Artistic Intervention

22.07 → 30.10.2022

Wheelchair Accessible, WC Available

Grand Hotel Prishtina

participants

New Grand

Artistic Intervention – New Grand

Urban Loneliness, 2022, © New Grand (Arbnor Karaliti). Photo © Manifesta 14 Prishtina / Majlinda Hoxha Memory of the World, 2022, © New Grand (Valdrin Thaqi). Photo © Manifesta 14 Prishtina / Majlinda Hoxha

Once upon a time, the Grand Hotel Prishtina held one of Kosovo’s most prestigious collections of contemporary art. Rivalled only by that of the National Gallery, it encompassed hundreds of paintings and prints, tapestries, sculptures and mosaics.

At that time owned and run by the state, the hotel became a major player in the art market, which was managed by state-subsidised art associations. Since the privatization of the hotel in 2008, the art has disappeared from the walls, much of it having been destroyed, lost or stolen. No state collection has emerged to replace the art – or to support the country’s artists. New Grand is a speculative response to the void.

Which works would the Grand collect today? Which artists would it commission to engage with its empty walls and corridors? And which themes, which memories, which existential questions and desires would their works explore? Six young artists from Kosovo formulate a collective response to these questions: Blerta Hashani, Arbnor Karaliti, Lumturie Krasniqi, Mimoza Sahiti, Valdrin Thaqi and Ermir Zhinipotoku.

Works of Blerta Hashani

Pa titull [Untitled]
2020 
Oil paint and ink on brown paper on board, glue mounted on jutte  

Figurë në hapësire [Figure in space]
2020 
Oil paint and brown paper on board, glue mounted on jutte  
  

Courtesy of the artist  with the support of Hajde! Foundation  

Shkëmb dhe Diell [Rock and Sun]
2020 
Oil paint and ink on brown paper on board, glue mounted on jutte

Hapësirë II [Space II]
2020 
Oil paint and ink on brown paper on board, glue mounted on jutte 

Arbnor Karaliti  

Urban Loneliness 
2022 

Oil on canvas   

Courtesy of the artist  with the support of Hajde! Foundation 

Lumturie Krasniqi

Whispering in the night, never blinking

Mixed technique on canvas: acrylic colors, powder pigments, coffee powder, wood glue, water and oil colors 

Courtesy of the artist  with the support of Hajde! Foundation 

Mimoza Sahiti

Fix my dick   
2022   
Oil on canvas 

Courtesy of the artist  with the support of Hajde! Foundation 

Valdrin Thaqi

Memory of the World   
2020   
Oil on linen   
 
Courtesy of the artist  with the support of Hajde! Foundation 

Ermir Zhinipotoku

Untitled   
2019   
Oil on canvas

Courtesy of the artist  with the support of Hajde! Foundation 

Event

When the Sun Goes Away we Paint the Sky, a conversation with Petrit Halilaj and Catherine Nichols

27.10.2022 17.00-18.00
Grand Hotel Prishtina

Exhibition

Abi Shehu & Gerta Xhaferaj “Nekrografi / Necrography”

13.09.2022 10.00-20.00
Grand Hotel Prishtina

Event

HUNITI GOLDOX – Screening and conversation on landscapes in transition, at Abi Shehu Open Studio

04.09.2022 18.00-20.00
Grand Hotel Prishtina