The Art of Resistance: Against Censorship of Albanian Artists in Serbia

• In Event: Rethinking Yugoslav Culture II: Arrested Development in/and Contemporary Yugoslav Culture

Abstract

Drawing on archival research and personal curatorial experience, this presentation explores the intersection of contemporary art and politics in the aftermath of the 1990s disintegration of Yugoslavia, characterized by genocide, ethnic cleansing, and civilian persecution. Specifically, I examine the case studies of four exhibitions held in Belgrade – “Përtej” (1997), “On Normality” (2005), “Exception” (2008), and “Artist-Citizen” (2008) – their aftermaths, and their political relevance today. The representation of Albanian artists from Kosovo – Mehmet Behluli, Sokol Beqiri, Driton Hajredini, Dren Maliqi, and others – in the exhibitions held in Belgrade and Serbia, was consistently fraught with difficulties. My discussion invokes broader discourses on solidarity, the politics of temporality, and importance of methodological framing, as it focuses on the particular strategies of resisting censorship employed by the curators such as Shkëlzen Maliqi, Branislava Anđelković, Vida Knežević, Bojana Pejić and others. Their curatorial approaches were essential in determining the visibility of the artworks in question, and safeguarding the freedom of expression within the public sphere. The ban on Albanian artists presenting their artworks in public space and institutions in Serbia, raises questions about the political oppression of the Serbian state and its apparatus against the Albanian society before, during, and after the Kosovo War (1998-1999).

Author

• Dejan Vasic, Stanford U