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By:
Shaban Maxharraj
- September 27, 2023 01:37
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In the jubilee edition of the major art event, Doruntina Kastrati together with Erëmira Krasniq as curator will set up "Ringing silences of metal and leather" in the Kosovo Pavilion. With this they will answer the topic "Foreigners everywhere". "The pavilion will address feminized work, inequalities in the workplace and the resulting alienation...", is the description given to the concept for next year's edition, which opens in April 2024 until November. This is the sixth representation of the country in this event that marks the 60th edition
Kosovo will send a significant problem to the International Art Biennale in Venice: conditions of insecurity at work. In addition to this issue, the instillation of the representative artist will also elaborate the subjectivity of the workers in the sociopolitical and economic context of Kosovo. The youngest state of Europe in the 60th edition of the International Art Biennale in Venice will be represented by the artist Doruntina Kastrati. It is the commission composed of Zdenka Badovinac, Massimiliano Gioni, Leonie Radine, Adam Szymczyk and Alban Muja that has decided that Kastrati, with the project proposal entitled "Resounding silences of metal and leather", curated by Erëmira Krasniqi, will represent Kosovo at the event. largest contemporary art in the world.
The decision of the Minister of Culture, Hajrulla Çeku, for the representation of Kosovo in the Biennale was made on Tuesday. Along with it, the reasoning of the jury members. According to the rationale, the five were convinced "by Doruntina Kastrati's powerful, coherent and detailed project-proposal, which expands her artistic research related to the conditions of job insecurity and the subjectivity of workers in the sociopolitical and economic context of Kosovo, the region and Europe.
"In her project 'Resounding silences of metal and leather' for the future Kosovo Pavilion, developed closely with the curator Erëmira Krasniqi, Kastrati proposed a sculptural installation", the justification reads.
A part of the artist's application is also quoted there.
"The pavilion will address feminized work, inequalities in the workplace and the resulting alienation. The project starts from the local context and looks closely at the economic and political transitions and how they have affected the most vulnerable groups", the project is quoted. According to the reasoning of the jury, the complex symbolism of the sculptural forms, which are free from didacticism, although originating in the artist's commitment to expose insecurity at work, attracted their attention.
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The jury trusted the team centered on the artist Doruntina Kastrati, a well-known name of her generation in conceptual art. Born in 1991 in Prizren, Kastrati works mainly with sculpture, installation and moving images. She researches and focuses on the body and its relationship to biopolitical power. In 2014, he was awarded the Prize for Young Visual Artists by the National Gallery of Kosovo. Then he won the "Hajdex6" award from the "Hajde" foundation. She was a resident artist at "International Studio and Curatorial Program" in New York, at "Art House" in Shkodër and at "Initiators" in Athens. Her works have been exhibited in art institutions such as "Eugster" in Belgrade, "Manifesta 14" in Pristina, the "Hessel" museum in New York and in several galleries and museums in Europe.
KOHA has tried to get comments on the selection of Kastrati from artists who participated in the Ministry's competition and from some outside this call. But they did not agree to comment even because unofficially there was a lot of criticism about the selection.
According to the jury, the various artistic and technical aspects of the project, which Kastrati meticulously detailed in the proposal, delineate a comprehensive project that is grounded in the local context and simultaneously connected to complex global narratives about workplace conditions.
"The coherence of the proposal is further strengthened by the extensive expertise of the curator Erëmira Krasniqi and her focus on oral histories and research experiences in Kosovo", is written in the justification for the selection of Kastrati. According to the jury, Krasniqi's work matches Kastrati's artistic practice as both draw lessons from individuals' personal experiences and first-person narratives.
The commissioner of the Pavilion will be the curator Hana Halilaj.
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The topic that will represent Kosovo at the International Art Biennale, which next year has the Brazilian curator, Adriano Pedrosa, also affects the general theme of the event. Pedrosa has introduced that the theme will be "Foreigners Everywhere". According to the concept of the team from Kosovo, workers who do not have the right conditions in the workplace can also be seen as foreigners. Pedrosa explained that the title was taken from a series of works started in 2004 by the "Claire Fontaine" collective, from Paris and who live in Palermo. Their works consist of neon sculptures in different colors that translate the word "Foreigners everywhere" into an ever-increasing number of languages.
On the other hand, the theme also comes from the name of a collective from the city of Turin that fought racism and xenophobia in Italy in the early 2000s. "Stranieri Ovunque", as the name of the collective literally translates to "Foreigners everywhere ".
This title goes well with the representation of Kosovo in this year's edition of the International Architecture Biennale. Poliksen Qorri-Dragaj and Hamdi Qorri are the duo who in their pavilion "RKS2 Transcedent Locality" (RKS2 - transcendent locality) takes into consideration the impact of immigrants on the development of their native countries. Through the installation, the duo has addressed transcendence not only as a philosophical term, but also on a practical level.
As for the representation of Kosovo at the International Art Biennale in Venice, it all started in 2013. At that time, Petrit Halilaj presented the installation "I am one of the five." I wish I could find the words that satisfy me, but in the end there is nothing left but to close a circle. The irony is that you are not here, no one is here." In 2015, the representative of Kosovo was the artist Flaka Haliti with the work "Speculating in the blue". In 2017, it was Sislej Xhafa with the work "Lost and Found", a powerful appeal for the fate of those who disappeared during the war. With a history of war, Kosovo was also represented in 2019 by Alban Muja with "Family Album". Last year, Jakup Ferri would respond to the theme defined by the Biennale with "Monumentality of everyday life".
Kosovo's relationship with the Biennale started in 2012. At the Architecture Biennale in Venice, Kosovo debuted that year. At that time, the state was presented with "Filigree Worker", by the curator Përparim Rama - now the mayor of Pristina - and the architect Bekim Ramku was appointed as commissioner. The "Filigree Worker" wanted to shed light on Kosovo's cultural heritage. In 2014, Gëzim Paçarizi represented Kosovo with "Visibility (imposed modernism)". The tower made of 720 benches conveyed the architectural history of Prizren. Pointing out the changes that this country has undergone over a century was what was introduced in the curatorial concept. Two years later, the quarrel of the Ministry of Culture that had not taken care of the procedures, Kosovo was not represented, to return in 2018 with Eliza Hoxha, with the work "The city is everywhere", which moved there the Kosovar house of the years. 90. In the 2020 edition, Maksut Vezgishi with "Containporary" analyzed the question of how we can live together.
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"Silences..." from Kosovo awaiting echo in Venice
The Kosovo Pavilion is erected in the Arsenale, which together with the Giardini are the main places where the works of the participating countries are located.
