Stacion - Center for Contemporary Art Prishtina is pleased to announce the winners of the Artists of Tomorrow Award 2016.

The jury of the Artists of Tomorrow Award 2016, consisting of Anne Barlow (President of the Jury), Petrit Halilaj, Miran Mohar, Milica Tomić and Anna Witt, announced the winners in the following statement of the jury which was made public on October 20th 2016 at the Boxing Club in Prishtina.

‘The jury would first like to acknowledge all the finalists for the Artist of Tomorrow Award, who have presented a very strong group of works in this exhibition and rather novelle positions. Each artist in the exhibition has expressed a unique vision and working practice that we believe will continue to make a vital contribution to the contemporary art scene in Kosovo and beyond.

All of them were seriously considered as the winner of the Artists of Tomorrow Award 2016.

After a long discussion, the jury had a hard time to give a final word and finally decide to award the prize to Dardan Zhegrova and Arbërore Sylaj for their collaborative work for the award exhibition.

Dardan Zhegrova and Arbërore Sylaj presented a sculpture that was conceptually and formally strong, expressing complex ideas around identity formation in a succinct and powerful way and they showed the ambition to present a newly developed haptical and formally convincing work.

The jury believes that at this stage of the artist’s development, the duo will highly benefit from the context that a two month residency in New York will provide.

We were fascinated by Faton Mazreku´s sensitive and thoughtful way of observing and commenting Kosovo´s society in his paintings, having focused and singular observation of people and everyday life, and highly imaginative approach to painting.

Qëndresë Deda for her multifaceted and complex approach, refusing traditional exhibiting and artistic display and to identity and the self that comes through her work in multiple media and form.’

Arbërore Sylaj was born in 1991 in Prishtina, Kosovë. Arbërore Lola Sylaj is part of HAVEIT collective (Alketa Sylaj, Hana Qena, Vesa Qena, Arbërore Sylaj). Haveit is a collective that works to go beyond everyday pleasure, moralistic rules and refuse to agree with the matters that are being served. The collective was established in 2011.

Dardan Zhegrova was born in 1988 in Prishtina, Kosovë. Dardan Zhegrova’s works play with the flux between language and its translation into visual representation. In his works emotion is used as an artistic medium that potentially could act as a means to question our assumptions about intimacy and expression. Mostly known for his videos the artist can be regarded as a poet in a time where physical proximity is being replaced by an ubiquitous availability through modern means of communication.

On June 16, 2016, The jury of the Artists of Tomorrow Award 2016 (Anne Barlow, Petrit Halilaj, Miran Mohar, Milica Tomić and Anna Witt) had announced the finalist of the Artists of Tomorrow Award 2016 with the following statement.

"Out of the eighteen applications, the jury selected three finalists based on the strength of the proposals and artists’ existing work.

What they all share is a serious commitment, and attention, to a practice, and an ability to engage with universal topics in a way that also reflects certain specificities of a local or personal context.

The first finalist is actually a duo, a collaboration between Arbërore Sylaj and Dardan Zhegrova. With this proposal, we were fascinated by their work as individuals, and by the potential of their collaboration in creating a new work.

The second finalist is Qëndresë Deda, and with her, we were intrigued by how a highly personal and persistent daily practice would be translated within the context of an exhibition.

The third finalist is Faton Mazreku who we feel brings a social and political dimension to painting, in a unique form that combines what is observed, with elements of the impossible."