Exhibition in retrospective MAKE ART NOT WAR, The Happening at Çarshia e Gjatë, Peja, October 30, 1999
(Organizator i Happeningut 1999) SOKOL BEQIRI & BALKAN SUN FLOWERS KOSOVA
Pjesëmarrës: Artistët: Sokol Beqiri, Erzen Shkololli, Mehmet Behluli, Albert Heta, Gani Bajraktari, Haxhi Kastrati, Zymber Mulliqi, Eduard Çarri, Kushtrim Deva;
Arch.: Sokol Malushaga; Solo kangëtare: Besa Berberi;
Rock bendi: Babuka dhe Gola; Qindra fëmijë;
Kori i fëmijëve nga Peja Më 30 tetor 1999
Sokol Beqiri dhe OJQ Balkan Sun Flowers Kosova, organizuan një happening në ambientet e Çarshisë së Gjatë të Pejës, e shkatërruar dhe djegur tërësisht gjatë luftës. Në Pejën që ishte çliruar disa muaj më parë, përditëshmëria e gërmadhave të dyqaneve të Çarshisë, ku po mbizotëronin plehërat, sfidonte durimin e qytetarëve. Si arterie kryesore e jetës urbane, Çarshia “vajtonte” kthimin në funksion.. Ish pronarët vendosnin standa të improvizuara në trotuare.
The ruins in the background stood as a scenography of the horror that had been lived. The organizers of the “Çarshia Happening” aimed to raise awareness about the need for civic activism. Against the backdrop of rock music, solo singing, and the cheerful buzz of hundreds of children, the artists activated their imagination. Over the course of four hours, the Bazaar transformed from a scene of desolation into a space celebrating joy. “We experienced the pleasure of a different kind of day amid the bleakness of postwar life,” said one of the artists.
The group of artists responded with diverse concepts in confronting the atrocities of war. The interventions in the environment, which already possessed a pronounced figurative expressiveness, were a challenge for them, especially since the duration of the performance was limited to just a few hours, without prior preparations or sketches. The artists, like the children, followed the impulse of spontaneity, engaging in immediate, on-the-spot actions.
The next morning, after the performance had ended, the artists saw a group of craftsmen who had begun repairing one of the shops in the Bazaar. Life was coming back… I myself, as a spectator at the performance of October 30, 1999, had set out with a camera and a few rolls of film. The photographs I took recorded the course of the happening. It turned out they were the only ones that documented almost the entirety of the event.
I had also written an article about the happening, which I published in the magazine Sheshi, titled “Make Art Not War.” For the reopening of the Gallery Hani i 2 Robertëve, I thought it would be fitting that, after a quarter of a century, today’s art-loving audience should see this photo story as a testament to the significance and uniqueness of the Happening in Peja’s Çarshia e Gjatë.
Shkëlzen Maliqi
