Petrit Halilaj
She, fully turning around, became terrestrial
6 March–18 October 2015
Bundeskunsthalle
Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany
Friedrich-Ebert-Allee 4
D-53113 Bonn
Germany
Hours: Tuesday–Wednesday 10am–9pm, Thursday–Sunday and public holidays 10am–7pm
T +49 228 9171 200
F +49 228 9171 209
info [at] bundeskunsthalle.de
Petrit Halilaj (b. 1986) is an artist whose work is concerned with tracing history and biography. The artist quotes images from his personal recollections and draws on them in his work, translating them into the changed reality of the present day and, with it, into a new context and a new “guise”—which often involves considerable magnification. Halilaj pursues this investigation of the past not just on his own behalf.
Petrit Halilaj has investigated the history of the collection of the Natural History Museum which had to make way for the displays of the Ethnographic Museum of Kosovo. Having tracked down the stuffed animals and other specimens—most of them ruined by years of wilful neglect and damp—in the stores of the Kosovo Museum in Pristina, he has single-mindedly applied himself to the task of ensuring their safety and conservation.
Halilaj’s concerted effort to record and preserve the past for the present deserves great credit, and while the achievement is all his, the Bundeskunsthalle shares and supports his concern.
The exhibition is a cooperation between Bundeskunsthalle and the Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne. The Kunstverein is presenting a Petrit Halilaj exhibition from 17 April to 7 June.
The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue published by Walther König, Cologne, and edited by Bundeskunsthalle, the Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne, and the Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen.
Director Rein Wolfs points out the importance of Petrit Halilaj’s exhibition for Bundeskunsthalle: “Petrit Halilaj’s story tale of the extinction of a museum in times of political turmoil serves as a monument to the fragility of cultural heritage. This complex subject has always been of particular importance to the Art Exhibition Hall, where it has been at the heart of a series of exhibitions dedicated to cultural history that have showcased art and artefacts from all over the world. It means a great deal to me to be able to present Halilaj’s subtle and thought-provoking works and to offer them ‘temporary sanctuary’ in the galleries of Bundeskunsthalle.”
Soon to come: Trouble in Paradise, an exhibition presenting 14 contemporary artists from 24 April to 11 October on the roof garden of Bundeskunsthalle. And: Hanne Darboven. Zeitgeschichten (from 11 September)
Director and curator: Rein Wolfs
Exhibition Manager: Susanne Kleine
Press contact: Sven Bergmann
T +49 228 9171 204 / presse [at] bundeskunsthalle.de
