Edon Muhaxheri is a student who years ago won a scholarship from the Fullbright program, while he opened the exhibition as part of his graduation at the Maryland Institute College of Art.
Muhaxheri opened the exhibition, which is dedicated to Naum Veqilharxhi, the originator of the National Renaissance and the author of the first Albanian primer.
"I have a special passion for Albanian culture. During the research for the diploma topic, I wanted to connect my work with automata and Albanian culture. I challenged myself with honoring one of the most complicated automatons, the one that writes" Edon Muhaxheri himself tells more details, for KultPlus.
The school where he graduates with the Albanian project is the oldest art school in America. His studies have focused on the design and manufacture of mechanical toys known as Automatone. These mechanical "toys" have been present throughout most of history, while the peak of their creation was reached in the years 1700-1800 by European watchmakers.
He says that during the research, he noticed that Naum Veqilharxhi designed a special alphabet, while after consulting with different linguists, Edoni realized that that alphabet had been lost. With a simple online search, he says he found however sketchy images of an alphabet other than Latin, Greek or Arabic.
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Edoni then provided him with a copy of the original of the 1844 first edition of the Chronicle.
"I was amazed by the creativity of Naum Veqilharxhi. I was shocked by the fact that no one talks about this national treasure. I started work on identifying the original Albanian letters and breaking them down into typographical elements - simplifying it until its realization through the simplest hand movements," says Muhaxheri.
His story is impressive, passionate for a young man who with determination and dedication wants to decipher and preserve something from the Albanian past.
"Then I digitized Naumi's writing and created a family of modern fonts, so that Vithkuqi (as Naumi calls his alphabet, according to the village he comes from) can be used for recreation even today," says Edoni.
He says that he understands that today this alphabet cannot be put into use in the Albanian language, but it definitely represents a part of the Albanian cultural heritage, and it should be illuminated and used further, even if only for the world of design, maybe even for national symbols.
He plans to publish the book next month, which will present a detailed research of a short history of the events that led to the attempts to create an original Albanian alphabet.
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"There I have described the path of Greek, Roman, Slavic letters and the creation of the Albanian alphabet. The study itself reconfirms through historical documents that the Illyrians and the Albanians are the same people, that at different times were called differently by the surrounding peoples. In the meantime, the works for the automaton that he writes are in the final stage," says Muhaxheri.
A larger version of the exhibition will open in Washington at the end of the month, with an automaton function, to attract even more attention of the world art galleries to the Albanian culture.
