Sislej Xhafa in isolated New York reinstates the 1999 silence order

It is located in one of the subway stations in New York. Leaning against the wall, he "commands" the passers-by to be silent. Addressed with the whisper "shshsh". Sometimes, to complete what he intends, he offers his index finger to his mouth, completing what he expresses with physical actions. He does this during an almost two-minute video. It looks like a new work. In communication with time it turns out to be so.

But "Zitti" in Italian, which in Albanian means "Shut your mouth", has its origin in 1999. At that time it was performed in another metropolis. In London. In the video published on Tuesday by the National Museum of 21st Century Art in Rome - MAXXI, Xhafa does not simply repeat what he did XNUMX years ago. Now there are other reasons to tell people to "shut up". Those who watch it in New York are astounded. He receives attention from passers-by who wear masks and are not so numerous as the cause of the pandemic, writes KOHA.

According to what the Museum has published on "Facebook", Xhafa has become part of a new campaign. "#AZIONIDARTISTA (artist actions) Sislej Xhafa joins our campaign with his performance in the New York subway. Take a moment of peace, with the author", is written next to Xhafa's work.

The artist told the newspaper that through the performance he asks people to be silent or shut up.

"Zitti" as a performance was done for the first time in the subway station in London. While in New York it is the same at this time of pandemic, but in a different time and space context", he said. According to him, the work remains open to different interpretations. While comparing the work in terms of time, he said that before the XNUMXth century, the expression "shut up" was rarely used as an imperative and had a different meaning.

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"Telling someone to 'shut up' meant that they were locked up, quarantined or held prisoner," said Xhafa. He also sampled several passages of the Bible from what is known as the King James Version. There is a lot of talk about the plague, about quarantine isolation. For example, according to her, the priest should examine the plague by isolating anyone who has signs of it for seven days.

He clarified that this meaning was also used for closing something, such as a business. Now when the whole world is facing the coronavirus, silence has reigned everywhere. The closure in recent months was the action ordered by the authorities. In addition to the closure of businesses, people are also isolated in their homes. Xhafa has reacted precisely at the time when the states have started to soften the measures after almost two months in isolation.