Interview with art critic and curator at Hani i Dy Robërteve, Shkëlzen Maliqi, regarding the 'reactivation' of this space which for years was the exhibition shelter for many artists. Over a two-year period, a large number of exhibitions were held at Hani i Dy Robërteve, bringing visual art to the center of attention and bringing back many artists and art lovers to this space over the years.
Interviewed: Donjeta Abazi
Gazera Express: What prompted the 'resurrection' of Hani i de Robertëve as an exhibition space, and how was this location selected for such an intensive two-year project??
Shkëlzen Maliqi: Okay, the activities of the last two years may seem like an attempt to 'revive' the "Hani të 2 Robertëve" with that DNA and the specific brand of cafe- or restaurant-gallery, which Fadil and Merita Dragaj have built with dedication. But, the circumstances must be understood. Once, in the 90s, even in the first decade after the war, the Hani was an independent enterprise, additional cultural and social activities were supported by the gastronomic business itself, while circumstances have changed, competition in the gastronomy business has become extremely fierce, and if you do not have your own space, but you rent it, which are increasingly expensive, holding exhibitions is a luxury. But the Hani, although it often changed premises, has continued with exhibitions, for 36 years that it has been active as a separate brand, it has held over 200 exhibitions, and if other cultural and social activities are added, the Hani emerges as an enterprise that deserves to be distinguished as a place of historical memory that marks a era. A Swiss diplomat told Marita and Fadil that the Han should be included in the UNESCO Heritage List.
But the fact that at times exhibitions were not frequent, because the premises were not adequate, or business was sluggish, does not mean that Hani was not working. In those seemingly barren periods, there was a great commitment to the historicization of the Hani brand, a book was made with more than 80 interviews with artists, local and foreign journalists, including diplomats and politicians, frequenters of Hani. A film was previously made about the legendary musician Karaxha, a Roma from Prizren, who performed at Hani. In the post-production phase, a documentary film about Hani is also in the works. Recently, Hani has been registered as a non-governmental organization, in order to help business, because Pristina, although it is developing exponentially in construction, is limping with exhibition spaces. Since 2023, initially at a smaller venue in Santea in the Dardani neighborhood, and now at 64 Hajdar Dushi Street in the center of Pristina, we have managed to hold over 20 successive exhibitions with a structured program, and in this newer space, which has 200 m2, other cultural activities are also held.
GE: What have been the biggest challenges and successes in organizing these exhibitions you mentioned? Is there one that you consider most representative of your vision?
Maliqi: At Santea, several exhibitions were initially organized in a small space, presenting Lumturie Krasniqi (paintings), Salih Lutolli – Agi (paintings, drawings), Afrim Hajrrullahu (photography), and after this space was expanded, we realized an annual program. First was the presentation of the Hapenning project in the Long Bazaar of Peja, which on October 28, 1999, gathered, invited by Sokol Beqiri, 12 artists, several musicians and about 200 children, where for 5 hours they intervened and performed with their talents at the site of the war crime, conveying the message “Make Art Not War!” Then followed the exhibitions: Skender Boshnjaku (collages), Sokol and Doruntina Maloku (paintings), Nehat Beqirit from Tetovo (paintings), Burim Myftiut (photography), Orhan Kurtolli (paintings), Blerta Berveniku (paintings), Exhibition in honor of the 35th anniversary of H2R (20 authors), Valentina Elshani (paintings), a group of artists from Germany (installations), Anita MecKina from Australia (photography of brutalist architecture), Anton Krasniqi (paintings), Marigona Ademi (paintings), Daut Berisha (drawings and sketches), Eilert Asmervik (paintings and mixed media), Katja Bergen from Austria (paintings and illustrations), Enesa Xheladini (paintings).
The most special was the exhibition of Daut Berisha, his first in Kosovo, with early works that are under the care of his brother Arbër Berisha, while Daut's opus with about 500 paintings is waiting to return to Kosovo from Paris, since this bag was inherited by his family. In the exhibition we organized, we showed only the early sparks of the talent of this artist who died two years ago.
GE: How has the collaboration with young artists been built during this exhibition cycle? How much impact has this project had on the local visual art scene?
Maliqi: The space at Santea, not so suitable, did not seem attractive to established artists, but even young people, although we tried to provide them with other promotional conditions, were reluctant. In the new space, although several months of work have been done on repairs and adaptations, the conditions are better and we are working with a program, offering opportunities for both young and established artists. From the list I presented, it is clear that we have reached the point of no return, there are new artists and established ones.
We were particularly pleased with Valentina Elshani's exhibition, she had exhibited as a student and newly graduated artist at Hani, and when we invited her in August last year, we found her in Germany, where for years, due to family reasons, she had been forced to leave art. She accepted the invitation and managed to prepare an exhibition of paintings in four months that restored her will and enthusiasm to continue her career.
GE: The Art Criticism Course (2024–2025) is a novelty for the Kosovar scene. How was it conceived and what are its long-term goals?
Maliqi: We have had a lack of professions related to the visual arts for years, especially curators and art critics. In the last three decades, I have focused more on art criticism. In 2022, I published a volume on the art of Kosovo in the 90s. So I thought that Hani is a suitable place to develop a course for students and graduate researchers to deal with art criticism, because it is a developing activity, there are more publications of catalogs and monographs, and just as during the time of Yugoslavia, most of the texts about Kosovar artists were written by critics from Zagreb and Belgrade, now we also have the phenomenon that for the monographs published by ASHAK, or others, authors from Albania are engaged. I am not saying that this does not work, on the contrary, but I appreciate that we have enough talents who can be good art critics, even if they do not have an art historian's degree.
GE: What is the relationship between theory and practice within the criticism course? Is a new language of visual criticism being developed in Kosovo through this initiative??
Maliqi: The language of artistic criticism on a global scale is quite standardized and is enriched with every new development, since in the 20th century there was a dizzying pace of avant-gardes and theoretical innovations. For this theoretical treasure in Kosovo, we have not had updated linguistic findings, but we should not remain at the conclusion, we must work in many directions, have chairs of art history and publications in Albanian of theoretical literature. The younger generations today are likely to find solutions not only by borrowing words from English, which is also becoming a more widespread foreign language in our country, even dominating Albanian, which must be balanced, because now we also have intelligent tools that facilitate translation and there must also be a commitment to perfecting and enriching Albanian with word formations with roots in the Albanian language.
The current course is individualized, it is not at the high levels of bachelor's or master's, it is simply a helper, where writers, philosophers, sociologists, etc. who deal with artistic criticism are also stimulated. In the 90s, when Alisa Maliqi directed the Dodona Gallery and prepared quality catalogs for each exhibition, I wrote most of the texts, but I was not enough for each exhibition. I asked for help from two friends who wrote good philosophical essays and letters, Astrit Saliu and Migjen Kelmendi. At first they said we have no preparation, but I told them to write impressions with a philosophical or literary approach. Astrit wrote two essays for Rudina Xhaferi and Zake Prelvukaj, while Migjen wrote for Rexhep Ferri. I now have their writings as an improvised syllabus for the art criticism course, as examples of the critical approach of different styles to art.
GE: How do you envision the future of Hani i de Robertëve as a sustainable center for exhibitions and critical thinking in contemporary art? Are there any plans for expansion or international partnerships?
Maliqi: Hani now has the spatial and, to some extent, technical and collaborator capacities, and now its own website, for which we have received assistance from the EU fund that manages Kosovo 2.0, for which we are very grateful. Hani is also once again developing various activities, workshops, public readings of plays, book promotions, (two weeks ago a qualitative promotion of the complete works of Musa Ramadani was held), then literary and musical evenings, promotional activities of FemArt and Kosovo 2.0 on the occasion of the publication of a volume of the magazine dedicated to the 90s... We also have space for other programs, so we have applied to hold a series of debates on current social and cultural developments, we want Hani to be like a Club of creators, perhaps even with membership. We do not lack ideas, but their realization does not depend only on us, we are expecting support from our institutions and foreign foundations... As far as it depends on us, we will do the impossible, but the global crisis and the development crises in Kosovo are limiting factors. We hope that they will not be blocking either.
/Express newspaper
edition
t7 live
