Erzen Shkololli
dal 19/5/2009 al 26/6/2009
Segnalato da
19/5/2009
Erzen Shkololli
Daad Galerie, Berlin
Wreath. His works deal with the tensions between tradition and identity as well as cultural ideologies and contemporary social structures and daily realities in his homeland. Shkololli approaches his work much like an aesthetic ethnologist who recreates traditional ceremonies. He enables a new reading of these ceremonies by repositioning them in the present and in an art context.
Erzen Shkololli is one of the most influential artists from Kosovo. His works deal with the tensions
between tradition and identity as well as cultural ideologies and contemporary social structures and daily
realities in his homeland. Shkololli approaches his work much like an aesthetic ethnologist who recreates
traditional ceremonies. He enables a new reading of these ceremonies by repositioning them in the present
and in an art context.
Shkololli uses a variety of different media in his work, including video, photography, sculpture and
installation. Often he uses textiles containing figurative motifs with origins that refer to folklore and
traditional Albanian social rituals or hearken back to a specific historical context. By transplanting this
symbolism into the present and into the sphere of contemporary art, Shkololli initiates a modus for
reflection between past and present, tradition and modernity, memory and hope, or freedom and death – all
of which he also relates to political and cultural situations in Kosovo now.
For the installation created for the daadgalerie, “Wreath” (2009), Shkololli recalls forms of remembrance.
The installation contains a wreath-like object of Albanian embroidery that is traditionally used for burial
ceremonies. The embroidery itself is presented inside of a room built within the gallery space, providing an
intimate space for contemplation. In a way that might recall a mausoleum or a public monument, the
visitor’s attention is directed toward the embroidered object. Shkololli’s installation refers to the difficulty in
dealing with personal and ‘official’ memory and the communication between past and future, even 10 years
after the war in Kosovo.
Erzen Shkololli was born in 1976 in Pejë (Peć) in Kosovo. After finishing his education at the Academy for
Fine Arts in Priština his works have been featured in solo and group exhibitions in museums and galleries
internationally. In Germany, he was a participant in the Manifesta 4 (2002) in Frankfurt am Main and in the
2003 exhibition curated by René Block, “In den Schluchten des Balkan“ (In the Gorges of the Balkans) at
Fridericianum in Kassel. Beyond this, many of Shkololli’s works have appeared in exhibitions curated by
Harald Szeeman, including “Money and Value the Last Taboo” (2002) in Biel, “Blood and Honey. Future is
at Balkan” (2003) in Vienna, and “The Joy of my Dreams” (1st Seville Biennial, 2004) in Seville. Recently,
Shkololli took part in the exhibition “Ritornell. Neun Geschichten” (2008) at the Taxispalais in Innsbruck,
curated by Sylvia Eiblmayr.
From 2003 through 2006, Erzen Shkololli was the artistic director at EXIT Galerie in Pejë. Since 2003, he
has been a member of the European Cultural Parliament. Erzen Shkololli was a 2008/09 guest of the Berlin
Artist Programme of the DAAD. He lives and works in Pejë and Berlin.
artpress – Ute Weingarten
Phone: +49 (0)30 2196 1843
Fax: +49 (0)30 2196 1847
artpress@uteweingarten.de
Opening: Wednesday, 20 May, 19 – 21
Daad Galerie
Zimmerstrasse 90/91 - Berlin
Mon – Sat 11am – 6pm
Free admission