Events
04 Jul 2014
Artist Talk
Shqipe Jonuzi
Niko ne sme da vas bije! / Nobody dares beat you!
7.30 pm
Shqipe Jonuzi is the first artist from Kosovo to follow her residency at Villa Romana in the course of the Hajde! exchange program, which was initiated by the artist Petrit Halilaj, Villa Romana Fellow 2014.
The work presented by Shqipe Jonuzi draws a connection between the past and the present. Its reference point is the period following the year 1987, in which Slobodan Milosevic held a speech in Fushe Kosove, a city in the Kosovo Field. The building where the speech was held is used today as a cultural centre. The muted video of Milosevic, then Chairman of the League of Communists of Serbia is thought to be an indicator for events that followed in Yugoslavia, and might even have been an indicator of the nationalist and ethnic conflicts that followed. This building is present in every documentary about that period, yet now holds no political or historical importance. The political context, the complex relationship between Kosovo’s two main ethnic groups initiates a political debate, which finds interpretation in the artistic concept.
Shqipe Jonuzi's main material is traditional typography, which she employs in the form of sculptures and installations as an interface between the consumer's body, text and urban chaos. Jonuzi (born 1988) also writes poetry and has participated in events such as the Mediterranea 16 Biennale in Ancona in 2013.
