Yane Calovski / "Urban Text" in Paris

External activities | Yane Calovski | the exhibition "Urban text, this space called the Balkans" | The Institute of Islamic Cultures in Paris | 15.09.2022

From September 15 to December 11, 2022, the Institute of Islamic Cultures in Paris will present the exhibition "Urban text, this ppace called Balkans", co-curated by Falma Fshazi and Berenice Saliou. Through the prism of the urban space, the exhibition "Urban text" - a term that literally means "urban fabric" in French - shows the complexity of the Balkans, a multicultural territory with changing definitions.

The text of the curators of the exhibition points out: "From the traces of the Ottoman Empire to the scars of the wars of the 20th century, the city has become a palimpsest of collective writings, a mirror of history and imagination." Between construction, erasure and transformation, political and individual dynamics have left their mark on architecture and monuments. The selection of artists working in the Balkans testify with their strength and delicacy, seizing memories and current events to create intimacies, discourses or dreams. They emphasize the historical density of South-Eastern Europe, at the same time as the diversity of influences that have shaped this region for centuries and whose populations are a reflection."

At the exhibition, Yane Calovski presents his latest installation "The Residual Effect", which is an image of the archive from the former Institute of Urbanism and Architecture from Skopje, which is no longer present in the public domain. Calovski's work is an invitation to define the temporality of the already non-existent archive. Rather, it seeks to shape the interpretive and open concept of adapting knowledge beyond the public and into the realm of intimacy and subjectivity.

During the exhibition, a public program will be organized that combines performing arts, round tables, music and film screenings that provide an overview of the cultural abundance and challenges of the modern Balkans. The discursive program will address issues related to democratic transition, the post-conflict context and the affirmation of unique cultural identities.

https://www.institut-cultures-islam.org/urban-text-this-place-called-balkans-exhibition-texts-eng/