Kosovo Architecture Foundation

Vote for Kosovan Architecture

The Filigree Maker

Commissioner: Bekim Ramku
Curator: Perparim Rama
Advisor to the Commissioner: Winy Maas

Evaluation Board: Eliza Hoxha, Teuta Jashari Kajtazi, Valdet Osmani
Scientific Board: Sali Spahiu, Astrit Hajrullahu, Ilir Murseli, Nol Binakaj

Assistants: Fitim Mucaj, Agron Mjekiqi, David Beer, Miguel Fonseca, Desariot Ademaj, Valon Jashari, Besjan Krasniqi, Alush Gashi, Alban Gagica, Vjollca Podvorica, Nikki Murseli, Hana Nixha, D-Line


Venue: Arsenale

Kosovan architecture will make its debut at the Venice Biennale. Kosovo is now one of the 55 nations that have a presence in the largest and most prestigious architectural event in the world.

Perparim Rama, an architect and the founder/director of the London-based firm 4M, has been selected by Kosovo’s Ministry of Culture to curate the pavilion in Venice. The exhibition will run from August 29th through November 25th 2012.
The country’s exhibit, The Filigree Maker, intends to present an emotional barometer related to Kosovan streets and buildings. The idea is to expose Kosovo’s present architectural state while generating future design based on emotional responses.

For the pavilion, Rama aims at making the event interactive, using mostly web-based and social networking technologies through email, and networks such as Twitter and Facebook. Biennale attendees, as well as anyone who has Internet access, will be able to participate by way of selecting architectural and urban landscape images from the country and linking them directly to a sentiment: happiness, sadness, entrapment, excitement, freedom, or anger. Visitors will be able to select an image from a pre-selected library, or they may choose photographs that have been uploaded by other participants. They will also be able to simply add their own photos and link them to an emotion. People from all over the world will have an opportunity to express their own emotional attachment through these photographs and share their vision for the future in terms of the country’s design landscape.

All user-selected images will take a journey through an interactive-based platform, a journey which will lead to the formation of a common ground symbolized through a structure made of filigree wire. Filigree, known as filigrani in Kosovo, is one of the country's oldest traditional jewelry and metal making techniques. The use of filigree is one of the key structures representing Kosovo in this year's pavilion.

The Biennale will hopefully raise the new country's profile in the international arena of art and architecture; while this industry is making strides in Kosovo, it is still lagging behind due to a building boom which has covered the city with a sprawl of store fronts and apartment and office buildings. With that in mind, voters and visitors to the exhibit can become agents of change, impacting the structure represented in the Kosovan Pavilion and possibly affecting future legislation. As expressed by Rama, “This exhibit intends to create guides for current structure, creative design and future innovation.”

We kindly ask you to visit the following site and link the images of architecture and urban landscapes to the six emotions mentioned above.