Stacion – Center for Contemporary Art Prishtina is pleased to announce that the jury of the Artists of Tomorrow Award 2020, comprised of Anne Barlow, the director of the TATE St Ives, England, Qëndresë Deda, artist, winner of Artists of Tomorrow Award 2018, Flaka Haliti, artist, Adam Kleinman, an independent curator and writer as well as the Regional Curator for North America at the Kadist Art Foundation and Nebojša Milikić, cultural worker and manager, researcher and activist based in Belgrade, has selected three finalists to the Artists of Tomorrow Award 2020.
The jury has issued the following statement:
We members of the jury of the Artists of Tomorrow Award 2020 were delighted to review the 8 applications received by practicing artists from Kosovo who applied in this year’s open call.
The jury would first like to thank all the artists who applied for this Award for their care and consideration in preparing their submissions. Following extensive discussions, the jury has selected three finalists based on their promising proposals and existing work.
We are delighted to announce that the three finalists for the Artists of Tomorrow Award 2020 are Laureta Hajrullahu, Shkamb Jaka and Brilant Milazimi.
The jury selected Laureta Hajrullahu for her poetic approach to critical issues of our time - such as the relationship between synthetic and organic life, nature and civilization, and human beings and technology – and her consideration of what societal challenges or new realities those bring. In her work, Hajrullahu sees digital media as both a defining feature of contemporary life and a means by which to deconstruct the boundaries between the physical and virtual world.
The second finalist is Shkamb Jaka, whose paintings of abstract and figurative forms contain coded images that relate to real or imagined experiences, or those that he considers as ‘in-between’. The jury was interested in Jaka’s artistic process that involves deconstructing human behaviours and ways of thinking and then ‘re-materializing’ them, primarily through the medium of painting and most recently, with a touch of humour, in film.
The third finalist is Brilant Milazimi whose figurative paintings seem both familiar and eerie in their depiction of elongated human forms within an undefined or somewhat ambiguous space. Drawing on personal and collective narratives, Milazimi’s work reflects an ongoing exploration of the social and political development of civic society in Kosovo, and what he sees as a larger ‘social psychology’ shaped by challenges around the freedom of expression and mobility.
As a jury, we are all excited to see what these three finalists will create for the exhibition at Stacion – Center for Contemporary Art Prishtina and look forward to seeing their work in December when the Jury will meet to select the winner of Artists of Tomorrow Award 2020.
The winner of Artists of Tomorrow Award 2020 will be announced on December 11 2020, at the Boxing Club in Prishtina, in the closing of the exhibition of Artists of Tomorrow Award 2020.
Stacion – Center for Contemporary Art Prishtina thanks all Kosovo artists who applied for the Artists of Tomorrow Award 2020 for their continuous work and collaboration.
Stacion – Center for Contemporary Art Prishtina thanks the Jury of the Artists of Tomorrow Award 2020 for their work and collaboration.
The Artists of Tomorrow Award 2020 organized by Stacion – Center for Contemporary Art Prishtina is supported by Trust for Mutual Understanding (TMU), Office of the President of Kosovo, Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports of the Republic of Kosovo, Municipality of Prishtina. Complete list of donors and cooperation partners for "The Artists of Tomorrow Award" 2020 will be announced in due time.