Imagine Imagine Imagine an Image of your future self

“ imagine imagine imagine an image of your future self ”

YOUNG CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS OF KOSOVO

“imagine imagine imagine an image of your future self” YOUNG CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS OF KOSOVO The artists featured in this book represent a selection of the latest moments and events in the contemporary art scene of Kosovo.

The material has been collected, created and edited in order to offer an overview and promoting Kosovo’s efforts into joining UNESCO. “imagine imagine imagine an image of your future self” is not intended for sale.

The book is produced and published under the guidance of Petrit Selimi and Rina Meta for The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kosovo.

The title is an excerpt from ‘Imagine Imagine Imagine’, a poetry by Astrit Ismaili YOUNG CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS OF KOSOVO

All rights: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kosovo Publisher: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kosovo Printed by: REMAprint,Vienna Printed in Austria Editors: Isabella Ritter and Katharina Schendl Design: Berin Hasi, Clleanc

October 2015 Prishtina, Kosovo kosovoinunesco.com mfa-ks.net instakosova.com interfaithkosovo.com

Why us? Why in UNESCO? So, the question is what do we bring? What does Kosovo bring to UNESCO as a new member? Sure, we do have immensely beautiful mountains and deep marble caves, but I can imagine many other land-locked countries are similarly endowed with natural beauty. We also have beautiful medieval monuments of the Serbian Orthodox Church and Albanian Islamic Community, but many European countries have beautiful cathedrals and mosques. What makes Kosovo exceptional in the way that brings added value to UNESCO? It’s an important question. When Kosovo applied for membership to UNESCO back in the summer of 2015, the focus was to explain how can Kosovo benefit from the world’s foremost scientific, education and cultural organization? How can scientific output in Kosovo increase, hence helping also innovation and economic growth. We had to explain how we need UNESCO education benchmarks so we can improve the quality of our education? How can leave to our children a better protected heritage, a patrimony that has been here for centuries and will stay for centuries to come?

This little book offers a glimpse of the answer. Kosovo cannot compete with rich countries on fees to be paid to UNESCO, nor can if compete with long-established democracies for the instruments in promoting and protecting the freedom of speech. There is something though with Kosovo that is bright and shiny and vibrant and dynamic and - unstoppable. There is something with Kosovars that made them rebuild their country after the genocidal war of 1999. 60% of private houses were burned by the Milosevic forces 15 years ago, now trace of war can be found. One million people became refugees in the summer of 1999, including the author of this text, and they all came back to Kosovo within 60 day of the liberation of Kosovo. After 50 years of communism, 10 years of Serbian apartheid, 2 years of war, 10 years of UN governance, Kosovars rose to the occasion and built a society that is full of energy, full of drive.

Unstoppable.

Contemporary arts of Kosovo has followed that path of Kosovo itself. In the old Yugoslav times, Kosovar artists through nouvelle forms of art expression mirrored wider global debates but also contributed to break the uniformity of the social realism. Pioneers of contemporary art in Kosovo after Second World War were also the harbingers of the freedom of thought and freedom of expression. When Yugoslavia fell appart and Serbia occupied Kosovo, the second generation of artists engaged in the Art of Resistance. Resistance to the oppression was what united as a group some of the most prolific artists of Kosovo. After the war, issues of identity engulfed the art landscape of Kosovo. What are we? Kosovaars? Albanians from Kosovo? European Kosovo? Oriental Kosovo? United Nations Kosovo? Are an ethnic province or a civic and secular republic or a bureaucratic UN protectorate? Declaration of Independence and the new constitution attempted to answer those questions, but the latest wave of artists still have more questions. Questions of normality and questions of individuality? As

threat to the collective diminishes, we are naturally predisposed to gather along smaller clusters of people. If there is a war, the entire nation is one. Art is one. When the war ends, we feel closer to our cities of birth. When the peace prevails, we look upon how to improve our neighborhoods. When progress becomes fundamental, we start focusing on smallest unit - ourselves. What is our role in the society?

How can we improve ourselves? Who are we?

The path of Kosovo arts scene from the great existential debates to the most basic individual passions have been incredibly short. World history of arts in a condensed Campbell tomato soup.

So this is what we bring to UNESCO. The artists featured in this book represent the latest stage of evolution of our art scene and the wider society but more importantly, they are a living proof of how in less than quarter of century, our experience in fighting for freedom of speech, defending our liberty, becoming free as a bird, nation-building efforts of monumental proportions - all of it, is an experience that we bring to UNESCO. It’s now October 2015 and we still don’t know at this moment will we become members of UNESCO. We don’t want to be isolated. We don’t want to be stuck in the discourse of past nationalisms and religious fundamentalisms. We want your help to move forward, to have that chance to prove ourselves and to share with your all the experience of a nation suffering that became a nation thriving.

Thank you.

Petrit Selimi Deputy Foreign Minister of Republic of Kosovo and National Coordinator for UNESCO Accession

From Vienna, Prishtina is as close as Paris, but it certainly feels much further away than any other city in Europe. Kosovo, situated in the heart of the Balkans, with an emerging vibrant art scene full of energy and enthusiasm, caught our attention four years ago and we have been drawn to it ever since. Last year we founded the art space LambdaLambdaLambda to engage with the local scene and establish a dialog between international and local artists.

The art scene of Kosovo is not yet on the map as still being on the periphery of art production since the artists neither have the level of professionalization nor the economic pressure that exist in the centers of art production like New York, London, or Paris. This fact is mostly due to its remoteness, not necessarily the geographical one but rather in terms of accessibility. This bears its advantages as well as disadvantages. However, it would be desirable that young artists who already have a lot of substance to work with would also receive the possibility of a better education in order to also have the “tools” to work with. Of course, this requires the framework of a stable educational system in which this can be realized. It is thus inevitable to think about the new horizons that could open up for a young generation having so much energy and positivity towards the future by granting them access. This would be certainly achieved by Kosovo becoming a member of UNESCO. As we don’t understand much about politics we cannot speak about the bigger picture here but what we can definitely state is how much this would help a very young, open-minded, European generation of Kosovar artists. Since art has always had the potential of tackling issues in society as well as having been used as a tool to break taboos and open minds its existence and proliferation is of paramount importance.

The artists presented in this book are a fraction of the young contemporary art scene of Kosovo. This index should give an introduction into the works of these young artists, many of them at different stages in their careers and their respective practices. The case of Petrit Halilaj and Flaka Haliti serve as a perfect example of very successful young artists, who through their participation in the Venice Biennale – both represented Kosovo in their pavilion in the Arsenale – have received the attention of the international art world.

What should become apparent is the existence of manifold approaches, visual languages and topics of interest. This in turn should be representative of a rather small but utmost vivid and very interesting art scene from which we will without doubt see and hear a lot in the future.

We are extremely thankful how warmly Kosovo has received us and we are excited to be part of the future of Kosovo’s art scene.

Isabella Ritter and Katharina Schendl

Sezgin Boynik: Cultural Roots of Contemporary Art in Kosovo a.

Art Now! One of the most influential books for the contemporary art scene of Kosovo was Art Now published by Taschen. My friendship with the Kosovo art scene started later, when the first edition of the book was already completely stale and worn out, and the new edition had come to Exit contemporary art centre’s library. Then the topic of the discussion was that Sislej Xhafa, an artist from Kosovo, was not included in the list of millennial artists, but instead the Albanian artist Anri Sala had the honour to be part of the cream of the contemporary art world.

Apart from this anecdote, the book Art Now obviously did not have any significant effect on the Albanian national aesthetic identity. Art Now was more a book about the aesthetical regulations in contemporary art. In other words, it was a book about how things should look in art. To young Kosovo art students it was a guidebook that taught them how to think, how to see and how to say things as contemporary artists.

One must keep in mind that, alongside the Internet, other books by Taschen and different encyclopaedias, Art Now is only one of the many educational objects in the art world of Kosovo.

I chose Art Now because it was totally thumbmarked with use.

So what were the Kosovar artists learning from Art Now? Apart from names of artists, they were also getting acquainted with the logic of contemporary art forms.

My thesis is that this logic, which they constructed from studying Art Now and related sources, was different from that of their contemporaries in the places the art in Art Now originated from.

First of all, the students from the Prishtina Art Academy had a heavy burden of interpretation; their professors, mainly non-figurative modernists that used many metaphors, wanted to interpret the world through art symbolism so that the history of their hidden metaphors could also illustrate their way of seeing the world. As every professor had his (until recently professors were always men) way of seeing the world, and the world of tactical politics was no longer valid (because the basis of their metaphorical politics in the new millennium had radically changed), the students started to see the difference. The eagle’s wing in the deserted black field with the big hands of the mother abstraction in grey cloud depression did no longer interest them and neither did the archetypical figurations of mythological forms. The aesthetics of the Art Now helped young students to escape chaotic paternalistic complex abstractionism, which artist Mehmet Behluli calls ‘the teaching of confusion’, referring to the over-complicated art theories of modernist Kosovar painters. They wanted to look for new possibilities of the art logic, which would be simpler and more

tied in with film, music, slang, and of course yarns from their daily lives. The art of Art Now did not seem to ‘give a fuck’ about the anxiety of interpretation; rather, it was all about the art of simplicity.

Could you say that this lesson drawn from Art Now was too simplistc?

As was Nam June Paik with a portable Sony camera, the young Kosovar artists were also excited about the new tool called video. It was the most proper medium for ‘not giving a fuck’ about any symbolical interpretation of reality.

Video made it possible to alter the boredom and anxiety in the ateliers of the Prishtina academy.

It should not come as a surprise that the first artworks made with video mainly resembled jokes and sketches of situational comedy. Among the first jokes were parodies of propagators of artists from the world of Art Now, Yoko Ono and Damien Hirst, to mention just two.

In fact, the situation itself is a genuine comedy as none of the artist of the young new wave generation saw any video works before they started making them themselves. The knowledge about video art was based on the stills in the Art Now publication. Moving images of video works were captured and frozen in one or maybe two or three different stills. Since the artists were looking at videos the way they were looking at paintings, they read Art Now differently from their contemporaries in the places where the art depicted in Art Now originated. Art Now had such an impact on the art scene in Kosovo that the forms that arose then are still visible in works of many artists from the new generation.

These forms are lacking the main fundaments of the western historical avant-garde. For example, the time conception in the video art from Kosovo is very linear and every situation is happening in real time. There is no cutting or reversing, no cyclical or non-sequential time conception. This is obvious in the basic form of contemporary art created in Kosovo: not one single work is done with collage or montage. Everything pretends to be Real and Authentic. Also the cult of the artist as an Author and authentic originator of an artwork ties in with this conception of the work based in real time. Even when works made in Kosovo are referring to moments in the history of contemporary art, they are adapted to the actual situation in Kosovo without using found material as reference. Actors, authors, scene, situation, ideas – everything has to be original and authentic.

There are always many ideas ‘up in the air’ in the world of contemporary art in Kosovo. This thesis will be made clear when we proceed with analysing some of the essential elements in the Kosovo art practice of recent times. b.

Marcel Duchamp In 2002 at the Summer School of the Prishtina University Mehmet Behluli, a professor at the Art Academy, and Sislej Xhafa, a visiting lecturer, organised a course on contemporary art with the title ‘Duchamp Effect’.

The course aimed at bringing new perspectives to the students of the Prishtina Art Academy and especially presenting them with new alternatives, different from the rigid conservative frames common to the Prishtina Academy’s ateliers. The intention was to teach to the students that “there are no limits of expression in contemporary art”. The influence of Duchamp on contemporary art in Kosovo, again, was not in line with the radical negation of art, or with the idea to transgress art with the use value of everyday objects. But students from the Art Academy were given a different kind of a lesson; they were taught that everything could be art, especially the things that their professors never thought or imagined as art.

I should remark about the new wave art scene in Kosovo that contemporary art education didn’t happen systematically, genealogically and according to the dialectics of historical avant-garde movements. There were no father figures like Duchamp or Beuys, or new heroes from the Art Now book. So when students were thinking about one specific artist they didn’t take into account his or her history of development of ideas, they did not connect these ideas to the times when they originated, or how these ideas related to politics and the economy. In short, many of the students did not actually care about the history and site-specificity of ideas.

The important thing was to have an idea; and since the students became familiar with the concept of the ‘ready-made’, suddenly a lot of ideas popped up in the art world. Ready-made was for students, and also for their professors, an uncontrolled flow of expression. For an artist it was just enough to express their thoughts, or put across their own authentic and original ideas!

This also explains why in Kosovo, unlike in many other places, artists, long before they make any work, like to talk about it extensively. At parties, drinking sessions, dinners, or simply when strolling around, artists communicate their ideas for new art works, even when they are just a blitz of something that is not-yet.

Some of the artists are talking so often about their ideas that they never have time to realise them. There are many examples in Kosovo of artists with many never realised ideas. One of the best examples is Tahar Alemdar, an artist from Prizren who unintentionally became the best conceptualist artist in Kosovo. Alemdar, who was also one of the first new wave art students and had attended the ‘Duchamp effect’ seminar, took the ready-made concept so literally and factually that the ‘idea’ became more important than anything else. For years now Alemdar has just been producing ideas, many of which are brilliant, but he hardly ever made any of them materialise. Here comes a question for sociologists: can we think of any interrelation between the ready-made art culture and Kosovo’s current political situation? Perhaps we can, but this article is just about forms. c.

Joseph Beuys Unlike Duchamp, Beuys never had such an important influence on Kosovo. In the abovementioned seminar ‘social sculpture’ may have been one of the topics, hardly anyone is ever talking about it or mentioning

it. But the spectre of Beuys has been haunting the art scene in Kosovo for many years. He is a historical figure in the Kosovo art history.

He somehow happened to become a symbol of confrontation with the Western hegemonic art system. The first confrontation with Beuys was one of negation, and the second resulted in glorification. In both cases discussion was impossible.

The first encounter happened when Beuys visited Belgarde in 1974 to attend an artists’ meeting at the Students’ Cultural Center (SKC). In those days Beuys giving a long presentation at the meeting was a very big event for the Yugoslav contemporary/expanded art scene. Almost everybody in the expanded progressive media art scene of Yugoslavia was euphoric about Beuys, except for Shkelzen Maliqi, a philosopher from Kosovo who was then studying in Belgrade.

His critique, published in the bulletin of the SKC in the same year, was an attack on Beuys as a utopian thinker. Maliqi clearly argued that Beuys was not. As a summary Maliqi was saying that Beuys, who saw himself as a philosopher, had failed to grasp the fundaments of the utopian-philosophy of Hegel (with whom Maliqi starts his article) and the revolutionary thoughts of Lenin (with whom he concludes his article). Maliqi criticised Beuys for not being as radical, critical and socially engaged as he claims to be, but for just making a ‘plastic-art philosophy’.

In the year 1974 Kosovo obtained expanded constitutional rights in Yugoslavia and the Kosovo population considered itself economically, politically and culturally closer to the modern world of Yugoslavia.

But, of course, Maliqi’s critique never had any real influence on the conceptualist scene, or on the Kosovo art and cultural scene.

The second meeting of the Kosovo art and cultural scene with Beuys occurred 20 years later. This time it generated an evocation. Mehmet Behluli, who was painting objects with tar, remembers the 1990s as a depressive and miserable era. His house was his place, and for him, like for many Albanians, there was no other public space than their private houses. In the 1990s Albanians in Kosovo were totally isolated. In the late 1990s Behluli painted his famous “Joseph Beuys visiting my House”. (Behluli cannot remem- ber exactly whether it happened in 1996 or 1997 and I think that this amnesia also shows the effect of the cultural quarantine of those times.) Of course this was a utopia. In the 1990s hardly anyone visited Kosovo, especially not artists or curators.

This evocation is like an omen of Kosovo contemporary politics, culture and also art, and this difference in confrontation with Beuys by Kosovars shows also a change in the main paradigm of Kosovo’s actual situation. What was once an instance of modernist, rational and self-reflexive hope, turned into status quo postmodernist agnostic mysticism.

d.

RenĂŠ Block Even if Beuys never visited Kosovo, his gallery owner, the famous curator RenĂŠ Block visited Behluli and other artists in Kosovo and claimed that Kosovo is the capitol of the avant-garde in the Balkans. The rest is a short international glorious history of Kosovo contemporary art plus euphoria supported by national representation through contemporary art.

now when we meet we don’t meet

A poem by Dardan Zhegrova

Astrit Ismaili

Astrit Ismaili (born 1991 in Prishtina/Kosovo) lives in Amsterdam/The Netherlands.

The artist is currently enrolled in the MA-Program at DasArts – Master of Theater in Amsterdam. Ismaili is a recipient of the Young Visual Artist Award 2011 and was a resident at ISCP in New York City. Further he won the Award for Best Director at the Skena Up International Student Festival 2011, received the Forum ZDF follow-up Grant 2013 and won the Awards for Best Video Performance and Best Styling Video at Video Fest 2014.

His recent performances include INNOC€NT at DasArts Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2015); READ IN CINEMA at Het Veem Theater, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2015); INTO YOUR UNIVERSE, curated by Zola Zakiya at Vrankrijk Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2015); CRAVE at Skena Up - International Film and Theater Festival, Prishtina, Kosovo (2014); THE DAY I BECAME A POPSTAR at DasArts Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2014) and at Treitlsaal Vienna, Austria (2015) and KEEP IT BEAUTIFUL at Theater Spektakel, Zurich, Switzerland (2014). Further he was included in the Muslim Mulliqi X exhibition, curated by Corinne Diserenes at the National Gallery of Kosovo, Prishtina, Kosovo (2013); LOVE.STATE.KOSOVO with Beatrice Fliechlin and Antje Schupp was performed in various locations in Switzerland, Germany and Kosovo (2013); SILENT PROTESTS curated by Dori Basha, Stacion - Center of Contemporary Art Prishtina, Kosovo (2013) and PERCEPTION at ISCP New York City, USA (2011).

Astrit Ismaili’s performances form intimate experiences that operate on themes as family, gender issues, perception and transformation. Ismaili is a multidisciplinary artist working with performance – as a performer and as a director–, photography, video and writing.

His work connects to ritualistic and transgressive body performances that violate social taboos by allowing an experience of personal transformation during the event. The body is used as a site where identity as defined by gender, race and sexuality is located, performed and challenged.

What is always present in Ismaili’s work is the body in relation to space, society, the transformed body, the body as a protest, as an object and as a human body.

The artist’s work often reactivates abandoned or construction zones by creating massive performance art pieces, interacting and working with people from various age groups and profiles.

Popstar, Reinvention of the self part of The day I became a Popstar performance, 2014 Photography, Variable sizes, Courtesy of the artist

Innocent Impossible Bodies, on going series, 2015, Digital photograph, 8.64 x 12.96inch, 300 pixels, Courtesy of the artist Deniz, Impossible Bodies, on going series, 2011, Digital photograph, 8.64 x 12.96inch, 300 pixels, Courtesy of the artist

Feel my plastic, Impossible Bodies, on going series, 2015, Digital photograph, 8.64 x 12.96 x 300 pixels, Courtesy of the artist Urban Fairytale, Impossible Bodies, on going series, 2011, Digital photograph, 8.64 x 12.96 x 300 pixels, Courtesy of the artist

Innocent, 2015, Performance directed by Astrit Ismaili, Performed by: Andreas Hannes, Antonia Steffens and Jose Manuel Portas Bulpe, Drawings, songs and texts by: Astrit Ismaili, Lights: Nico de Rooij, Advisor: Rodrigo Albea, Supported by: Jeroen Fabius, Produced by: DasArts - Master of Theater

Popstar, Reinvention of the self part of The day I became a Popstar performance, 2014 Photography, Variable sizes, Courtesy of the artist

Brilant Pireva

Brilant Pireva (born 1993 in Prishtina/Kosovo) lives in Pr-

Brilant Pireva’s practice is mostly formed by an attempt-

ishtina/Kosovo.

ed negation of formality, institutionalisation, and artificial

Brilant was awarded the REDO design conference prize

solidification of fluid and political acts. He ultimately

(2013), the Best Amateur Green Film at Dokufest Film

considers himself a conceptual artist. The mediums that

Festival, Prizren (2012) and got a scholarship for Painting

the artists employs are informed less by the content of the

from the New Zealand Government (2011).

concept but by the primacy of daily life. Trying to express

His most recent exhibitions include I’d, I’ve, I’ll, He’s,

a certain concept with the means that average daily con-

He’ll, He’d, She’s, She’ll, She’d, We’re, We’ll, We’d, Lamb-

temporary life affords him he usually uses a vast array of

daLambdaLambda, Prishtina, Kosovo (2015); Informal

objects like groceries, cell phones, social media, etc. He

Mind, Elbasan, Albania (2014); touring exhibition Show-

thereby employs his everyday means in a form that his

case, Rex Gallery, Belgrade, Serbia, Galerija Elektrika.

work is a priori politically embodied with respect to the

Pancevo, Serbia and Kulturni Centat Gracanica, Kosovo

class relations that are reflected by the respective everyday

(2013); Finalist in Artists of Tomorrow, Kosovo

objects and products. By having an immanent political

National Gallery, Prishtina, Kosovo (2012); Prishtine

form the content of his works refrains from being explic-

Mon Amour and Boro & Ramiz, Prishtina, Kosovo (2012)

itly political and explores creative possibilities in a more

and he participated in Writing side by side for In Situ,

conceptual manner.

Prague, Czech Republic (2012).

Heard, 2015, Digital drawing, 105 x 105cm, Courtesy of the artist

Thread, 2015, Digital drawing, 105 x 105cm, Courtesy of the artist Lent, 2015, Digital drawing, 105 x 105cm, Courtesy of the artist

This Is How i Feel, 2015, Digital drawing, 105 x 105cm, Courtesy of the artist I am Whistling, 2015, Digital drawing, 105 x 105cm, Courtesy of the artist

Frond, 2015, Digital drawing, 105 x 105cm, Courtesy of the artist Was Not Said, 2015, Digital drawing, 79 x 79cm, Courtesy of the artist Flesh Sink, 2015, Digital drawing, 80 x 80cm, Courtesy of the artist Penny, 2015, Digital drawing, 105 x 105cm, Courtesy of the artist

Twenty Five Five, 2015, Photo with Digital drawing, 85 x 85cm Courtesy of the artist

Dardan Zhegrova

Dardan Zhegrova (born 19991 in Prishtina/Kosovo)

Dardan Zhegrova explores topics of love, longing and

lives in Prishtina/Kosovo.

belonging in his works. Mostly known for his videos the

He was Artist-in-Resident for Hajde at Villa Romana,

artist can be regarded as a poet in a time where physi-

Florence, Italy in 2014.

cal proximity is being replaced by an ubiquitous avail-

His most recent exhibitions and performances include

ability through modern means of communication. His

I should cheat the blue, after what we’ve been through,

works are foremost speaking about remote, unrecipro-

Soma Book Station, Prishtina, Kosovo (2015); You look

cated love and the projection thereof.

like you know how to treat a body, with trio Heinz Her-

The artist is using his emotional landscape as his main

bert, Gessneralle Theater, Zurich, Switzerland (2015);

material that is explored in his performances, videos,

am I, if you, Baushtelle: Balkan Temple, Fraumünster

writings and physical objects rendering his works

Church, Zurich, Switzerland, Kalimegdan Fortress,

strongly autobiographical. For Zhegrova language

Belgrade, Serbia and University Campus, Prishtina,

is one of the most important tools that is recurring

Kosovo (2015); Your Enthusiasm to tell a story, Gallery

throughout different media as a main motif, conjugat-

12Hub, Belgrade, Serbia (2015); I’d, I’ve, I’ll, He’s, He’ll,

ing the possibilities of love, passion and the role of the

He’d, She’s, She’ll, She’d, We’re, We’ll, We’d, Lambda-

self in contemporary society.

LambdaLambda, Prishtina, Kosovo (2015); Now when we meet we don’t meet, SKENA UP – International Student Film and Theater Festival, Prishtina, Kosovo (2014); Automatic Film, Video Series, Youtube Channel (2014); Errors Allowed, Mediterranea 16 Young Artists Biennial, Ancona, Italy (2013); DO IT, curated

by Hans Ulrich Obrist, organized by Stacion - Center for Contemporary Art, Prishtina, Kosovo (2013) and 30 Years Artist, Virtual Exhibition, Facebook Event (2013).

Am i, if you, 2015, Performance / Installation, Dimensions variable Courtesy of the artist, Photocredit: Burim Myftiu

Am i, if you, 2015, Performance / Installation, Dimensions variable Courtesy of the artist, Photocredit: Mario Topic

Am i, if you, 2015, Performance / Installation, Dimensions variable Courtesy of the artist, Photocredit: Mario Topic

Am i, if you, 2015, Performance / Installation, Dimensions variable Courtesy of the artist, Photocredit: Mario Topic

Your enthusiasm to tell a story, 2015, Mixed media and sound, Dimension variable Exhibition view I’d, I’ve, I’ll, He’s, He’ll, He’d, She’s, She’ll, She’d, We’re, We’ll, We’d, LambdaLambdaLambda, Prishtina, 2015, Courtesy of the artist, Photocredit: Dren Maliqi

Flaka Haliti

Flaka Haliti (born 1982 in Prishtina/Kosovo) lives in Munich/Germany and Vienna/ Austria.

She received a BA at the Faculty of Arts, Prishtina University in 2006, studied from 2008-2013 at the Städelschule, Frankfurt am Main and is currently doing a PhD in Practice at the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna.

Haliti was recently awarded the Ars Viva Prize 2016, the Muslim Mulliqi Award X 2014 and Henkel Art Award 2013. She received a residency at Villa Romana 2016 and at Fogo Island Art, Canada 2015.

Selection of her recent exhibitions include the Ars Viva Prize exhibition, Städtische Galerie Karlsruhe, Germany (2015); I Was Like You Before I Got Stoned By The Fresh Air, Prince of Wales, Munich, Germany (2015); The Pavilion of The Republic of Kosovo, 56th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy (2015); 6th Moscow Biennale, VDNKh Moscow, Russia (2015); Max-Pechstein Förderpreis der Stadt Zwickau, Max Pechstein Museum, Zwickau, Germany (2015); The heart is deceitful above all things, HOME / CORNERHOUSE, Manchester, UK (2015); The problem today is not the other but the self, Ludlow 38, New York, USA (2015); Last Time When I Google You, You Looked Different, Kosovo National Gallery, Prishtina, Kosovo (2014); I See a Face. Do You See A Face, mumok, museum of modern art Vienna, Austria (2014); no ONE BELONGS HERE MORE THAN you, 54th October Salon, Belgrade, Serbia (2013); say my name ,say my name, MMK-Zollamt, Museum of Modern Art, Frankfurt am Main, Germany (2013) and 12th Gjon Mili International Photo Exhibition, Kosovo National Gallery, Prishtina (2012).

Reflections on the meaning of democracy, borders, freedom and mobility constitute core themes in Flaka Haliti’s practice. The intriguing character of Haliti’s works consists in the subjective approach she takes to political issues, with an emphasis that is always on the personal that becomes the subject of the political. The artist’s works are persuasive through the very absence of explicit simulacra, therefore managing to suggest images, which through their metaphoric quality offer an object of projection or screen for subjective experience. At the same time, the complex nature of her themes — often including emotional concepts such as love, isolation and loss — withdraw from any direct imagery, to hover somewhere between the signifier and the signified.

Haliti lives in Munich, Vienna, and Pristina, three cities that have enabled a nurturing ground for her practice. The artist belongs to the young generation of Kosovar artists whose practice is embedded in a global rather than local discourse. While reflecting on her personal background, Haliti at the same time also challenges its conceptual framework.

I see that you have seen that I have seen, 2015, Fluorescent Lights, Dimensions variable, Exhibition view, I Was Like You Before I Got Stoned

By The Fresh Air, Prince of Wales, Munich, 2015, Courtesy of the artist, Photocredit: Jonas von Ostrowski

Exhibition view, Max-Pechstein Fรถrderpreis der Stadt Zwickau, Max Pechstein Museum, Zwickau, 2015, Photocredit: Fotoatelier Lorenz, Zschorlau, Courtesy of the artist and LambdaLambdaLambda Luminous Garden #03, 2015, Digital Print on Aluminium-Dibond, 70 x 100cm , Wallpaper, 95 x 205cm, Photocredit: Fotoatelier Lorenz, Zschorlau Courtesy of the artist and LambdaLambdaLambda

Luminous Garden #01, 2015, Digital Print on Aluminium-Dibond, 70 x 100cm, Wallpaper, 95 x 205cm, Photocredit: Fotoatelier Lorenz, Zschorlau, Courtesy of the artist and LambdaLambdaLambda Luminous Garden #02, 2015, Digital Print on Aluminium-Dibond, 70 x 100cm, Wallpaper, 95 x 205cm, Photocredit: Fotoatelier Lorenz, Zschorlau, Courtesy of the artist and LambdaLambdaLambda

Exhibition view, I See a Face. Do You See a Face, mumok, museum of modern art Vienna, 2014, Courtesy of the artist and mumok, Photocredit: Hannes Bรถck

I see a face. Do you see a face. #06, 2014, Digital photograph, edited, mounted on PVC-Forex board, 85 x 100cm, Courtesy of the artist I see a face. Do you see a face. #04, 2014, Digital photograph, edited, mounted on PVC-Forex board, 85 x 100cm, Courtesy of the artist

Installation view, Speculating on the Blue, Pavilion of The Republic of Kosovo, 56th La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, 2015, Sand, Metal, Light, Dimensions variable, Courtesy of the artist and LambdaLambdaLambda. Photocredit: Marc Krause

Installation view Speculating on the Blue, Pavilion of The Republic of Kosovo, 56th La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, 2015, Sand, Metal, Light, Dimensions variable, Courtesy of the artist and LambdaLambdaLambda. Photocredit: Marc Krause

Haveit

Haveit, consists of Hana Qena (born 1988 in Prishtina /

Haveit’s performances are exploring gender and social

Kosovo) and Vesa Qena (born 1991 in Mitrovice / Kosovo) ,

issues in venues that are primarily not related to art in

and Arnerore Sylaj (born 1988 in Prishtina / Kosovo) and

order to reach a broader public.

Alketa Sylaj (born 1991 in Mitrovice / Kosovo) . The art col-

Kosovar society serves as a steady inspiration for their

lective was established in 2011 and is based in Prishtina/

work: their performances continue to address the prob-

Kosovo.

lems of Kosovar society that originally inspired them

Hana Qena holds a degree in Theater-Studies, Alketa

to begin making performance art to address these de-

Sylaj has a degree in Acting, Arberore Sylaj has a de-

ficiencies.

gree in Film Directing and Vesa Qena in Drama, all

The collective is addressing Kosovar society that in

studied at Prishtina University.

their reading is predominantly conservative. Haveit

Their recent performances include Use Your Mouth,

claim that Kosovo is conservative in a traditional sense,

Galerija Škuc, City of Women Feminist Festival, Lju-

which means that there is a cleavage between those who

bljana, Slovenia (2015); Uran B, Mediterranea 17 Young

protect tradition – for instance not granting any heri-

Artists Biennale, Milano, Italy (2015); Shoening, Hapu

tage rights for women – and those who are challenging

Festival, Prishtina, Kosovo (2015);

it. With their work they address topics as nationalisms,

Pyramide, Tirana, Albania (2014); Examination, TEDx

women’s oppression and the lack of tolerance for homo-

Women, Prishtina, Kosovo and Art Athens, Athens,

sexuality.

Greece (2013); Classical Mechanics, National Theater, Prishtina, Kosovo (2013); Je suis glamour Prifilm Fest, Prishtina, Kosovo (2013) and L dhe SH, Stacion - Center for Contemporary Art Prishtina, Kosovo (2013).

Performances in Public Space in Stockholm, Sweden (2014), Tirana, Albania (2014); There Is No Water, But There Are Fountains, Prishtina, Kosovo (2014); Valentines Day, Me shami te kuqe and One, Prishtina, Kosovo (2013).

One, Performance in Prishtina, 2013 Courtesy of the artists, Photocredit: Atdhe Mulla

There Is No Water, But There Are Fountains, Performance in Prishtina, 2014, Courtesy of the artists, Photocredit: Dardan Zhegrova

There Is No Water, But There Are Fountains, Performance in Prishtina, 2014, Courtesy of the artists, Photocredit: Dardan Zhegrova

Examination, 2013, Performance in Prishtina, Courtesy of the artists, Photocredit: Majlinda Hoxha Valentines Day, 2014, Performance in Prishtina, Courtesy of the artists, Photocredit: Agim Balaj

Use your mouth, 2014, Performance in Tirana, Courtesy of the artists, Photocredit: Xheni Alushi Hanging on a Curtain! (Foto para Viles Enver Hoxha), Tirana, 2014, Courtesy of the artists. Photocredit: Dardan Zhegrova

Jakup Ferri

Jakup Ferri (born 1981 in Prishtina/Kosovo) lives in Pristi-

Jakup Ferri uses different media and techniques to create

na/Kosovo and The Netherlands.

his images that could be scenes of everyday reality. How-

He received a BA at the Faculty of Arts from Prishtina

ever, the world he creates in these images depicts scenes

University 2004 and studied at Rijksakademie Van Beel-

where individuals seem alienated from their surround-

dende Kunsten, Amsterdam from 2007 to 2008. Ferri

ings. According to the artist questions involving identity

was awarded the Buning Brongers Prijzen, Amsterdam

and the status of the outsider play an important role in his

(2008); Kunstpreis Europas Zukunft, Museum of Con-

work.

temporary Art (GfZK) Leipzig (2006); Muslim Mulliqi

The starting point for his artistic practice was the invisi-

Prize, Prishtina (2003) and Artists of Tomorrow, Prishti-

bility of his country within the art world and the alienation

na (2003).

from western art from which art students like him suf-

He was Artist-in-Residence at Tembe Art Studio, Surina-

fered. In his video-works as well as drawings the artist of-

me (2010/2011); KulturKontakt Austria, Vienna (2005); In-

ten acts as the main protagonist showing himself far away

ternational Studio and Curatorial Program ISCP, New

from art-history, trapped in his own house, neighborhood

York (2004); NIFCA, West Balkan A.I.R, Rooseum Mu-

and room whereby he is also challenging his own reali-

seum, MalmĂś (2004) and Cultural City Network Graz,

ty. His own physical appearance is supposed to distract

Graz (2004).

from the political weight and creates an imaginary space

His recent solo exhibitions include Transparent Hula

for a more universal and psychological interpretation. In

Hoop, Andriesse-Eyck Gallery, Amsterdam, The Neth-

the last couple of years Ferri did extensive research about

erlands (2015); Cold Water Boils Faster, Van Zijll Lang-

outsider artists, folk art, naive oriented painters and their

hout, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2013); Outside the

engagement with different hand made materials, which in

Circle, Tetris - Hapsira Manipuluese, Prishtina, Kosovo

turn has influenced his own works.

(2011); Laughing Lessons,WeingrĂźll, Karlsruhe, Germany (2011); Paper Vegetables De Hallen, Haarlem, The Netherlands (2010); Cekirdek Instead of Leblebi, Outlet, Istanbul, Turkey (2010) and Pocket Drawings in the Frame, Van Zijll Langhout, Amsterdam The Netherlands (2010).

Photography Courtesy of the artist

Untitled, 2014, Embroidery on cotton with crochet fringe, 100 x 148cm, Courtesy of the artist Untitled, 2014, Embroidery on cotton with crochet fringe, 112 x 155cm, Courtesy of the artist

Untitled, 2013, Embroidery on fabric, 140 x 140cm Courtesy of the artist, Photo credit: Dren Maliqi

Untitled, 2009, Ink and colored pencils on paper, 10 x 15cm Courtesy of the artist

Untitled, 2012, Wallpainting at Schijnheiling, Amsterdam, Variable size Courtesy of the artist

Kushtrim Zeqiri

Kushtrim Zeqiri (born 1988 in Gjilan/Kosovo) lives in

Kushtrim Zequiri’s practice has a strong conceptual ap-

Gjilan/Kosovo. He received a B.A. at Faculty of Arts Pr-

proach often drawing on symbolic meanings and using

ishtina University in 2009.

proverbial material. He translates the created mental im-

His recent exhibitions include Home & Hurt-Perfor-

ages into different media such as photography, drawing,

mance, Basel, Switzerland, (2015); 14th Gjon Mili-Inter-

painting, sculpture and installation.

national Photo exhibition, curated by Richard Birkett,

The endless possibilities of the universe and its inherent

Kosovo National Gallery, Prishtina, Kosovo (2015); Spa-

abstract concepts that are usually hard to grasp constitute

tial Extension of the Art, National Gallery of Macedo-

an important motif for Zequiri. In particular he is trying

nia-Mala Stanica, Skopje, Macedonia (2015); Art Video

to merge the latter with more profane daily-life-relat-

KĂśln, Cologne, Germany (2015); Video Art Festival R-I

ed realms as for instance can be found in his latest work

am, Moscow, Russia (2015); touring exhibition Varg e vi,

where he is reflecting on the relationship of digital tech-

Alternative space for contemporary art, Collectif Denface,

nology and people in the real world through conflicting

Rouen, France, Mala Stanica-National Gallery of Mace-

these spheres with each other.

donia, Skopje, Macedonia and Center for Contemporary art, Gjilan, Kosovo (2013-2014); Galerie AmLindenhof, Zurich, Switzerland (2013); Change, 9th international Photo contest, Bangkok, Thailand (2013); Exhibition for the day of Europe, Gallery Expoart.40 Prishtina, Kosovo (2011, 2010); Muslim Mulliqi Prize, Kosovo National Gallery, Prishtina, Kosovo (2011); Sand sculpture Festival, Rorschach, Switzerland (2011); Artists of Tomorrow, Kosovo National Gallery, Prishtina, Kosovo (2011, 2010) and Performance Test 1, 2...1, 2, National Gallery, Prishtina, Kosovo (2010).

Of Yours, 2015, Photography, Variable size, Courtesy of the artist Photocredit: Arber Elezi

Of Yours, 2015, Photography, Variable size, Courtesy of the artist Photocredit: Arber Elezi

Of Yours, 2015, Photography, Variable size, Courtesy of the artist Photocredit: Arber Elezi

Molecular Landscape, 2014, Charcoal and acrylic on paper 100 x 70cm, Courtesy of the artist

Biomechanism, Gypsum and newspaper, 2013-2014, 60 x 50 x 50cm, Courtesy of the artist Biomechanism, Gypsum and newspaper, 2013-2014, 60 x 35 x 30cm, Courtesy of the artist Biomechanism, Gypsum and newspaper, 2013-2014, 60 x 50 x 50cm, Courtesy of the artist

Majlinda Hoxha

Majlinda Hoxha (born 1984 in Prishtina/Kosovo) lives in

Using photography as her medium Majlinda Hoxha is

Prishtina/Kosovo.

exploring the concept of the uncanny, i.e. the tension be-

She received a B.A. in photography at Whitecliffe College

tween the familiar and the unfamiliar. She articulates this

of Arts and Design and her MFA from Elam School of

through a language of displacement and fragmentation, a

Fine Art at Auckland University in 2008.

set of objects, images and memories.

Her most recent exhibitions include 14th Gjon Mili-In-

In her photographs, Majlinda Hoxha is trying to create a

ternational Photo exhibition, curated by Richard Birkett,

personal environment that is sensitive to the recent politi-

Kosovo National Gallery, Prishtina, Kosovo (2015); tour-

cal and economic situation in Kosovo. The monuments, a

ing exhibition Aftermath: Changing Cultural Aftermath

recurring motif in her works, shall demonstrate a situation

Fotogalerie Wien, Vienna, Austria (2014) and City Gal-

that is yet to be revealed, hence referring to the uncertain-

lery Collegium Artisticum, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herze-

ties in respect to the future of her home country.

govina (2014); The Mixing Room at Te Papa the New Zealand Museum, Auckland, New Zealand (permanent installation); Remont galerija, Belgrade, Serbia (2013); Galerija Klovicevi dvori, Zagreb, Croatia (2013) Duplex 100m2, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (2013); Artist of Tomorrow and Muslim Mulliqi exhibition, Kosovo National Gallery, Prishtina, Kosovo (2012); Stacion Center for Contemporary Art Prishtina, Prishtina, Kosovo (2011) and Laundromat Art Project Space, Tauranga, New Zealand (2010).

In 2013 Hoxha was awarded the ISCP residency in New York, USA.

From the series. In Tandem, 2012, Inkjet print, 60 x 37cm, Courtesy of the artist

From the series. In Tandem, Lapidar, 2012, Inkjet print, 50 x 50cm, Courtesy of the artist

From the series. In Tandem, Rifle, 2012, Inkjet print, 50 x 50cm, Courtesy of the artist

Hand of clay, 2008, Inkjet print, 100 x 70cm, Courtesy of the artist

Fifteen, 2008, Inkjet print, 100 x 70cm, Courtesy of the artist

Petrit Halilaj

Petrit Halilaj (born 1986 in Skenderaj/Kosovo) lives and works in Runik/Kosovo, Mantova/Italy and Berlin/Germany.

He studied at Brera Academy in Milan, Italy and was Artist-in-Residence at Villa Romana, Florence, Italy (2014) and Fürstenberg, Donaueschingen, Germany (2013).

A selection of his recent solo exhibitions includes ABETARE, Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne, Germany (2015); She fully turning around became terrestrial, Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn, Germany (2015); Yes, but the sea is attached to the earth and it never floats around in space.

The stars would turn off and what about my planet ?,Kamel Mennour, Paris, France (2014); of course blue affects my way of shitting, Chert, Berlin, Germany (2014); Darling squeeze the button and remove my memory, Kosovo National Gallery, Prishtina, Kosovo (2014); I’m hungry to keep you close. I want to find the words to resist but in the end there is a locked sphere. The funny thing is that you’re not here, nothing is, Kunsthalle Lissabon, Lisbon, Portugal (2014); July 14th?, Foundation d’Enterprise Galeries Lafayette, Paris, France (2013); The Pavilion of The Republic of Kosovo, 55th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy (2013); Poisoned by men in need of some love, WIELS Contemporary Art Center, Brussels, Belgium (2013) and Who does the earth belong to while painting the wind?!, Kunsthalle Sankt Gallen, St. Gallen, Switzerland (2012).

He recently participated in group-exhibitions as What’s Love Gotta Do With It, S.A.L.T.S., Basel, Switzerland, (2015); Slip of the Tongue, Punta della Dogana, Venice, Italy (2015); Thirty One, by Hans Ulrich Obrist and Petrit Halilaj, Kosovo National Gallery, Prishtina (2015) and Shit and Die, Palazzo Cavour, Turin, Italy (2014).

Petrit Halilaj’s artistic practice is driven by a constant search of what reality is and how reality might be represented through art. His memories of a rural childhood, his personal experience of war, destruction, exodus and displacement are the very basis of his reflections on life and the human condition.

The artist moves back and forth between different countries: between Kosovo, where he grew up and where his family and many friends are; Italy, where he studied; and Berlin, where he is temporarily based. This transnational way of life not only adds to his experience, but also reflects Petrit Halilaj’s specific way of exploring art and reality, and of his continuing attempts to translate or even transform the one into the other. By re-creating and re-imagining artefacts of his personal past in his practice the artist builds bridges between different worlds, perceptions, ideologies, generations and phases of life.

What Comes First, 2015, Petrit Halilaj & Alvaro Urbano, Exhibition view, S.A.L.T.S Basel, 2015, Courtesy of the artists, Photocredit: Alvaro Urbano

Abetare, 2015, Exhibition view Kรถlnischer Kunstverein, Cologne, 2015, Courtesy the artist, Chert, Berlin and kamel mennour, Paris, Photocredit: Fabrice Seixas

Abetare, 2015, Exhibition view Kรถlnischer Kunstverein, Cologne, 2015, Courtesy the artist, Chert, Berlin and kamel mennour, Paris, Photocredit: Fabrice Seixas

Yes but the sea is attached to the earth and it never floats around in space. The stars would turn off and what about my planet?, 2014 Installation, Mixed media (earth, branches, fallen leaves, stones, soap), Variable dimensions, Exhibition view kamel mennour, Paris, 2014, Courtesy the artist and kamel mennour, Paris, Photocredit: Fabrice Seixas

Poisoned by men in need of some love, Exhibition view, WIELS Contemporary Art Centre, Brussels, 2013, Courtesy of the artist and Chert, Berlin, Photocredit: Kristien Daem

Installation view I’m hungry to keep you close. I want to find the words to resist but in the end there is a locked sphere.

The funny thing is that you’re not here, nothing is, Pavilion of The Republic of Kosovo, 55th La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, 2013, Various materials, birds, branches, earth, metal, clothes, Variable dimensions, Courtesy the artist and Chert, Berlin, Photocredit: Atdhe Mulla

Installation view I’m hungry to keep you close. I want to find the words to resist but in the end there is a locked sphere.

The funny thing is that you’re not here, nothing is, Pavilion of The Republic of Kosovo, 55th La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, 2013, Various materials, birds, branches, earth, metal, clothes, Variable dimensions, Courtesy the artist and Chert, Berlin, Photocredit: Atdhe Mulla

The book is produced and published under the guidance of Petrit Selimi and Rina Meta for The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kosovo in support of its efforts in joining UNESCO.

Publisher: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kosovo Editors: Isabella Ritter and Katharina Schendl Many thanks to: National Gallery of Kosovo, The British Council, Hannes Bรถck, Marc Krause, Hana Halilaj, Jennifer Chert, Jeanne Barral and Emma-Charlotte Gorby-Laurencin / Kamel Mennour, Sezgin Boynik and the artists.

YOUNG CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS OF KOSOVO