• Prishtina Map 21
Prishtina Map 21

Stacion - Center for Contemporary Art Prishtina

Prishtina Map 21 Outcome of workshop led by Minna Henriksson with Laureta Hajrullahu, Fitim Haziri, Lumturie Krasniqi, Elisa Nikolla, Era Qena, Albulena Ujkashi, Luiza Thaqi


10/12/2021 - 10/1/2022
Opening: 10/12/2021, 20:00

The Boxing Club
Mark Isaku 8, 10000 Prishtina

Opening hours:
Wednesday: 3:00 - 5:00 pm
Friday: 3:00 - 5:00 pm

Stacion - Center for Contemporary Art Prishtina is pleased to announce Prishtina Map 21, the exhibition of the workshop led by Minna Henriksson and developed by young artists, art students and other active participants in the field of art, as the first module of the project Rilindja Rilindja Rilindja by Stacion - Center for Contemporary Art Prishtina.

The art scenes in bigger cities usually comprise of public and private museums, independent and public institutions of art and culture, sales and non-commercial galleries, as well as spaces run by artists, cultural workers, art schools, festivals and art fairs, merchants, art collectors and auction houses, artists' unions and other advocacy organizations, private donor companies and public funding bodies, art magazines and art criticism platforms.

Which institutions and actors are dominant in the local art scene in Prishtina, and what kind of organizations are less present or which institutions are entirely non-existent? The reasons for how the contemporary art scene in Prishtina is organised were discussed during the short workshop, as well as the impact that the nature of the art scene in Prishtina and Kosovo has on local artists and artistic productions.

As an introductory lecture to the workshop, the students learned about various artistic mapping projects and those aiming at analyzing and critiquing the structures of the art field. Included are projects by Minna Henriksson that have sought to comment on the invisible underlying policies in the art field. Also, as an introduction, participants read and discussed the text “The Tyranny of the Structurelessness” by Jo Freeman (1970), to better understand the decision making processes in the non-structured informal communities.

During the workshop, the participants created a diagrammatic visualization of organizations and people active on the local scene, starting from their position and their relationship with each other. The mapping is the outcome of the workshop that will be displayed to the public.

Prishtina Map 21 intervenes in the exhibition space of Stacion - Center for Contemporary Art Prishtina in the Boxing Club in Prishtina and within the architecture of the exhibition of the "Artists of Tomorrow Award" 2021. The "Artists of Tomorrow Award" is organized by Stacion - Center for Contemporary Art Prishtina to support young artists and facilitate the continuation of their work by shifting them from a marginal role to a central role in society.

Prishtina Map 21 aims to open a discussion in the Kosovar context and present tendencies, organizations and dominant institutions in the local art scene in Prishtina, and what is marginal and less present or entirely non-existent.

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Minna Henriksson (b. 1976, Oulu, lives in Helsinki) is a visual artist who works with a disparate range of tools including text, drawing, linocut and photography. Her work is often collaborative and relates to the anti-racist, leftist and feminist struggles. In recent years her work has often dealt with archives and histories. Her work is research-based and engages with covert political processes that appear to be neutral. Minna Henriksson is a member of the jury of the Artists of Tomorrow Award 2021.

Prishtina art scene mapping workshop by Minna Henriksson was held in Prishtina from 6 to 10 December 2021.

Prishtina Map 21 is part of the project Rilindja Rilindja Rilindja. Rilindja Rilindja Rilindja aims to develop on-site research and document developments in art and society and influence the promotion of art and culture and cultural heritage for knowledge creation, tourism development, and international exchange.

Rilindja Rilindja Rilindja as a project responds to the reality dominated by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and aims to create program interventions that help economic revival and renaissance of groups directly affected by the consequences of prolonged financial "fatigue" in the visual arts scene and civil society in Kosovo.

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Stacion - Center for Contemporary Art Prishtina
Prishtina Map 21 with Laureta Hajrullahu, Fitim Haziri, Lumturie Krasniqi, Elisa Nikolla, Era Qena, Albulena Ujkashi, Luiza Thaqi.

Outcome of workshop led by Minna Henriksson
The architecture for the workshop and exhibition: Vala Osmani and Albert Heta
Production: Qendresa Zeka, Laureta Hajrullahu, Luzia Thaqi, Skender Xhukolli
Photo documentation: Alban Nuhiu, Luiza Thaqi

Rilindja Rilindja Rilindja by Stacion - Center for Contemporary Art Prishtina is supported by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports. Prishtina Map 21 is supported by the Directorate of Culture of the Municipality of Prishtina and Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Office in Kosovo (FES).