Fainting in Stacion with Bujar Sylemani and Jakup Ferri

Curatorial by Albert Heta

Opening: 29 December 2006, 20:00
29 December 2006 - 29 January 2007

Fainting is the beginning of the work of Stacion - Center for Contemporary Art Prishtina with the module of exhibitions and presentations for the new season 2007. Stacion decided to work in 2007 starting from 2006. The challenge to put together 2006 and 2007 is almost the same as putting together the artists invited in this exhibition. Fainting has to do more with the way how I perceive these works. Fucking Painting, sorry, Fainting as a framework is more a superficial image of the Prishtina World.

For example. You might faint while looking at this beautiful girl from Bujar's painting. Walking the streets of Prishtina (the majority of us has experienced this), or you might faint from numerous guns in the hands of exhibited characters. You might faint from surrounding reality if you choose to see it.

I will mention few things that I was interested in, when I had the idea of doing this exhibition:

Independence and rejection, out of principles or out of the position that you take, Bujar and friends they don't do videos because they don't want to look fashionable, a la mode. While resisting video in the pasing years, he positioned himself out of trend or out of mode of artists known as "contemporary". Of course, this wasn't the only thing that had an impact on leaving these artists out of this chosen system of distribution. A fresh work, independent and very close to reality, it doesn't matter that it doesn't expresses through video ha-ha! and Jakup Ferri or the connection, the initial link that I have with the World of Prishtina.

I wouldn't be so sure if this World is political with the very fact that refuses to be a political one. The idea itself, the existence of a contemporary artist in Kosova is political. This scene, in any combination, has nothing to do with the way how this country functions. Even by overcoming the problems produced by us, this scene remains a rejected compactibile identity in this country. These artists ruin the bad image of this place. This country, the infantile dream of each politician, local and international. This oasis of smugglers and hypocrisy. The World of Capital of villages of Kosova. The world of LDK, AAK, PyDyKy and Sahatci...left behind is this small world of Prishtina, from the hypermarkets with insignificant stuff to buyers that spend a lot in nothingness. From those who announce the opening of patinage (ice skating) as historic date in Kosova 2006. And once I almost broke my nose in the patinage of Boro Ramiz back in the 80ties, I remeber we had patinage in sport center in Prishtina. It was Olimpic one as I recall. We should go beyond the idea that everything starts from us. The question is how to be political and maybe stop reduplicating models of rejection. The question for me is how to have a courageous political and intelectual stand, rather than being an artist of a required mode, a representative of a by default image of this geographical position.

Pam Pam!
Happy New Year.

Albert Heta
29 December 2006

p.s. The text is not edited.