Secret Side Of Albanian Socialist Garden

“Secret side of Albanian Socialist Garden” represents a stunning compilation of Arian Leka’s voice denoting the madness and banality of Socialism and images that Michel Setboun offers to depict it - the best duo effort in bringing in the westerns’ eyes the secret dark side of the only socialist garden in Europe. When most of us think about why Albania society is facing such a painful transition, we try to seek the answers in the past. Arian Leka’s just released book comes as a sophisticated, yet elegant and vibrant tale of the most intriguing country behind the iron curtain rendered with a rich imagination and talent. While several trips to Albania are helpless to understand the Albanian communist ideology and the way it shaped the country and the mentality of its people, one has to read the essays of Arian Leka using his binoculars - his gran’father’s gift from WWII - to glimpse such a poignant reality.
The author pioneers a metaphoric narrative from inside out, to transpose his philosophical analysis of the relation between ideology, societal norms and arts of socialist Albania - the country behind the iron curtain alias the unique and unbreakable castle on the Adriatic coast, into a reminder of the consequences of one of the wildest dictatorships in the heart of the European most consolidated democracies.