Dear Gjoke,
I’m sending you an interview request
and I want to thank you for your time and help, because I know that you’re very busy. Two days ago I found an image that we star ted to create together in 27AD Gallery. I know that in those days Marina Abramovich had a solo show at PAC, Milan but I’m not sure that this image was inspired by her work.
G.G.: First of all “SPOMENIK” is in serbian language and it means monumento in italian, in Kosovarian is SHTATORE. There are lots of Spomenik/Shtatore in Kosovo, lots of them were destroyed during and after the conflict in Kosovo. There were monuments of brotherhood between Albanian kosovars and all the rest of x YU. As everyone knows serbians and Kosovo albanians always hated each other (they still hate each other) and of course having Tito as a X yugoslavian leader it was thought to build this monuments of brotherhood ( Bashkim Vllaznim AL, Bratsvo Jedinstvo SRB, Unita Fraternità IT ). Most of the monuments were destroyed but lot of them still exist. My relationship with Serbia is this: I was born in 1981 and I grow up in Yugoslavia in Peje/Pec. As a child I never hated Serbians, and this is maybe because I used to live with them: my first neighborhood were serbians, I have plenty of reason to hate Serbians but I never did this. After the war in Croatia I started to stay less with serbian friends because my father was robbed in Knin, Croatia. They did the same with kosovo albanians, and slowly after the war in in Croatia serbians in Kosovo started to take all of our school, work and everything that was albanian. After years and years of this shitty things in Kosovo, the Kosovo Albanians create the UCK al ( Kosovo Liberation Army ) and they started to resist at serbian regime. In 1999 the war/conflict started. They came into my house and said go out if you want to live ( they were my neighborhood ) so I am still alive and I can say that I am 50-50 with them... in one word I can say I miss my enemies, the last time I was in Serbia/Belgrade was in 2010, and as I can remember in Serbia there are lots of monuments ( they are all over the x YU )...
The most important monument in my city Peje is destroyed now. People says that every winner creates his idols, so in Peje we have only “Kosovo” new entry monuments: we have mother Teresa in the center :) This is one of the monuments i remember http://markokrojac.blogspot.it/2012/11/rip-spomenik-na-karadacu.html I still remember a monument actually destroyed in the center of Peje city park, unfortunately there are no photos :( I think that all the monuments must be destroyed, they just give hate and change the history. The energy of monuments is people and not monuments, I would really like to destroy all monuments. If you go back in history you will always wonder in which country I am living, there were turks, serbians, albanians, and no one knew what was real and what was fake about monuments... that’s why I am saying to destroy monuments and create something more important... If you ask Turks they will say we had monuments in Kosovo, if you ask Serbs they will say we had monuments in Kosovo, if you ask Kosovo Albanians they will say we have monuments, and if this would be possible Iwould really ask old Romans about their ruins in Kosovo... “Spomenik” and all other things in Balcan were made by winners, so there is no real or fake...they exist and they are destroyed, why we should build something knowing his end? DESTROY THE MONUMENTS DESTROY THE MONUMENTS DESTROY THE MONUMENTS DESTROY THE MONUMENTS DESTROY THE MONUMENTS DESTROY THE MONUMENTS DESTROY THE MONUMENTS DESTROY THE MONUMENTS DESTROY THE MONUMENTS DESTROY THE MONUMENTS DESTROY THE MONUMENTS DESTROY THE MONUMENTS DESTROY THE MONUMENTS DESTROY THE MONUMENTS DESTROY THE MONUMENTS DESTROY THE MONUMENTS DESTROY THE MONUMENTS DESTROY THE MONUMENTS DESTROY THE MONUMEN
I always found a contradiction in her work, depending on what you told me about your youth time in Kosovo and two days ago I read on Bridge the Gap, a CCA Kitakyushu conference in the 90s, that there are two things she has been allergic to all her life: feminism and the politics. I personally don’t like this answer and maybe I can explain why with you contribute. I’d like to reconstruct with you the story of our meeting through our image, memories and misunderstanding as well I want you to ask a couple of things so, as start, can you to tell me about Spomenik in Kosovo? and then I’d like to know what is your relationship with Serbia, in particular I would like to know when was the last time you went there and if you remember some monuments? Which is the most important monument in your city, Peje, for example? Do you think that a monument is a kind of energy disposal for a population? It will take you some time, but I want to listen to your answer
you are very important for me
Sara