Stacion - Center for Contemporary Art Pristina
Artists of Tomorrow Award 2024
Mimoza Sahiti, Luiza Thaqi, Dion Zeqiri
01/11/2024 - 07/12/2024
Opening: 1 November 2024, 20:00
Exhibition Walkthrough: 7 November 2024, 20:00
Announcement of the Winner: 7 December 2024, 20:00
Venue: Klubi i Boksit, Mark Isaku 8, 10000 Prishtinë, Republika e Kosovës
Location on Google Maps: https://g.co/kgs/7RBzf7S
Stacion - Center for Contemporary Art Pristina is pleased to announce the exhibition of the finalists of The Artists of Tomorrow Award 2024, featuring Mimoza Sahiti, Luiza Thaqi, and Dion Zeqiri, nominated by the jury of the Artists of Tomorrow Award 2024.
The three finalists Mimoza Sahiti, Luiza Thaqi, and Dion Zeqiri with their work offer bold, necessary provocations that speak to our shared complexities.
With both simple and cheeky imagery, Mimoza's fearless exploration of the femme condition brings a vulnerability that offers a deeply personal yet universally political narrative. Sahiti's art, rooted in drawing and painting, explores the dynamic relationship between our inner worlds and the ever-changing outside environment. Her work plays with the idea of "in-between" spaces and the unexpected forms they take, diving deep into the human experience. With a unique blend of humour and drama, she questions what it means to be human, constantly pushing the limits of how we see, feel, and understand art and society.
Luiza Thaqi's critical focus on societal structures and their ecological impact touches on issues ranging from women's land ownership in Kosovo to the settler-colonial question of land rights worldwide, making her work essential in today's urgent socio-ecological debates. Through her work, she questions and challenges who gets access to land and why, highlighting the deeper social and political power struggles at play. By reimagining land ownership, Luiza invites us to rethink our very concept of society and human relationships and how we can shape them more equally.
Dion Zeqiri's engagement with unseen forces—entities that surround and constitute our existence—through various materialities and mediums introduces a fresh perspective on the relationship between the physical and non-physical. Zeqiri draws you in with its disquiet, almost understated power, he explores how the mind and body interact in ways that feel both familiar and unsettling. It's not just about what's there, but what's missing—and that disconnect between the two really sticks with you. It's subtle yet impactful, worth celebrating for how it makes you see things differently.
The jury of the Artists of Tomorrow Award 2024 consists of Julieta Aranda, artist, co-founder, and editor of e-flux, Berlin, Miljana Dunđerin, artist, and director of the private cultural center "Akvarijus", North Mitrovica, Dr. Vjollca Krasniqi, sociologist, associate professor at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Pristina, Alper Turan, curator and writer, based in New York and Istanbul, Lulzim Zeqiri, artist working between Kosovo and Austria.
The Artists of Tomorrow Award is a prestigious award and recognition designed for visual artists under the age of 35. It offers them the opportunity to create new works through a dedicated process of production and development, with their work being evaluated by an independent jury.
The three nominated artists collaborate closely with the curatorial team at Stacion - Center for Contemporary Art in Pristina and participate in the annual exhibition showcasing the finalists of the Artists of Tomorrow Award. Furthermore, they will have the chance to travel to the United States of America, where they will experience the vibrant art scene in New York during a two-month artist residency.
The winner of the Artists of Tomorrow Award 2024 will be granted a two-month artist residency program in New York, USA, at Residency Unlimited, scheduled for May/June 2025. Additionally, the winner will have a solo exhibition featured in the 2026 annual program of Stacion – Center for Contemporary Art Prishtina.
The Artists of Tomorrow Award is a prominent, independent award, organized in collaboration with Residency Unlimited in New York and supported by The Trust for Mutual Understanding in New York.
The award is part of the Young Visual Artists Awards (YVAA) program, a network of ten similar awards organized throughout Central and Eastern Europe. Founded in 1989 in Czechoslovakia by President Václav Havel and dissident artists, the program was designed to support the emergence and growth of contemporary art and civil society.
President Havel, Wendy W. Luers, and the US organizers intended to award young artists with a US residency to expose them to the broader art world and emphasize the role of culture in democratization and civil society. They created an open and transparent annual competition, judged by an independent, rotating jury, free from nepotism and favoritism. This founding mission—promoting contemporary art, recognizing and awarding artistic excellence, fostering cultural exchange, and strengthening the capacities of local art NGOs and civil society—serves as a guide for Stacion – Center for Contemporary Art Prishtina in implementing the Artists of Tomorrow Award in Kosovo.
In 2015, Residency Unlimited (RU) became the new host for the Young Visual Artists Awards (YVAA) program in the United States.
In September 2015, Stacion – Center for Contemporary Art Prishtina assumed leadership of the Artists of Tomorrow Award in Kosovo, beginning with the first cycle in 2016. The organization has been entrusted with continuing the award’s legacy.
Stacion – Center for Contemporary Art Prishtina seeks to amplify the potential and influence of the Artists of Tomorrow Award, contributing to the broader development of contemporary art, culture, and societal progress across Kosovo.
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The main supporters of the Artists of Tomorrow 2023 Award are: Trust for Mutual Understanding (TMU), Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, Municipality of Prishtina, x-print, and DZG. The full list of donors and cooperating partners will be announced in due course.
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Stacion - Center for Contemporary Art Pristina
Artists of Tomorrow Award 2024
Artists: Mimoza Sahiti, Luiza Thaqi, Dion Zeqiri
Curatorial work: Albert Heta and Vala Osmani
Exhibition architecture: Vala Osmani
Project coordinator: Qëndresë Deda
Exhibition installation: Skender Xhukolli, Mimoza Sahiti, Luiza Thaqi, Dion Zeqiri
Photo and video documentation: Stacion - Center for Contemporary Art Pristina
Poster: DZG