Stacion - Center for Contemporary Art Prishtina

Space Program: Leefwerk Converted
Curated by Albert Heta

14/10/2022 at 18:00
Venue: Palace of Culture, Youth and Sports "Boro dhe Ramizi" in Prishtina

Stacion - Center for Contemporary Art Prishtina is pleased to introduce the Leefwerk Converted at the Palace of Culture, Youth and Sports "Boro dhe Ramizi" in Prishtina.

Leefwerk is an artist duo that tours Europe and offers the results of their artistic practice for sale. Since liberal ideology, wich directs directing all human activity towards market, determines also cultural policy and with that how and what (for) art we produce, it also undermines any (artistic) experimentation beyond marketability. Hence Leefwerk have chosen for their artistic subjectivity for their artistic material: Working on and for fame in the art system it is what the duo experiments with. Since becoming a (famous) artist can also be an artistic project in itself, the Leefwerk has become an artistic project.

Based on Henri Lefebvre's thesis that all social space is produced, Space Program by Stacion - Center for Contemporary Art Prishtina is a reflection and derivative of the project intervention Rethinking the (social) space program (2013).

Space Program is a programmatic module that aims to create space for artists, programs and events related to the activities and curiosity of Stacion - Center for Contemporary Art Prishtina. The module also creates space for partner institutions in the country and international partners in art and education interventions.

Leefwerk Converted stands as a collaboration in the context of Stacion - Center for Contemporary Art Prishtina's current research on the production and working conditions of artists in Prishtina. The research points to the systemic weakening of institutional and public space, which also hinders equal access to and democratic production of art, institutions and public space. The "Space Program" is a programmatic module that aims to create space for artists, programs and events related to the activities and curiosity of Stacion - Center for Contemporary Art Prishtina. The module also creates space for partner institutions in the country and international partners in art and education interventions.

The venue for the intervention, the iconic building of the Palace of Culture, Youth and Sports "Boro dhe Ramizi" in Prishtina, is a reminiscence of the past time and institutions that, although they no longer exist or precisely because of it, are a central point of reference for the debate.

The Palace of Culture, Youth and Sports "Boro dhe Ramizi" was built between 1975 and 1977. The building was designed by Živorad Janković and Halid Muhasilović, who worked for the studio that also designed the famous multifunctional cultural and sports center Skederija in Sarajevo (1969) and the sports and business center "Spens" in Novi Sad (1981). The Palace of Culture, Youth and Sports "Boro dhe Ramizi" was built by the Kosovan socialy owned industrial construction company "Ramiz Sadiku".

Since its commissioning, the Palace of Culture, Youth and Sports "Boro dhe Ramizi" in Prishtina was the central institution in Kosovo, symbolizing the peak of rapid development, modernization and flourishing of society, culture, youth and sports in Kosovo. The building was constructed partly by the citizens of Prishtina themselves and has an area of 8,136 m² with a capacity of 11,000 people, a large hall with a capacity of 8,000 people and a small hall with a capacity of 3,000 people, excluding the shopping center, which was designed for a wide range of events, including social, public, cultural, entertainment, sports and economic events.

Since 1979, the shopping center of the Palace of Culture, Youth and Sports, "Boro dhe Ramizi", has also housed the Art Gallery of Pristina, which is considered the central art and cultural institution in Kosovo.

In September 2021, a group of artists (Valdrin Thaqi, Brilant Milazimi, Mimoza Sahiti and Ermir Zhinipotoku) found ways and began using one office space in the administrative wing of the Palace as artists' studios, actively contributing to the discussion about the vibrant past of this institution and its (currently missing) program, as well as how institutions can initiate more significant developments, including the critical development of artistic practice.

The difficulty of accessing the artist-occupied spaces in this building also points to the difficulties of discussing institutionality. To get to the artists' spaces, one has to pass by the reception of NPL "Prishtina Parking" Sh.A., which also uses the part of the building and its entrance that was originally intended for the administration of the Palace and its Cultural Center.

Prishtina Parking "is committed to the digitization, management and maintenance of vacation traffic in the municipality of Pristina, providing innovative and simple parking, payment and control services to meet the needs of all citizens."

The artists and the NPL "Prishtina Parking" Sh.A. are (not) two of the many parties living together in this building that has been transformed into a space for parking needs and power relations, revealing the de-institutionalization and decay of this institution since 1989.

Stacion - Center for Contemporary Art Prishtina will also park Leefwerk Converted in the Palace of Culture, Youth and Sports "Boro dhe Ramizi": The vehicle that Leefwerk Converted will use to travel to Prishtina has been converted into a sales booth to sell their artistic results in an experimental way. With their converted vehicle, Leefwerk will symbolically profile themselves at the Palace of Culture, Youth and Sports "Boro dhe Ramizi" as "uninvited artists" who "raid the established art scene and sell their works as cheaply as possible".

Space Program: Leefwerk Converted at the Palace of Culture, Youth and Sports "Boro dhe Ramizi" is supported by the Municipality of Prishtina.