Jakup Ferri of Kossovo Pavillion talks us about his art and his experience

 

"I would say that beauty lies in experimentation, but also in being true to yourself. Beauty is everywhere really". 

By Camilla Delpero  

When did you become an artist?

I come from a family where we had paintings all around, my father was a painter but he was also collecting paintings from his friends. so I grew up amongst paintings and painting was the first thing that sort of  attracted me or drew my interest as a child. But then I remember in 1995, I was a young boy, 13 years old maybe, it was a summer day, and I remember having this sort of panic attack, wondering what I would do in my life, what would be my profession. And suddenly, in 2 minutes I had to decide, would I become a footballer? So in that very moment I decided I would be a painter somehow. From that day I started to have this urge to produce more, because this would be my future. In the late 1990s, my interest was really into painters, but then it changed in the 2000s when I started to study at the Art Academy in Pristina. I then became more ' aware of conceptual and video art, we were making lots of amateur video art. As a young student I started to show my work in many different places. When I started to become successful as a video artist, I decided to stop and go back to drawing and painting.

Photo by Leonit Ibrahimi.

What is your project for the biennale, your focus?

It is not really a project but rather a collection of my works, what I have been producing for the last 3/4 years. We wanted to hang them in the most natural way and not just hang them like in an art fair. I produced the series of tapestries on the floor for the occasion. It was an ongoing conversation with the curator Inke Arns and the architect.

What has been your experience so far at the biennale.

Well, this is only the 1st day of the preview so I can only reflect on the setting up of the pavilion. Of course it has been difficult with regards to time and financial management, numerous rules to follow, as it probably always is in a Biennale such as this one. You want to show the best of your practice, which causes stress also. I have to admit that I am happy the setting up is over, it has been the most challenging I have experienced so far.  

Photo by Leonit Ibrahimi.

What is beauty for you?

Beauty! That is a very nice question. How to answer that? I would say that beauty lies in experimentation, but also in being true to yourself. Beauty is everywhere really. Somehow beauty is how we see things and not how they are.

What is contemporary art ?

Well, I could compare it to music, as I listen more to music than I see visual art actually. But really, the medium itself doesn't really matter. Contemporary art is something that is honest, and at the same time experimental, unusual, new, and smart.