Petrit Halilaj
dal 15/4/2015 al 1/8/2015
Segnalato da
15/4/2015
Petrit Halilaj
Kolnischer Kunstverein, Koln
For the exhibition the artist has created an entirely new group of works related to his former school in Runik (Kosovo). The artist has used thin steel rods to reproduce greatly enlarged versions of doodles and drawings.
In installations, drawings and films Petrit Halilaj (*1986) deals with the experiences he gathered in this period: with a great capacity for empathy, he examines thematic complexes including homeland, memory and identity. At the same time there is always something universally valid bound up with the artist’s works, which resemble a materialisation of the world of the storytellers. In this way they speak to and lastingly touch their viewers, regardless of those viewers’ relationship to the recent history of south-eastern Europe.
For the exhibition at the Kölnischer Kunstverein, Halilaj has created an entirely new group of works related to his former school in Runik (Kosovo). The artist has used thin steel rods to reproduce greatly enlarged versions of doodles and drawings once left behind by pupils on the seats and desks of the classrooms. In spite of their clearly sculptural form, the objects still preserve a graphic character and develop an effect suggesting delicate drawings in space. The depicted motifs include houses, hearts, birds, flowers, cars, aeroplanes, rockets and rifles, and they are simultaneously witness to the hopes, yearnings and dreams and to the doubts, fears and worries of the children and adolescents of that time. In the exhibition Halilaj concentrates the individual objects into a complex installation in such a way that the thoughts reflected in the sculptures overlap and become interwoven with one another.
Along with the sculptures and installations, Halilaj is also presenting a new film and a series of prints, which are likewise related to the artist’s former school; however, they draw attention more towards the aspect of the educational institution’s authority.
Program:
Wednesday, 29 April, 7pm: lecture by Petrit Halilaj about his exhibition
Sunday, 10 May, 3pm: tour with Moritz Wesseler and Rein Wolfs through the Petrit Halilaj exhibition at the Bundeskunsthalle in Bonn
Sunday, 17 May, 3–5pm: children’s workshop on the exhibition for International Museum Day
Sunday, 17 May, 3pm / 5pm: tours through the exhibition by Petrit Halilaj
Wednesday, 20 May, 7pm: tour with Moritz Wesseler and Rein Wolfs through the Petrit Halilaj exhibition at the Kölnischer Kunstverein
A collaboration between the Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn, and the Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne. The first comprehensive monograph on the artist’s work will appear on the occasion of the exhibitions.
Image: Petrit Halilaj, Courtesy the artist, Chert, Berlin and Kamel Mennour, Pari
Opening: Thursday, 16 April, 7pm
Kölnischer Kunstverein
Hahnenstrasse 6
Tue - Sun 11am to 6pm