Minister Gashi: Kosovo's return to the Venice Biennale with a narration for the 1990s

20.04.2018

Today, at the National Gallery of Kosovo, Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports, Kujtim Gashi participated in the conference organized on the occasion of the Republic of Kosovo's participation in the 16th edition of the International Exposition, Venice Biennale.

At this conference, Minister Gashi said that from the moment MCYS has appointed Eliza Hoxha to represent Kosovo this year at the Venice Architecture Biennale, she has worked on identifying the topic of the Kosovo Pavilion and her associates has pushed forward the project which is now starting to take shape in Venice.

"For us as a state it is very important to be in an event of such which marks the achievements in architecture, opens up new topics and debates related to the city, the relationship of people with it, the global processes that influence it, and the political decisions that deal with it. So, there is no better event than this one - Kosovo unfolds its challenges and confessions after a year of absence, non-participation from the previous biennale", said Minister Gashi.

He also said that "cultural dimplomacy and its actors are an integral and extremely important part of state-building and image building in the world. Such is the participation that this year comes under the umbrella theme "FREESPACE". Minister Gashi spoke about the importance of the topic, saying that the narration for the 1990s is a unique narration in the sense of the mobilization and collective survival of Kosovo Albanians in the 1990s.

"Art, culture and architecture as a general part and produced by these processes are a very good space to create a historical retrospective from another perspective and other means of communication to a wider public. I am very happy that this initiative will open the door for other stories of these years to build the great story of those years ", said Minister Gashi.

Meanwhile, the curator of the pavilion of the Republic of Kosovo at the 16th Venice Biennial Exhibition, architect Eliza Hoxha said that the selection of the theme for this exhibition was difficult however the context of the 90s, a context that is very little explored, has been a very good moment to recall it as a more comprehensive story, just as they were the overwhelming years. "The title of the exhibition is" The city is everywhere "and to this subject we came after a great discussion with a group of people and precisely because the 90s were outstanding for inclusion", said Hoxha.

She also said that "The pavilion is a house that is imperfect, with the bricks we are used to seeing in the spaces in Kosovo. Our home in the Biennial is house from outside but public space from within", she concluded.

Back