Studies and
Design in Tirana. Since then, he has written extensively
in various newspapers, published collections of poetry,
fiction and essays, and exhibited his artwork in
numerous countries across the world.

Velo's work is a testimony to a unique creativity borne
out of the cruelty of the totalitarian communist regime
and the artist's personal experience.

His lecture at Cornell is part of the Cornell Council
for the Arts "Art and Politics: Politics and Art"
initiative. It is organized by the Society for European
Affairs at Cornell University, with the support of the
Student Assembly Finance Commission, the Dean of
Students, the International Students Programming Board,
the Government Department, and the Society for
Humanities at Cornell.

For more information contact:
Mr. Elidor Mehilli
em92 at cornell.edu
Telephone: 607 253 0213
Cornell University, New York