The Republic of Kosovo is taking part for the fifth time in the 59th International Art Exhibition –  La Biennale di Venezia with a major solo exhibition of Jakup Ferri, opening on 23 April 2022 and running through to 27 November 2022. 

The Kosovo Pavilion will be curated by Inke Arns, director of HMKV Hartware MedienKunstVerein in Dortmund, Germany (www.hmkv.de), and the presentation will take place in the Arsenale.

With The Monumentality of the Everyday, Jakup Ferri presents a large-scale site-specific installation displaying paintings, embroideries and carpets. While Ferri’s works can be reminiscent of children’s books, folk art, and so-called outsider art, his real inspiration comes from all kinds of other-worldly microorganisms (bacteria, viruses, fungi, archaea) as seen through an electron microscope.

The figurative paintings and embroideries are based on the artist’s (slightly) surreal drawings depicting everyday life involving animals, children, acrobats and utopian architecture.There are poetic interactions between people, creatures and objects, looking at each other and thus creating silent dialogues and suggesting new ways of communication between species.

The hand-woven abstract carpets with geometrical patterns, on the other hand, are based on Jip Ferri’s (the artist’s son) avatar designs from the computer game Animal Crossing. Ferri – who for his textile works collaborates with women from Albania, Kosovo, Burkina Faso and Suriname – considers carpet-making and embroidery as techniques of coherence and community building.

The Kosovo Pavilion at the Biennale Arte 2022 is commissioned by Alisa Gojani Berisha, Curator at the National Museum of Kosovo.