"PIMP MY ROOM"
(drawing/intervention), 2008
This work is an intervention in a hotel room, in USA (Michigan, Mackinaw City) as long as I was working during the Summer of 2008. While the room I was standing was only for the hotel employees and not for its clients, some stuff were missing. So, in an illegal way (without asking the manager) I decided to draw them on the walls, and replacing them exactly in the places where they should have been.
"If you didn't have a Fiqa, you will never have Mercedes"
(acrylic on canvas, 150x110), 2008
"When I saw his work, this little car wrapped with a ribbon, I noticed that our society was very clearly reflected. Our small country was so similar to that car, which he wrapped as a present. Well, our country was a present to our neighboring countries but after long time it became a present to itself.
For the first time a big part of the population embraced "luxury" when they took to the road as emigrants. This road wasn't traveled for the sake of luxury. We were a poor country without any idea of what luxury was and for most of us Hollywood was just a dream within a dream. This road was traveled to find work, which, for so long, was denied to us.
After the development of other countries was revealed to the eyes of Kosovar emigrants outside of this black hole, those of us who remained behind got to experience the idea of luxury vicariously.
This vicariously enjoyed luxury was initially presented in the forms of large buildings, much larger than we were used to, extravagant dresses and luxury cars. Those memories come to me as a clear image every time I hear the Janis Joplin song Summertime, in particular when she sings one line: "Your daddy is rich and your mama is good looking."
This was a sort of transition that our society was experiencing. Our society was embodied by greed.
From the big squeeze that our society had, a 'paradise' was found abroad by our brothers and sisters, far from our denied country. It's like they touched the dream there.
However, our country is still poor even though we see a lot of Mercedes in the city. But, are we willing to accept the reality we're living? That is a totally different story.
The summer months are when a lot of emigrants come to visit their families in Kosovo. The city, for three months, is full of luxury and joy. In cafe bars, where I go every night after work, I see a lot of new faces, much happier that those that I see everyday. The extravagances that wrap the city these days make one part of the city feel so different.
That feeling of being estranged from our returned diaspora was experienced by a friend of mine. We were sitting in a cafe bar and she was wearing All Stars athletic shoes that were ripped.
One young girl was staring at my friend and her shoes. The girl's eyes stopped at my friend's shoes for a few seconds. My friend was feeling a little offended and she made an arrogant gesture by stretching her leg and mocking, "Do you want me to sell you my shoes?"
The girl was surprised by the gesture and replied to my friend with a scared "no".
My friend turned to me and said, "She probably wishes for my shoes only because they are so simple and also because she might walk freely in them."
That little car that Bekim presented was so simple and so real. For some time most of our families dreamed to have one of those simple cars. The work is so real because we cannot get the bigger things without having the small ones first.
But, are we touching the small things first?
Do I need a big Mercedes to be a part of society, while I have a small car that is so similar to Lieutenant Mambli's?
Do we need the greed of luxuries when we don't have the essentials yet?"
Text by Trinity Little (writer & journalist)
"Two days notice"
(intervention/action in public space), 2008
This work is an installation (intervention) which was realized in public space. It is a traffic sign installed in the street. This sign is different from the other traffic signs because it shows a beggar. It was put up on April 26, 2008, and was taken by the police two days later.
"MONEY TREE"
(action in public space), 2007
It is not the desire of the artist to go against the officiating of art, but he has one more reason to rebel when such an officiating threatens the freedom of art development and finally, he uses only his art to mock the absurd performances of the official system.
One Saturday, he went out and planted money (iron coins) at the garden of the Ministry of Culture. He watered them hopping that one day they will bloom and increase the budget so that in the future the ministry can contribute more in the arts and culture.
Text by Suzana Varvarica Kuka (curator)
.bmp)
"Sugar was leaking"
(video, DVD, 4:12), 2006
An analogy is possible: As there are no perfect translations from one language to another, there is also no perfect translation of any artistic message. However, if we want to play with the idea of perfectness, than there is a chance that this fact might disappoint us. This can be achieved as following: if you see the sugar leaking from the torn plastic sack, than don’t think that this sugar leak reflects in that kind of way which would make you think that this is the adequate translation. The debate over the leaking sugar can go on though. In this case, I doubt that I can make this concept more interesting and serious if I irritate you with a subject that has no essential point concerning the sugar. But coincidentally both the sugar and the main subject were part of a story known quite well. This was the time that only sugar reflected sweetness and only because of the fact that it was sugar and not because it resisted. However that day, because it was not possible for the sugar to lose its sweetness, it leaked from the torn plastic sack.
(acrylic on canvas, 180x110), 2006
"In photographic black and white, young Bekim Gllogu has painted himself into a group portrait of Coldplay, posing as their new guitar player, a small Kosovar with a goatee. Another example of wanting to belong."
Text by Chris Keulemans (writer & journalist)
