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Thirty One (2015)

© National Gallery of Kosovo, Photo: Enver Bylykbashi
© National Gallery of Kosovo, Photo: Enver Bylykbashi
© National Gallery of Kosovo, Photo: Enver Bylykbashi
© National Gallery of Kosovo, Photo: Enver Bylykbashi
© National Gallery of Kosovo, Photo: Enver Bylykbashi
© National Gallery of Kosovo, Photo: Enver Bylykbashi
© National Gallery of Kosovo, Photo: Enver Bylykbashi
© National Gallery of Kosovo, Photo: Enver Bylykbashi
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Thirty One
17 June–21 July 2015
National Gallery of Kosovo

The exhibition "Thirty One" highlighted 31 works by artists from the Kontakt Collection that had been selected by Petrit Halilaj and Hans Ulrich Obrist. Arranged and assembled by Erzen Shkololli, in accordance with the concept by Petrit Halilaj and Hans Ulrich Obrist. The number of artists corresponded with the opening days of the exhibition and was meant to be a starting point from which to facilitate new, unanticipated approaches to the collection that will lead to a concept for future exhibitions by Kontakt.

Since its establishment as an association in 2004, Kontakt has focused on art from Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe that has accompanied the social and political developments over the past several decades and contributed significant artworks to the history of European art since the middle of the twentieth century. The collection’s intent is to reflect on conceptual forms of art production within Europe’s changing political geographies. There are several categories of interest that developed within the art scenes of the 1960s and were taken up by the following generations: the reflection of and approach to modernist structures, the redefinition of material in space, issues of the political and the public, as well as matters of the body on both a performative and a gender-emancipative level. Reflections on these developments in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe serve as the focal point for assembling and expanding a collection of artworks in a variety of media and formats.

The exhibition "Thirty One" presented works that play an integral part in European art history but claim an exceptional status within a politically heterogeneous terrain. With "Thirty One," the National Gallery of Kosovo in Pristina hosted distinctive overview of the works in the Kontakt Collection, which had been arranged and assembled by Erzen Shkololli, in accordance with the concept by Petrit Halilaj and Hans Ulrich Obrist. Additionally, Kosovo artist Petrit Halilaj created commentary drawings and a model display artwork to address a future exhibition.

Artists: Paweł Althamer, Maria Bartuszová, Walter Benjamin, Geta Brătescu, Stanislaw Dróżdż, VALIE EXPORT, Stano Filko, Heinz Gappmayr, Gorgona, Tomislav Gotovac, Ion Grigorescu, Sanja Iveković, Julije Knifer, Eva Kotátková, Běla Kolářová, Július Koller, Jiří Kovanda, Edward Krasiński, Katalin Ladik, Denisa Lehocká, Karel Malich, Vlado Martek, Dóra Maurer, Paul Neagu, Roman Ondak, Hans Scheirl, Tamás St. Auby, Mladen Stilinović, Raša Todosijević, Goran Trbuljak, Heimo Zobernig

Petrit Halilaj, born 1986 in Skenderaj, Kosovo. Lives and works in Runik, Pristina, Mantua, and Berlin. Exhibitions (selection): Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne (2015); Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn (2015); Galeria e Arteve e Kosovës, Prishtina (2014); Kunsthalle Lissabon, Lisbon (2014); Chert, Berlin, 2014; Kamel Mennour, Paris (2014); Kosovo Pavilion, Venice Biennale (2013).

Hans Ulrich Obrist, born in Zurich, Switzerland in 1968, is co-director of the Serpentine Galleries, London. Prior to this, he was the curator of the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. Since his first show, “World Soup” (The Kitchen Show) in 1991, he has curated numerous exhibitions worldwide.