ENCOUNTER

This work is based on the idea that despite  different languages that we speak, different political and religious beliefs, different world views and different artistic forms we promote or knowledge we have at our disposal,  humanity today mainly belongs to one culture. All of us together participate in its creation or  destruction.

The essence of  culture is sharing, whether of goods, ideas, feelings or knowledge, and the beginning of every sharing is an encounter.

The Encounter took  place in Kosovo. Two young artists  ( volunteers ), a Serb  and an Albanian ( both from Kosovo), arrived at the chosen place for the encounter in Mitrovica. Each of them brought   porcelain plates and cups from their  homes,relatives and friends. They broke the plates ( each broke his own) and from the broken peaces together they made a common sculpture .

The camera recorded everything : Their arrival , breaking of plates, process of making a new form, their conversation etc. ( note: Everyone spoke his own language, and the conversation was enabled with the help of translator ).

Initially, the participants were filmed  in their native settings.  The authors of the project  visited the participant’s families and talked to their parents, relatives, friends and neighbours. The participants also talked about themselves and everything they had gone through in the previous period. They were  encouraged to speak about their wishes, hopes, plans etc. These visits and conversations were all recorded .

From all the recorded material a film was made.

The Film and the Sculpture are the final works of this project and are shown in the gallery together with photographs of all who helped or supported the project.

Objective: To reveal the complexity of the creative process and to show that it is not an act of a lonely individual working in isolation but rather a process in which directly or indirectly participate many

                (individuals, tribes and nations).

Premise : a/ We all are, somehow or other, willingly or not,  intercon

nected b/. Art is a connection or bond between people and nations 

Note: The author is not a member of any political party nor has he been involved in politics or any social organization. This work has not been commissioned by any party or any political organization. This is an artistic project and the result of the author’s reflection and artistic engagement. This work is a metaphor of creation. 

Symbols: Our starting point is that culture is created and developed in the exchange among people (nations, tribes, etc). Any halt in such an exchange means stagnation in the development. This state is artificial (unnatural) and in the long run untenable.  Great energy is wasted in avoiding contact (rejection of exchange) We presume that even in the periods of greatest animosity a part of us wishes a renewal of contact and an encounter.

Two nations that have had mutual interchange for centuries live in Kosovo. These two nations are now in feud and their contact is broken.

An Albanian and a Serb from Kosovo, by their common work, should verify our story about the creation of culture through such an exchange. They should bring (symbolically) in their common work, everything that they are, as individuals and members of a certain milieu. The plates and cups that they bring from their homes, those common objects of every day use, symbolically represent them, their families and communities from which they originate.

When they break their plates, they release the energy that sustained their separation, and the exchange thus begins. The elements of their individual existence and personal, family and tribal background are built into their common work. And while the communities they belong to continue living in hostility, these two artists demonstrate how a work or culture comes into being.

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