The Acting President of the Republic of Kosovo, Albulena Haxhiu, participated tonight at the reopening of the National Gallery of Kosovo.
In her addres to the participants, Acting President Haxhiu said that the National Gallery of Kosovo was founded in 1979, at a time when the establishment of cultural institutions was part of Kosovo’s effort for education and affirmation.
She further added that during the years that followed, the artists of that time gave Kosovo’s art its own physiognomy, shaped by the experience of our country and the political pressure within which they had to create.
“During the 1990s, the Serbian government removed Albanian artists from the institutions where they had worked and exhibited until then. Artistic life moved to unusual spaces for the development of artistic and intellectual life, mainly in cafes. One of them was the Hani i Dy Robertëve, where exhibitions, book promotions and discussions were organized,” said Acting President Haxhiu.
According to her, these years show how persistent artistic life was even under repression, adding further that it proves that, even when the Serbian regime closed the doors of institutions, artists continued to create and present their work to the public.
“During the war, many studios were burned and a large number of works of art were destroyed. With them, sketches, manuscripts, testimonies and parts of the history of our visual art were also lost, which cannot be restored. Such losses make it even clearer why preserving the collection is so important. Therefore, the expansion of the Gallery with four hundred new square meters creates for the first time the necessary space for the preservation and conservation of the collection, as well as for its proper study”, emphasized Acting President Haxhiu.
She said that works of art are preserved here for today’s citizens and for future generations.
“Archiving works gives citizens the opportunity to know the past without being forced to invent it from scratch, while conservation preserves the work even beyond time. Hana Halilaj has collected works that come from different periods. Some were created during the 70s, others in subsequent periods. Between the first works and those of today, Kosovo has gone through discrimination, war, ethnic cleansing and a change in the political order”, said Acting President Haxhiu.
She stated that the title of the exhibition we are opening today “Not all people exist in the same Present” is directly related to our experience, one generation is building its life in freedom, while another is still waiting for answers to the shortcomings left by the war.
“The reopening of the National Gallery brings us together precisely to see these layers, to look at our country through the different periods, memories and eyes that have passed through it”, affirmed Acting President Haxhiu.
According to Acting President Haxhiu, art helps a society see itself more clearly, so she added, our Republic is providing conditions that protect the freedom of art.
Acting President Haxhiu further said that the way the state or institutions treat the artist shows how willing it is to endure the truth.
“I want to remember tonight with great respect and humility, Shyqri Nimani, the first director of the National Gallery of Kosovo. Speaking about the establishment of the theater, Kosovafilm and the Gallery, he said that Kosovo is starting to take the form of a state. Today, after almost five decades, that sentence still rings true. The Gallery was part of that form and remains part of it today,” emphasized Acting President Haxhiu.
In the end, Acting President President Haxhiu wished that the Gallery would not remain just an exhibition space but would become a place where children encounter art for the first time, where students study, where young artists try to find their voice, and where the public has a reason to stay a little longer.
