S’të kom për hatër
Jo ty
Për hatër e kom atë që e du pak
Ty t’du
Me vrull
Me ankthin e bebës
N’pritje t’cicës
Qashtu po t’du
Si bebja ujin
Si guha gjinin
Jom t’u t’dëshiru
Si jargt’ e bebës në kambën e vet
Mrekulli, e ngazëllim
Dëshirë e pastër
More
I came to you starved
And came right into you
Like a broken dog
Unloved
And rather desolate
I ended up on your thighs
With my spirit on one leg
And my body on the other
Giving kisses not so much like a lover
But like a hungry vermin unearthing food
Sneakily
And yet
Boldly
Furiously
I wanted you
I wanted every playing field on your body
Every little pebble on your skin
Every mole
Every bruise
Any sign of stories you keep secret
Any stroke of love before me
Strokes to attest to & erase
I had you
And wanted more
More
More
Identitet ne Proces Ndryshimesh
Gjeja qe karakterizon dekadat e fundit eshte dinamizmi me te cilin kulturat, sidomos ato me te voglat dhe me hermetiket, po ndryshojne dhe nga ky shkak keto shoqeri te vogla po vihen ne situata riekzaminimi te identiteteve dhe vlerave qe mbeshtesin.
Mass media, Mass komunikimi, tregu i lire, le te permend vetem disa nga agjentet qe punojne per fenomenin e quajtur globalizem, u kane hape gjeresisht portat vendeve te vogla. Por, çdo porte e hapur ndryshon ne structure brenda vetes dhe kjo gje po sjell ndryshime te ketyre kulturave te vogla. Kjo eshte edhe situata jone sot: po qendrojme perpara ketyre portave te hapura, duke u perthithur syresh ne menyre progresive dhe vazdhueshmerisht duke ndjere ndryshime ne ambientin dhe ne identitetin tone.
Pikerisht me perngjizjen/fuzionimin e kulturave fillon edhe vepra e artisteve Rudina Xhaferi dhe Erzen Shkololli, te cilet i perkasin kulturave te vogla. Ata kane filluar kerkimin e identitetit te tyre, i cili ndodhet ne nje metamorfoze te vazhdueshme dhe gjate keti procesi artistet Shkololli dhe Xhaferi ekspozojne situaten kunderthenese ne te cilen identiteti i tyre ndodhet. Keshtu, permes kerkimeve te tyre individuale ata nxjerrin ne siperfaqe krizen qe po perballon identiteti yne kolektiv. P.sh. “Ne kerkim te yllit tim” nga Xhaferi, nje punim i perbere nga 12 fotografi me ngjyra ku ne shohim fytyren e artistes tek veshtron drejt per drejt shikuesin, çdo pamje ndryshon ne çdo nuance te fleshit, ngjyra e karminit dhe flamuret qe artistja I ka pikturuar ne mes te vetullave – qe jane flamuret e çdo shteti qe ben pjese ne Bashkimin Europian – gjithe kjo tbalo nxjerr ne pah problemin e identitetit duke inicuar kerkimin e nje identiteti.
Ne punimin e saj artistja behet angleze, gjermane, italiane, suedeze dhe ngjyra e lekures se saj ne foto ndryshon sipas kombesise qe ajo i vesh vetes. Per te gjetur yllin e vet asaj i duhet qe te shendrrohet ne gjithe keto kombesi, asaj i duhet qe te perfaqesoje te gjitha vlerat e tyre, kuptimet e tyre, ne menyre qe te gjeje ne mesin e gjithe kesaj indentitetin e vet. Por, vete procesi I kerkimit te identitetit te saj, thellon konfuzionin dhe shkakton humbjen e tij. Duke u hedhur nga nje identitet ne tjetrin artistja e humb identitetin e saj. Ajo shendrohet ne nje kukull plasitke mbi te cilen mund te ngjitet çfaredo etikete. Jane riprodhimet e fytyres se saj qe ndryshijne sipas nacionaliteteve, qe shpeh nje ndejnje konfuziteti dhe shenon kete humbje identiteti. Per me teper, fakti qe figura duket si e nje modele virtuale, marre nga interneti, prodhuar ne perendim, e cila vetem me nje klick mund t’ju sherbehet ne ngjyra e stile te ndryshme, te sugjeron idene e nenshtrimit ndaj nje kulture superiore, ndaj nje identiteti superior.
Megjithate, eshte edhe nje dimension tjeter i ketij kualiteti virtual ne forme kukullash qe keto figura te artistes Xhaferi kane. Ky eshte ai artificialiteti i identiteteve kolektive, qe si faktor sintetik dhe i jashtem nuk eshte kurre I qendrueshem. Dhe, meqe ne rastin tone, identiteti dhe kultura jone i nenshtrohet ne menyre te vazhdueshme ndikimit te nje kulture me dominante, ne kurrsesi nuk mund te identifikohemi ose te shendrohemi ne te krejtesisht. E vetmja gje eshte ta varrim ate mbi veteveten. Ashtu si Xhaferi ka “vesh” identitete te ndryshme ne punimin e saj, qe si maska, flasin per artificialitetin e kombesive dhe identiteteve te tyre.
Por, ne punimin e Shkolollit “Tranziocionet”. Artificialiteti I idenititetit kolektiv, sin je diçka e imponuar dhe e huaj, behet eksplicit. Vepra permban 3 imazhe te kornizuara. E para tregon artsitin si femije, veshur me nje kostum tradicional turk te synetise. Foto e dyte tregon po artistin, kesaj here veshur si pionier, dhe ne te tretin e shohim artistin tashme te rritur, duke pozuar para aparatit fotografik me nje flamur te Bashkimit Europian ne sfond. Cdo foto tregon nje pike kuptimplote ne historine dhe ne formesimin e identitetit te artistit, si dhe ne fomimin e identitetit tone kolektiv. Por, me i rendesishem eshte fakti se çdo foto tregon nje ideologji dhe nje system nen te cilin vlerat dhe identitetet tona jane formuar…
Mired in Ambiguity
Two years ago, in November 2015, Kosovo applied for UNESCO membership in an initiative led by then Foreign Minister (and current President) Hashim Thaci. He was actively backed by the then Deputy Foreign Minister Petrit Selimi. In the months prior to the bid, the process was promoted to the Kosovar public as one of the most important diplomatic events for Kosovo since the declaration of independence. The elegantly designed PR campaign was also being promoted as a diplomatic success story before the vote even took place. Ordinary people were personally invested, updating their social media profiles with the slogan, “Kosovo in UNESCO.”
When November 9, the day of the vote, arrived, everyone was glued to their televisions, phones, and laptops to watch the tallying of the results. I vividly remember being elated when New Zealand and the Czech Republic voted yes. Being a former refugee in New Zealand, and having family ties in Czech Republic, I was happy and kind of relieved. These two countries that recognised Kosovo’s statehood were consistent in their policies toward Kosovo, and said yes.
Kosovo, however, failed by three votes that year. Abstentions came from some countries that are considered strong allies of Kosovo, such as Japan and Poland. There was also intensive lobbying on the part of Serbia to block Kosovo from joining. What has come out of that failure today in 2017, however, is little but lack of accountability, it seems. No follow-up analyses were undertaken by those involved, and there was no explanation, not only to the public, but also to relevant institutions themselves, about what went wrong. The MFA, which was the main conduit for the process, did not see it fit to inform other relevant institutions about what had happened (such as the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Ministry of Education), and what can and should be done to remedy the results in the future. In its finality, if I may be rather cynical, it felt like the process had been in some sense monopolized, used for political points, and for that devastatingly seductive phenomenon among Kosovar politicians: the harnessing of the cult of the individual. In the face of institutional dysfunction and destitution, the story seems to go, a few individuals will save the day.
UNESCO, on the other hand, is an important organization of the United Nations. It was formed with the aim of preserving and promoting knowledge, culture, and science under the premise that all should benefit from these human achievements. The organization oversees a number of other smaller institutions that fund projects for these three sectors. If Kosovo became a member it would unlock doors to funding for education, cultural heritage, and science, sectors which Kosovo has dire need for funding and support.
Membership in UNESCO, furthermore, would be an affirmative nudge to Kosovo’s statehood on the international arena, and would also shift the discourse vis-a-vis the cultural and scientific heritage of Kosovo itself. As things sit now, Kosovo is actively undermined by Serbia, which does not recognize Kosovo as a state, and claims that the Orthodox Churches belong to it. It argues that the Kosovo government is unable to preserve the Serbian Orthodox heritage, and that it should not be left up to Prishtina to preserve and deal with it. The argument is still largely based on the events of 2004 when a number of Orthodox churches were burned down by Albanians. Therefore, membership in UNESCO would give Kosovo the upper hand in what it considers important to discuss and bring forth from its heritage. Kosovo has countless archeological sites, old buildings, historical cities, oral heritage, and a rich tradition in letters and in written and spoken verse.
With the current climate, however, in which the discourse is dominated by the political maneuvers of Serbia vis-a-vis Kosovo, one has the impression that Kosovo has nothing else to offer, and that its heritage in architecture, science and letters pales in comparison to its Serbian Orthodox heritage.
It is imperative that this time around, if Kosovo decides to apply for the bid, it applies an inclusive approach to all the relevant institutions, reaches out to professionals, and creates a comprehensive and detailed strategy for the application. Another ad hoc process–mired in ambiguity and shrouded in secrecy, where whispers prevail instead of information-sharing with institutions and NGOs–should not be afforded.
29/03/2017 Prishtina Insight, opinion.
For Petrit history is a personal experience and endevor…a point of departure for constructions and works of abstraction, that reach a universal visual language…although we are tempted to find references in his work to land art and arte povera, we soon see that these influences are an aesthetic starting point for works that are far more personal and intimate…
Rejecting pathos, rejecting melodrama, a personal position that is both relevant and political, looking at the past, without sentimentality, but by giving it new aesthetic expression and bringing it in the now.
A visual language that reaches a kind of universal context, proposing new forms of creating, new constructions, and new ways of thinking about form, but also the way we tell stories.
Reference to Borges, his piece on imagined animals and beings…
“Darling squeeze the button and remove my memory”
Petrit Halilaj (1986) is known to surprise! In one of his latest shows—“Poisoned by men in need of some love” at WIELS Brussels in 2013—the exhibition consisted of animals built out of clay, straw, animal excrement, and wire. These creatures were recreations of stuffed animals he had found in the basement of the National Museum of Kosova. They had been part of the Museum of Natural History prior to the war in 1999, but had been relocated to the basement to make room for the creation of the Ethnological Museum. Forced underground, unkempt, these damaged and abandoned stuffed animals seem like a reminder of the monopoly over what is deemed significant for the official narrative of a country, and what can be cast aside. With Kosovo being a young country, the Ethnological Museum, of course, seems a far more urgent and significant undertaking, than the Natural History Museum. And yet, Halilaj, ever the archeologist, excavates these leftovers, allowing for that which has been cast aside to be given room: reshown, and rethought. Owls, eagles, wolves, foxes, and lynxes made of mud and excrement inhabit the exhibition space at WIELS, and serve as a ghostly reminder of these now cast aside animals.
Halilaj it seems, is obsessed with animals: chicken and birds in particular, appear continously throughout his work. They are themes that evoke his rural upbringing in Kostërc, and his childhood memories. These memories are also the basis and the platform from which his work develops and takes shape thematically. In his drawings from 2008 onwards, a series of hens have been drawn with the impeccable hands of a craftsman. These hens are each called “Bourgeois Hen” and as the name suggests, they appear, lofty, proud, and utterly self-consumed; so self-absorbed, they are almost aristocratic. Or perhaps they are petit bourgeois hens, pretending aristocracy. In a later piece “They are Lucky to be Bourgeois Hens II” (exhibited at Stacion – Center for Contemporary Art Prishtina in 2010), Halilaj built a space shuttle for his roaming hens. A strange construction made of wood that resembles an archaic piece of scientific make-believe, uncannily, predicting the future!
In the main hall of the KW Institute for Contemporary Art at the 2010 Berlin Biennale, Halilaj rebuilt the frame of his house in Kostërc that burned down and which his family had been trying to rebuild (“The places I’m looking for my dear, are utopian places, they are boring and I don’t know how to make them real”). Here too, together with the skeletal construction of the house, chickens roam the exhibition space. The frame of the house, on the other hand, bold and imposing, reminds the viewer of a world that is far from the compelling and comfortable world of the exhibition space in Berlin.
In fact, Halilaj seems to be playing this “trick” constantly, whereby he lures his viewers with his aesthetically refined and imposing constructions and objects, only to reveal that the works themselves have a deeper social and political meaning, a meaning which is at once the personal experience and journey of the artist, and at the same time, the plight of a whole geographical and social territory, and its people.
Formally, Halilaj’s practice reminds us of works by artists from the twentieth century Arte Povera movement, but also of works by Minimalist Land artists of the previous century, who used land and everyday objects for their work. What else are we to think of the sixty tons of soil brought from Kostërc to Basel, called simply “Kostërc” 2011, and shoved in the exhibition space? At first of course, we think of Land art, only to be faced with the reality of the origin of this soil: his family’s home and its reason for being brought to Basel, which references the artist’s personal plight and history. This aesthetic quality, however, references his educational background in Italy, where the influence of the Arte Povera period is still, at least aesthetically if not conceptually, very much present. In fact, I would go as far as to say that Halilaj’s work seems to develop the aesthetical standards of Arte Povera toward a thematic framework that is completely out of context with what the movement itself was. The objects invented may have an aesthetic reference and resemblance to the Italian school, but the topics that are discussed are utterly the making of the artist himself.
Furthermore, Halilaj seems to be a builder of invented objects. As Veit Loers—the thinker and curator writing for the catalogue published by Chert and Kunstraum Innsbruck in 2011 on the occasion of his solo exhibition—says: “He is an inventor of objects—which in their presence and ambience seem to come straight from a fantasy land.”
Certainly, one of his recent works, “It is the first time dear that you have a human shape” 2012—presented in an exhibition at the Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen—consisting of a series of large metal and rock constructions, seems at first utterly abstract in form, monumental and imposing. It is only after we walk backward, and look at these objects from afar, that we realize these large forms are earrings! They are replications of earrings that belonged to the artist’s mother, unearthed from the jewelry that she had buried in the backyard during the war before leaving there home in Kostërc in 1999; while the rocks that fill the metal structures are the ruins of their house, shipped from Kostërc. As Barbara Casavecchia wrote in Art Review early in 2014: “Halilaj is not drawn to rarified abstraction: his works are figurative and often act as translations of his past experiences or imaginary worlds.” Halilaj’s works, indeed, are very often literal recreations of everyday objects that come from his childhood memory, some personal event, or just from his everyday surroundings. In this sense, Halilaj’s pieces are also formal and aesthetic propositions, literal translations of his personal experiences—his mother’s belongings— earrings that take monumental proportions.
In “Darling squeeze the button and remove my memory” we look at Halilaj’s work from recent years. The exhibition is the first solo show at the National Gallery of Kosovo for Halilaj, and the first presentation to the Kosovar public after he was commissioned to represent the first Pavilion of the Republic of Kosovo at the Venice Biennale in 2013. The title of the exhibition, like his previous titles, is taken from his writing; the diary-like pieces are intimate and playful ruminations on various topics that are partly personal, partly comments on various social phenomena, partly ideas of imagined worlds, and partly a play in words. “Darling squeeze the button and remove my memory” to me is a playful reference to Halilaj’s work, a reference to the memory of his childhood objects and environments that he keeps recreating and going back to. And perhaps a desire to forget for a moment, so that he can remember anew, recreate anew, remake anew the objects and shapes from his childhood—some factual, others imagined.
Curatorial text for Petrit Halilaj’s exhibition “Darling squeeze the button and remove my memory” at National Gallery of Kosovo, 30.05.2014-30.06.2014
Copyright, GKK & Vesa Sahatçiu
A review of the exhibition was done by Lura Limani posted on her tumblr here: http://ngerxhe.tumblr.com/post/87913517433/darling-squeeze-the-button-and-remove-my-memory
Symbols of Yugoslavia Are Left to Decay
Discussions about the cultural heritage of former-Yugoslavia today, are often isolated to banal comments on websites and in coffee shop conversations. There is lack of want, a kind of intellectual laziness, to treat this historical period and its effects in a more serious manner, where the tools for debate are more objective than asking, “Is this heritage Albanian or not?” or “If we support the protection of this heritage, are we patriots, or not?” Reducing the debate over this period to pejorative terms like “traitor” and “non-Albanian” from the outset misinterprets the period of Yugoslavia by displacing and depriving it of its historical context. Such simplification also denies the role of Albanians in Yugoslavia’s construction
“I dream of a Europe without monuments, that is, without monuments of death and destruction. Perhaps monuments to love, to joy, jokes and laughter” Bogdan Bogdanovic
Former Yugoslav monuments, streets, parks and squares, are not simply Serbian: They are Yugoslav. And because Albanians were part of it, these monuments remain part of our heritage.
So, then, what are these monuments that make up our heritage? Are they important to us? Do they have a historical or cultural value?
The separation of Yugoslavia from the Eastern Bloc alliance in 1948 and the soured relationship between Tito and Stalin had more than just a political effect in Yugoslavia; it also greatly influenced art and culture. Socialist–Realism, a doctrine almost unquestionable in the Eastern Bloc, was immediately replaced by a new conceptual and aesthetic approach. Unlike in the Soviet Union and Albania, this new milieu did not have the rigidity of Socialist Realism, allowing for a freedom that led to abstract forms, deeply influenced by the Modernist current in the West.
Even though, the topics that these monuments represented remained entirely within the framework of socialist ideology, such as, memorials dedicated to soldiers of the anti-fascist World War II, the square celebrating brotherhood and unity in the center of Prishtina called “A monument dedicated to the fallen fighters” designed by Miodrag Zivkovic in 1961. In Mitrovica, the monument by the architect Bogdan Bogdanovic is dedicated to Albanian and Serbian partisans in the anti-fascist war, the form with which these topics were created was fresh. Bogdanovic acknowledged that Tito was not culturally imbued and did not know trends in art. But the leader was eager to engage artists who would break from the Soviet template, Bogdanovic said in an interview. Tito wanted a new movement to represent the memory and identity of the Yugoslav federation. After Tito saw Bogdanovic’s abstract works, with floral motifs and totemic shapes, he commissioned his work continuously over the years.
From 1948 to 1980, Yugoslavia’s monuments were outside the typical classification of either Western capitalist or Eastern communist styles. This style was deeply influenced by the modernist ideas of the time, and Yugoslav architects were free to explore the ideas of modernist architects such as Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe, as well as surrealism and other trends of the time. This unfettered creation allowed ideas from elsewhere to filter through the locality and the social and cultural specifics of Yugoslavia. This period produced monuments undoubtedly specific to the former Yugoslav regions.
This was also when Kosovo experienced a dramatic move forward in its conceptions of art and architecture. Without this period, we would not have had the period of modern art characterized by the works of Muslim Mulliqi, Xhevdet Xhafa, Nysret Salihamixhiqi et cetera.
From the political and ideological perspective, Yugoslvia was a supranational federation, and as such, it aimed to create a visual language and a collective memory that would encapsulate all of its nationalities within it. If there was something anathema to Yugoslavia, it was the return to old nationalist sentiments and animosities. Furthermore, this was the ideological and political context of post-World War II, where positions of the Left and Right were more important for political and social organization than nationalism and national identity.
Therefore, applying frameworks of analysis only of the present tense today to an analysis of the cultural heritage of Yugoslavia is engaging in historical revisionism. Conclusions about the past should not be based exclusively on political, social or ideological sentiments of the present, they should, first and foremost, consider the dynamics of the past and the historical context within which the Yugoslav period came about.
It is clear that these monuments today, are not considered Serbian, Croatian, Slovenian, Montenegrin, Macedonian, or Albanian. One need only notice that they are neglected by their host countries and left to crumble in all the regions of the former Yugoslavia. We are all ambivalent, if not outright antagonistic, toward these monuments. Resurgent nationalist sentiments leave no room for monuments with no national identity. There’s no space for these relics when so many are busy rewriting history, as is Macedonia with kitsch and historically incorrect monuments. Who needs monuments that are neither Serbian nor Albanian, and yet they are both? Ironically, it is more than correct to deem these monuments as “futuristic”, as they have been deemed by observers. These monuments are in a sense without history. They simply have no space in the historical precedent we value today. At most, they are leftovers, aberrations in the flat and linear flow of our history.
On the other hand, these monuments can be viewed at least from the perspective of art history, as testimonies to Kosovar modernism. They can be sources of inspiration and knowledge for a new generation of artists and architects. Maybe they will even endure — if the Prishtina Municipality doesn’t follow through with getting rid of the former Brotherhood and Unity Square to build a much-discussed parking lot.
Commissioned by Kosovo 2.0, and published in Kosovo 2.0, Summer issue, “Public Space” June 2013.
The article was republished in E-novie, an electronic magazine based in Belgrade: http://www.e-novine.com/author/vesa-sahat_iu
Mbi Monumentet Ish-Jugosllave dhe Interpretimin e Historisë
“ëndërroj një Evropë pa monumente. Gjegjësisht, një Evropë pa monumente të vdekjes dhe shkatërrimit. Porse, ndoshta, monumente mbi dashurinë, ngazëllimin, shakanë dhe buzëqeshjen” Bogdan Bogdanoviq, arkitekt
1. Diskutimet mbi trashëgiminë kulturore ish-jugosllave sot, janë te izoluara në komente shpeshëherë banale, në portale elektronike dhe biseda kafenesh. Ka një mosdëshirë, njëfarë lloj përtacije intelektuale për ta trajtu këtë periudhë historike dhe të mbeturat e saja nga një perspektivë më serioze, ku si mjete debati shfrytëzohen koncepte më të thella dhe më objektive sesa a është kjo trashëgimi shqiptare apo jo dhe a jemi ne patriotë apo jo, po qe se perkrahim ruajtjen e kësaj trashëgimije. Reduktimi i debatit për këtë periudhë në terma pezhorativ si “tradhëtar” dhe “joshqiptar”, përveç që është ofendues, poashtu, keqintepreton periudhën Ish Jugosllave duke e zhvendosë/deprivu atë nga konteksti i sajë historik, dhe mohon rolin tonë në ndërtimin e sajë. Monumentet ish Jugosllave, bashkë me objektet, rrugët, parqet, sheshet, nuk janë serbe, ato janë ish-Jugosllave dhe meqë ne ishim pjesë përbërëse e sajë, ato janë sot, trashëgimija jonë!
2. Çfarë janë, atëherë këto monumente te cilat i trashëguam nga periudha e Jugosllavise? A janë ato te rëndësishme për ne dhe a kanë ato vlerë historike dhe kulturore?
3. Shkëputja e Jugosllavisë nga aleanca me bllokun Sovjetik ne vitin 1948, dhe prishja e raportit në mes të Titos dhe Stalinit, nuk pati vetëm ndikim politik ne Jugosllavi, por pati ndikim të madh edhe në fushen e artit dhe kulturës. Përnjëherë, doktrina e Realizmit Socialist, doktrinë thuaja e pakapërcyeshme në bllokun Lindor, u zëvendësua me hulumtime të reja konceptuale dhe estetike të cilat nuk e kishin më rigjiditetin e Realizmit Socialist, siç e kishte ish-Bashkimi Sovietik dhe Shqipëria, por kishte një liri të re e cila shpiente drejt formave abstrakte, thellë të ndikuara nga rryma moderniste ne perëndim. Edhe pse temat të cilat shtjelloheshin mbetën tema krejtësisht përbrenda kornizës së ideologjisë Socialiste — si për shembull, memorialet e dedikuara ushtarëve në luftën antifashiste; sheshi dhe monumenti i dedikuar idesë së Vëllazërim Bashkimit në qendër të Prishtinës i quajtur “Monument dedikuar Luftëtarëve të Rënë” krijuar nga Miodrag Zivkovic në vitin 1961; monumenti dedikuar partizanëve shqiptar dhe serb në luftën antifashiste në Mitrovicë, nga arkitekti Bogdan Bogdanoviç etj; — forma me të cilën shtjelloheshin këto tema ishte e re dhe e freskët. Nje përshkrim që jep arkitekti Bogdan Bogdanoviq me të takuar Titon, është se, edhe pse Titoja nuk ishte i kalitur kulturalisht dhe nuk i njihte trendet e artit, ai ishte në hall ta angazhonte dikend që do të krijonte diçka krejtësisht ndryshe nga mostra Sovietike, një tipologji të re për ta përafqesuar identitetin e federatës Jugosllave. Me t’i parë punët abstrakte, me motive florale dhe forma totemike te Bogdanoviçit, ai ia dha punën atij.
4. Për një kohë të konsiderueshme pastaj, në mes të viteve 1948-1980, Jugosllavia me arkitekturen dhe monumentet e saja i ikte klasifikimit tipik në mes të stilit perendimor/kapitalist e lindor/komunist. Ajo u ndikua thellë nga idetë moderniste të kohës, me një liri për të navigu në mes të ideve të Le Corbusier e Mies van der Rohe, Surrealizmit dhe trendeve të tjera të asaj kohe. Kjo liri, tutje, dha hapësirën për kullimin e ideve moderniste me lokalitetitin dhe specifikat shoqërore e kulturore të Jugosllavisë, duke çuar në krijimin e monumenteve të cilat janë specifike për trevat ish-Jugosllave. Kjo periudhë, poashtu, është periudha kur Kosova përjetoji një lëvizje dramatike përpara në konceptet e saja për artin e arkitekturën. Pa këtë periudhë, ne nuk do ta kishim hovin e artit modern që karakterizohet me veprat e Muslim Mulliqit, Xhevdet Xhafes, Nysret Salihamixhiqit, e të tjerë. Modernizmi atëherë, kishte hy edhe në Kosovë.
5. Nga perspektiva politike dhe ideologjike, ish-Jugosllavia ishte federatë supra-nacionale, e cila kishte për qëllim dhe si strategji krijimin një gjuhe vizuele dhe të një kujtese kolektive e cila kapërthente të gjitha nacionalitetet përbrenda sajë. Nëse kishte diçka që e frikësonte Jugosllavinë, ishte rizgjimi i ndjenjave të vjetra nacionale dhe rikëndellja e animostiteteve të vjetra (ajo që edhe ndodhi). Për më tepër, konteksti politik përbrenda të cilit ishte ndërtuar Jugosllavia, siç e thash më herët, ishte ajo e pas Luftës së Dytë Botërore, ku rol decidiv luanin pozicionet ideologjike të së majtës apo të demokracise liberale, derisa nacionalizmi dhe identiteti kombëtar si platformë e organizimit politik e shoqëror, nuk luante rol parësor, te pakten jo zyrtarisht.
6. Prandaj, është e gabuar që sot ta bëjmë një analizë mbi trashëgiminë kulturore ish Jugosllave, duke përdorë si matës për rëndësinë e sajë, koncepte të cilat injorojnë krejtësisht kornizën përbrenda së ciles u krijuan këto monumente. Një aktiviteti të tillë i thonë rivizionizëm historik dhe me ç’rast konkluzionet dhe përfundimet mbi të kaluarën vijnë në saje të sentimenteve politike, shoqërore e ideologjike të së tashmës, duke i injoru krejtësisht dinamikat e të së kaluarës.
7. Dëshmi se këto monumente sot nuk konsiderohen as serbe, kroate, sllovene, malaziase, maqedonase, e shqiptare, është neglizhenca ndaj tyre në të gjitha trevat e ish-ugosllavisë. Që të gjithë jemi ambivalentë, në mos antagonist ndaj këtyre monumenteve. Me sentimentet e reja nacionaliste, me rishikimin e historisë siç po bën Maqedonia per shembull, duke ndërtu monumente kiçeroze dhe jo të sakta historikisht, thjesht nuk ka hapësirë për monumente “pa përkatësi kombëtare”. Kujt i duhen monumente të cilat nuk janë as serbe, as shqiptare? Prandaj, ironikisht, është mëse e sakt kur thuhet se këto monumente duken “futuristike”, sikur të ishin nga e ardhmja, ose nga një e kaluar e hershme. Ato janë të pahistori. Ato thjesht nuk kanë vend në rjedhën e zhvillimeve historike siç po i kuptojmë ato ne sot. Ato qëndrojnë si njëfarë teprice, një anomali në rjedhën përndryshe të hekurosur dhe të njëtrajtshme të historisë sonë.
8. Në anën tjetër, këto monumente do të duhej sot ti shohim, të paktën prej perspektivës së historisë së artit, si dëshmi të modernizmit kosovar, si vepra nga të cilat gjeneratat e reja të artit e arkitekturës thithin njohuni. Mbase, ndoshta, nëse Komuna e Prishtinës nuk vendosë ta ndërtojë atë parkingun aq të përfolur, mu aty ku qëndron sheshi ish-Vëllazërim Bashkim në Prishtinë.
Komisionuar dhe publikuar në: Kosovo 2.0 Revista, edicioni “Hapësira Publike.” ff. 75-78, Qershor, 2013. Ky verzion është verzioni origjinal i tekstit. http://kosovotwopointzero.com/revista Ilustrimet janë e drejtë autoriale e Driton Selmani.
DOKUFEST, PËR SHËNDET TË MIRË!
Në një ambient ku memzi mund të shohësh përtej diskursit të bajatshëm politik të Qeverisë sonë, dhe ku kritika funksionon më shumë si garantues i status quo-së, sesa si sfidues i sajë; ku gjuha vizuale është e monopolizuar nga reklama për cigare dhe kredi bankare, ku kuptimi mbi të kaluarën tonë shprehet përmes radhëve të monumentve të cilët përmbajnë së paku një dyzinë kallashnikovësh, Dokufesi po na ofron material me gjuhë të freskët dhe kritike. Po na e çelë dritarën, sado të vockël, drejt një gjuhe e cila i tejkalon kufijtë fizikë e diskursiv që janë konstruktuar për ne, dhe po na jep diçka të vlefshme, mendimin dhe repezentimin kritik.
Mu në mes të Prizrenit jam e sfiduar të mendoj në mënyrë kritike mbi çështjen e Palestinës dhe Izraelit. Mu në kafiqin e vogël përball Lumbardhit po reflektoj mbi videon e Phill Collins dhe po e pyes vetën, çfarë është kjo amnezi kolektive mbi të kaluarën tonë të afërme?
Kur mund të flasim me sinqeritet mbi atë se çfarë na ka ndodhë pa e patur atë ndjenjen se po i tejkalojmë kufijtë e së lejuarës – ku diskutimi mbi të kaluarën tonë ofendon tjetrin? Në dhomën time të vogël të hotelit, mu pas burgut të qytetit, me lap-topin në të majtë e pyes vetën se çka do t’i duhej njeriut që të bëhet e fortë dhe e sinqertë si Anna Politkovskaya? Sesi njeriu ngritet mbi frikën dhe bëhet qenje e fuqishme.
Çka do të ndodhte sikur edhe unë t’i sfidoja ata të cilët janë duke më qeverisë? Në mendje i kthehem monumentit të cilin e pashë në Shtime tek rrethi i qytetit, teksa ndodhesha rrugës për në Prizren – tri skulptura ne formë kallashnikovësh si monument i cili perfaqëson të kaluarën tonë të afërme dhe krenarinë tonë kombëtare! Kjo është edhe forma që lufta e 99-shit po e merr në kujtesen tonë kolektive!
Reflektoj mbi masivin malor në Caralevë ku peizazhi vazhdimisht po ndryshon nga puna e buldozerëve të cilët e “hanë” gurin me qëllim të prodhimit të materialit ndërtimor për shtëpi private! Vazhdoj të mendoj se dua të flas për të gjitha këto, dua të kërkoj përgjegjësi, dua të kërkoj llogaridhënje!
Dokufesi, çdo vit po na godet si një erë e lehtë vere pas një viti mendimesh gjumashe. Mu në Prizren po i gjej shenjat e mendjes së shëndoshë, ku nuk po flihet me sy çelë, por po diskutohet dhe mendohet për gjërat trazuese dhe sfiduese që po ndodhin rreth nesh. Mu në Prizren po e gjej atë shkëndinë e vockël e mendimit të shëndetshëm – ku ne pyesim pyetje, posaçerisht ato më të vështirat, dhe reflektojmë mbi gjërat, posaçërisht mbi ato më sfidueset.
Koha Ditore, Shtojca për DokuFest
Kolumne, 10.08.2008
Women in the Archive of the Museum of Kosova
Nita Luci & Vesa Sahatçiu
This is the first exhibition of its kind in Kosova, both in the fact that it presents a collection of images of women and creates representations of women, drawing from a period of some 5000 years. The choice of making an exhibition that represents women within the theme Love and Life, is telling of current social and cultural understandings prescribed to women in Kosova. The correlation of love and life to women may be viewed with sympathy. As such, it reproduces our established ideas about womanhood. On the other hand, today we have come to understand that the idea of womanhood is a complex and changing historical category.
We suggest that the exhibition can offer a site through which a serious discussion about the museum may take place – the museum as a conduit of narratives about culture, society, and history. Here we invite the viewer to think about understandings of representation as such, and more specifically how the arrangement of objects in an exhibition produces meaning. We would agree that here is no true meaning of a visual image, but there are continuous attempts to fix the meaning of certain representations, to prefer certain meanings to others (Hall 1997). A series of questions emerge here: Why were precisely these images, photographs and artifacts chosen? Who are the agents and subjects of these representations? What is the basis of the chronology established by this exhibition? What are the politics of institutions of memory, such as the museum, in creating this archive? How is gender part of this?
There is an important proposal here – to begin and place at the center of attention, through exhibitions such as these, the possibility of accessing and reading archives of national and institutional memory. A possibility emerges when we begin uncovering what is present within the museum archive, and also what is left out. Perhaps similar to the position assigned to women within society, archives are constituted through the presence and absence of certain stories, through social and political possibilities and limits. This is where a logical ambiguity emerges, one that challenges the process of historical contextualization of women across these historical periods, an ambiguity that makes women identifiable and valuable on the basis of certain traits and attributes that are often maintained as universal, ahistorical, and apolitical.
In institutions of knowledge, and their respective cannons — in literature, art history, in social movements, and various kinds of research — dominant narratives have relied on a naturalization of women’s traits. Thereby there is a view, or a belief, that a list of women, that have been and continue to be relevant in history can be put together, that the list is free of contradictions, and is undeterred by the complexity that comes with representing social agents within society. The fact that the period of the Ottoman Empire is devoid of representations of women in this archive and the exhibition, speaks of a particular silence. It is a silence of archival and research practices that did not consider women as a relevant subject of study, inquiry, and contemplation. This is where questions about the embedding of patriarchy in social, economic, political and systems of knowledge become necessary.
We hope that this exhibition offers a possibility to think a necessary shift and emergence of new positions from which to think about women and institutions that make official or marginalize certain narratives. Finally, while it is necessary to critically evaluate the appropriation of cultural heritage into a national narrative, it is also necessary to do the same with attempts to depoliticize global flows of power and knowledge, which in turn determine what relevant stories about Kosova and women’s histories should be.
Text for the catalogue of the exhibition: “Mother, The Ultimate Love.”
The Museum of Kosova
March 11, 2011
Under (Cultural) Construction 