October Gallery Museum
Connecting People with Art since 1985
Rama based his Parcours work on drawings made in Albania’s parliament © David Owens
Visitors to Art Basel will see a work in the Parcours public art section of Art Basel this year by an unlikely art star: the Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama. The politician is showing a bronze sculpture, Untitled (2026), which stands at the end of Clarastrasse overlooking the Rhine.
Last October, Société gallery in Berlin announced it had added Rama to its roster of artists. (He is also represented by Marian Goodman Gallery.) “For Parcours, Rama presents a new, large-scale bronze sculpture created after drawings made at the Kryeministria [Albania‘s seat of government],” says a statement from Société, adding that Rama’s drawings are produced during and between meetings in his role as prime minister.
Edi Rama is serving his fourth term as Albania’s prime minister Photo: Rolf Poss; Imago/Alamy Stock Photo
Rama’s current show at Société’s Berlin space, titled Chrysalizing (until 27 June), includes a series of new bronze sculptures. “Spanning the first floor of the gallery and extending outdoors into the garden, forms on pedestals and low plinths surge, swell, swirl, and multiply,” says a gallery statement. “[The Parcours] work is a version of the bronze currently on view in Société’s garden with a different colour of the patina,” adds a gallery spokesperson.
Rama—who secured an unprecedented fourth term in May 2025 after campaigning to bring Albania into the European Union—is an established artist. Trained at Tirana’s Academy of Fine Arts, he spent several years working in Paris before turning to politics in the late 1990s, becoming prime minister in 2013. Since then, he has continued to make art, exhibiting at the Centre Pompidou in Paris in 2010 and at the Venice Biennale in 2017.
Rama’s tenure has been mired in controversy, though. Last November Belinda Balluku, Albania’s deputy prime minister and a close associate of Rama’s, was suspended over a corruption scandal. Balluku was dismissed by Rama in late February; she denies any wrongdoing and was also contacted for comment.
• Parcours, various locations, Basel, until 21 June
The politician, whose administration has been dogged by accusations of corruption, has signed to Berlin gallery Société
The sculptor, who was committed to civil rights, recently completed a monument to Emmett Till
Hives and cuckoo clocks adorn the artist’s art trail across the Swiss-German border
source
The October Gallery Museum places art in the community. Here are partner locations where you can have an art experience.
Some locations art is installed inside buildings and visits are during regular business hours. Other locations are by appointment only. Schools are not open to the public. In addition, we have many outdoor installations that you can enjoy around the clock. Check each location below for details. Tours are available upon request. 215-352-3114.
Here are some of our patrons that have donated art and art related items installed as part of our Art in the Community program. Thanks!
Watson and Sonia Brown
Stephanie Daniel
Chad Cortez Everett
Gail Gaines
Dr. Darryl J. Ford
Kelly R. Harrison
Deborah Kelly
Betty Ann D. Lawrence
David Lawrence
Leon McDuffie
Michael Muhammad
Jay R. Ogilvie
Marjorie H. Ogilvie
Junious Rhone, Sr.
Robin Rhone
Shirley Rhone
April Rice
Karen Roach
Monica Rocha
Steve Satell
Deborah Stephens
Staci Watson
Stephanie R. West
Horace Wright
Sign Up Now
Art and art related items may be returned to October Gallery in good condition within twenty (20) days of the purchase for store credit ONLY – unless otherwise stated on an invoice.
Items on layaway or even items paid for will be held by the gallery for no more than ninety (90) days from the original sale date. Refund is in store credit ONLY – unless other stated on an invoice.
