Petrit Halilaj

You used to fly, go everywhere and wake up those who are asleep (Tristan), 2018

Steel, costume from the performance Shkrepëtima in Runik

Shkrepëtima (TOKA JONĒ), 2018

Red velvet curtain, props (woolen yarn and spool, embroidery hoop and needle, a wooden rifle)

Courtesy of the artist, ChertLüdde Berlin and kamel menour, Paris and London

In the 1960s–1980s, in Kosovo, as in Lithuania, theatre served to awaken the nation. It was one of the few places where metaphors were used to speak to audiences about aspirations to freedom. Petrit Halilaj was raised on such theatre in his native town of Runik. After the political cataclysms that struck Kosovo, the latter stood abandoned. In 2018, inspired by memories and the local community, HalilajPetrit revived the centre to stage the performative event Shkrepëtima (Lightning).

Red theatre curtains opened to reveal the forgotten life of Runik: the families who lived and fought with one another here, and later tried to make amends, love each other, and move on. This world, full of drama and loss, was observed by birds flying above the scene. The artist turns them into the witnesses of the story, intermediaries between heaven and earth, incarnations of the human spirit.