But you, yourself, with your own hand must open this door

Curators: Cathrin Mayer, Kristina Scepanski.
Artists: Edona Ademi, Djellza Azemi, Anjesa Dellova, Blerta Haziraj, Doruntina Kastrati, Anita Muçolli, Leart Rama, Abi Shehu, Dardan Zhegrova.

“But you, yourself, with your own hand must open this door,” after a line from the poem “The Magic Door” written by the Yugoslavian poet, Mira Alečkovic´in the 1940s, is dedicated to a generation of young artists who live in Kosovo and Albania or whose origins can be traced back to these countries.

The exhibition presents works by artists born in the early 1990s who strive to contribute to the shaping of the future while dealing with our fragile present, which is currently once more defined and riven by a mindset of division.

For artists in the ethnic diaspora, the region itself is associated with both a diffuse sense of nostalgia and cross-generational trauma; for the local scene, it represents an inspiring resonance chamber that – with its borders, constraints and conditions – simultaneously differs and separates itself from the permeability of a European cultural landscape.