Course 8: Reading the City through Landmarks
by Florina Jerliu
9 – 14 August, 2021
2 ECTS
Course Description
This course approaches the city through the prism of landmarks in order to analyze how our access and understanding of them produces knowledge of place, history, society, culture, and self. For the purpose of research, the course will use the example of Prishtina landmarks.
The landmark which will be subject to analysis in this class/workshop is the Newborn monument. This structure was erected in light of the declaration of Independence of Kosovo in February 2008. It is located in the central part of the city, in front of the Youth and Sports Palace (another important city landmark). As of 2015 Newborn is a listed heritage monument.
Students will learn how to conduct organized observations of the monument by using a specific instrument (ICOMOS Ename Charter Questionnaire) provided by the tutor, which will enable them to identify the scope and extent of what the landmark communicates about itself (its meaning, values). In doing so, we will foreground cultural practices and products through which the city is interpreted and represented, and through which the issue of urban identity is expressed.
Biography
Florina Jerliu is a professor in the University of Prishtina “Hasan Prishtina”. She teaches courses of art and architectural history, theory and heritage in the Faculty of Architecture, and Aesthetics of Space in the Faculty of Fine Arts.
Jerliu received a degree of Diploma Engineer of Architecture from the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Architecture, University of Prishtina (1996), a Masters in Arts from the Faculty of Arts, University of Prishtina (2003), and a PhD in architecture and urbanism from the University of Sarajevo (2014).
She is the co-founder and chair of the foundation for architecture and urbanism Archis Interventions Prishtina (part of the Archis Network together with Archis Interventions Amsterdam and Archis Interventions Berlin); co-founder and member of the Board of the think-tank Kosovo Stability Initiative; member of ICOMOS (as of 2017), member of the State Council for Recognition (of foreign diploma and qualifications, as of 2020), member of the Board of the Kosovo Archaeological Institute. In 2015-18 she acted as member of the Board of the Kosovo Institute for the Protection of Monuments; in 2003-2008 she held the position of the President of the Kosovo Association of Architects. Jerliu is active in the field of cultural heritage in Kosovo through participation as member in various commissions and juries as appointed by the Kosovo Ministries (MYSC, MASHT). Jerliu is the author of the text of the National Strategy for Cultural Heritage of Kosovo 2017-2027 adopted by the Government of Kosovo, and author/designer of the first national archaeological park in Kosovo: Archaeological Park Ulpiana. She is author of books: Preservation of Built Heritage (2016) and Cultural Heritage of Kosovo: Concepts and Contexts of Protection (2017); and author and co-author of a number of scientific papers published in international and local journals.
Jerliu was part of the working group for the establishment of the Permanent Exhibition of the National Museum of Kosovo, and a co-author of exhibition’s interior design (inaugurated in February 2018). She is a laureate of the Annual Prize for Scientific Contribution in the field of Cultural Heritage "Zef Mirdita" (2018) awarded by Kosovo Ministry of Culture.
Participation
10 participants will be selected to participate in this course. Eligible participants must read the Terms, fill out the application form, upload the required documents and submit the application form. Incomplete applications will not be considered.
Scholarships are available for participants from Kosovo.
A limited number of scholarships, that cover the participation fee, are available for international participants.