Flaka Haliti: Our Death, Others’ Dinner
The saying ‘Our death, others’ dinner’ sounds just like a phrase, but it is much more than that. For centuries, when someone dies in an Albanian family, the relatives of the deceased family bring food they have prepared in their homes to help deal with the pain caused by the loss and share the grief of the bereaved. In this work, quite the opposite connotation is used. The title is used for an artistic creation with a totally different concept in order to reach an altogether new dimension. My questions both for the work itself as well as for this presentation are: ‘Should the victim be victimized for the second time if one has become a concept for an artistic creation?’ How fair is that?! What is the reason that makes an artist delve into such matters? Are the intentions to honor the victim and relatives, and by doing so, give them more importance, always positive or do they unconsciously lead towards victimizing the deceased person for the second time and offending the relatives of the victim by commercializing their pain and sorrow?! In this case the saying ‘Our death, others’ dinner’ is used as a metaphor, and it shows the artist as one who makes the dinner to alleviate the misfortune of the other.
As a conclusion, regarding the question ‘Should the victim be victimized for the second time if one has become a concept for an artistic creation?’ a video of the group Jericho and their song ‘When is the Song Going to Stop’ is used. This video is dedicated to Kosovo war victims missing since 1998. I have made another video which initiates a debate among the victims, where you can see their reactions and the attitude they have towards Jericho’s song.
Flaka Haliti was born in 1982 in Pristina, Kosovo. Is currently based in Frankfurt/Main where she attends the class of Judith Hopf at Staedelshcule. Graduated in 2005 from the Academy of Arts Printing Department, Pristina University. Since 2007 has been teaching Aesthetics of Space at Pristina University. In 2005 she contributed with radio reports and photos to the residency project Belgrade Correspondent in organization and production of Rex Cultural Centre/B92. In the same year she participated in the project Academy Remix - Städelschule, Frankfurt meets Missing Identity, EXIT Pristina program/exhibition in Porticus Frankfurt and National Museum in Pristina, and international symposium in Gallery Porticus Frankfurt. She works as a conceptual and critical artist, directly touching very socially relevant issues by using video, audio, performance, installation, etc. During the last few years she intensively participated in exhibition projects organized in various art spaces and galleries such as Porticus, Frankfurt; REX & B92, Belgrade; Sparwasser, Berlin; Exodus Onstage Festival; Station, Pristina; NoD Gallery, Prague, Brussel Biennial 2008-2009. Her most recent personal exhibition “Balls! Balls! Balls!” took place in 2008 in the Station - Center for Contemporary Art in Pristina, curated by Albert Heta.