Flaka Haliti’s three assemblages deal cleverly with the theme of identity. Haliti studied art at the University in Prishtina, at the renowned Städel-Schule in Frankfurt, and at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna (PhD). In 2015, she represented Kosovo at the 56^th Venice Biennial. Her works deal with a kind of contemporary Romanticism. Through the combination of “classical” motifs or materials and simple forms or everyday things, humorous compositions emerge. The three practically sized marble panels in the evn collection feature the mutable figure “Joe,” an alter ego of the artist. “Joe” can be a sponge, or a snake in a cubist 3D print; he nestles in the veins of the stone. The art figure offers viewers the momentum of a stage performance in which the prestigious stone is scenery for grimaces or camouflage.

evn collection, 2021 (translation: Virginia Dellenbaugh)