Doruntina Kastrati

As life on Earth grows more precarious, there has been a good deal of speculation on moving to Mars – so much so that Doruntina Kastrati’s desolate rocky landscape might first invoke the surface of the red planet.

Yet upon entering her environment, populated only by grazing goat-like creatures and a lonely satellite dish, the crunch of rubble underfoot and the sight of the city through the windows swiftly return the viewer to some post-human version of our own planet.

It is an “island of abandonment” not unlike many parts of Prishtina, the Grand Hotel itself being one of them. In her recent sculptures, installations, environments and films Kastrati has focused considerable attention on the transformation of the city. Her post-human environments in particular invite us to reflect on urban development and decay – and our complicity in the processes that drive them.  

Doruntina Kastrati (1991, RKS) is a Kosovar artist. She produces installations, sculptures, and documentary or experimental videos that derive from extensive research. Kastrati has developed an independent practice while challenging the art system constraints, directs the viewers’ attention to social and political issues in the Balkan region. She investigates labour and social rights in correlation to urban environments, construction sites and individual’s roles in such situations.