Climate change awareness in the Lezha area through artistic practice REMIJON PRONJA

Author: Remijon Pronja
Affiliation: POLIS University

Abstract
The phenomenon of global warming and its triggering effects among which are the rising of water levels is a fact that is happening unstoppably day by day. Many coastal parts across the globe are in danger of disappearing. One of the cases that should be considered is the lagoon of Kune-Vain in the Lezha district. The whole area administered by the Municipality of Lezha has problems and will have problems with the floods of the lands that make up this administrative unit. At the same time, the cultural heritage sites of this municipality are endangered. Seen from a wider scale, man has his own responsibilities for these climate changes, such as rising temperatures and coastal erosion. For this reason, the awareness of the residents of this municipality but also that of tourists can play an important role in protecting the ecosystem and even more, in protecting the Kune-Vain lagoon. Based on several previous implementations. the lagoon in addition to a national park can be turned into an art park through the implementation of art pieces, which will serve to raise public awareness against climate change. The art pieces can give an even greater visibility to the lagoon, increasing the number of visitors. Artworks that have the same concern about climate changes that are already showed and are part of public art, they can be installed in the Kune – Vain lagoon, by use of sensors, colors, lights, etc. the installations will interact with the rising hypothesis of the increment of water; activating on the predictions of the sea level and rain flood. The works provide a visual reference of future sea level rise. One of the art works that will suit very well as part of the lagoon is “Lines (57° 59N, 7° 16’W)” (Niittyvirta & Aho, 2018), an interactive site specific light installation located Outer Hebrides in Scotland, UK. The project was a collaboration between Timo Aho & Pekka Niittyvirta. This installation will explore the catastrophic impact of our relationship with nature and its long term effects. The work provokes a dialogue on how the rising sea levels will affect coastal areas, its inhabitants and land usage in the future.