Petrit Halilaj
I´m hungry to keep you close. I want to find the words to resist but in the end there is a locked sphere. The funny thing is that your’re not here, nothing is.
Book launch: December 15, 2014, 6pm
National Gallery of Kosovo
Agim Ramadani 60
Prishtina
Republic of Kosovo
In 2013, for the first time ever in the history of the Venice Biennale, Kosovo had its own pavilion.
For this occasion, Petrit Halilaj created a poetic, large-scale installation that, experienced in the context of the Biennale, seemed to have migrated from a subconscious and forgotten territory. The associated catalog, which has just been published by Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, contains Petrit Halilaj’s drawings and notes, photos of his installation, and texts by Shkelzen Maliqi, Erzen Shkololli, and Kathrin Rhomberg. This catalog sheds light on various experiences and approaches to the artist’s work while documenting his artistic confrontation with the pavilion: initial drawings, the active involvement of Halilaj’s family and friends in the work’s creation, experiences of the artists transnational life in Kosovo, Italy and in Berlin and the ultimate realization of his installation for the Kosovar Pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennale.
Petrit Halilaj was born in 1986 in Kosterrc, Kosovo. He lives and works in Runik, Pristina, Mantova, and Berlin. Exhibitions (selection): Kamel Mennour, Paris (2014); National Gallery of Kosovo, Prishtina (2014); Chert, Berlin (2014); Kunshalle Lissabon, Lisbon (2014); Foundation d’Enterprise Galeries Lafayette, Paris (2013); WIELS, Brussels (2013)); Kunsthalle St. Gallen (2012); Museion, Bolzano (2012); Kunstverein Nürnberg (2012); Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn (2011); New Museum, New York (2011); based in Berlin, Berlin (2011); Marillenhof-Destillerie, Kausl, Mühldorf (2011); Chert, Berlin (2010); 6th Berlin Biennial for Contemporary Art, Berlin (2010); Kunstverein Arnsberg (2009); Tershane, Istanbul (2008).
The catalog has been designed by Bardhi Haliti.
It has been made possible by the generous support of: Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports of the Republic of Kosovo; Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kosovo; Ministry of European Integration of the Republic of Kosovo, Foundation “une e du Kosovën”; ERSTE Foundation; Z Mobile; Kosovo Foundation for Open Society – KFOS; British Council
