EVERYTHING WE DO IS REALLY, REALLY BRILLIANT
Driton Selmani
The Dr. Eva Kahan Foundation is pleased to announce the first Hungarian exhibition of the Kosovar artist Driton Selmani, opening at the Kahan Art Space Budapest on 9th November. The exhibition is curated by Hana Ostan Ožbolt.
Driton Selmani (b. 1987 Kosovo, lives and works in Prishtina) approaches the idea of perceived reality by deconstructing formations of social, political, and cultural topics that have been embodied around him. At a young age, he was told to worship a country that no longer existed, which caused him to form a basis of skepticism towards any supposedly given reality. He later used this as a beneficial tool to reconstruct his beliefs into visual artifacts. In 1999, old simulacra have been replaced by new simulacra; the ornaments of a previous space have been refurbished in order to unfold with new meanings but also new uncertainties. Selmani confronts himself as a spectator of this “ongoing event”, but rather positions himself as an actor, enacting his performances based on his personal histories, beliefs, and doubts.
Recent solo exhibitions were held at MoCa, Museum of Contemporary Art Skopje (2022); Salon Galič, Split (2022); Tillt Radio, Prishtina (2022); Palace of Youth, Prishtina (2021); Muzeji i Galerije Podgorica, Montenegro (2021); Corridor Project Space, Amsterdam (2021); Ta.da, Copenhagen (2021); U10 – Belgrade (2021). His works have been exhibited as part of group exhibitions at LambdaLambdaLambda, Prishtina (2022); Manifesta 14, Kosovo (2022); 18th Tallinn Print Triennial, curated by Róna Kopeczky (2022); “Bigger than Myself. Heroic voices from ex-Yugoslavia”, MAXXI, Rome, curated by Zdenka Badovinac (2021); Škuc Gallery (2020). In 2023, Selmani will hold, among others, a solo exhibition at Apiece Gallery, Vilnius; Eva Kahan Foundation (Vienna and Budapest), and will exhibit as part of group exhibitions at Kunsthaus Graz.
Curator: Hana Ostan Ožbolt (b. 1991, Slovenia; lives and works in Vienna) is an art historian working as an independent curator, writer and lecturer. From 2018 she worked for the ULAY Foundation, being its director between 2019–2023. She is a contributor for Artforum and currently holds a Guest Professorship at die Angewandte, Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien.
A selection of recent curatorial projects include “Ulay: The Great Journey”, HOW Art Museum, Shaghai (2023); “I Had a Dog and a Cat” as part of “Curated by” Festival with David Fesl, Andreas Fogarasi, Katalin Ladik, Denisa Lehocká, David Maljković, Josse Pyl, Michael E. Smith, Kazuna Taguchi, Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienna (2022); “Maria Sulymenko: Is it time yet?”, Georg Kargl BOX (2022); “BODY ECSTATIC BODY ECLECTIC BODY ECCENTRIC” with Ana Mendieta, Annegret Soltau, Arvida Byström, Elena Tejada-Herrera, Iza Pavlina, Jeremy Shaw, Letícia Parente, Marina Abramović, Molly Soda, Sanja Iveković, Ulay, Ulrike Rosenbach, ULAY Foundation Project Space, (2021); “ULAY WAS HERE”, Stedelijk Museum, co-curated with Hripsimé Visser and Rein Wolfs (2020–2021); “Double Wall of Silence” with Daniel García Andújar, Louis-Cyprien Rials, Driton Selmani, Ariel Schlesinger, Vangjush Vellahu, Škuc Gallery/Hestia Belgrade, co-curated with Anja Obradović (2019–2020); “Driton Selmani: Places We Leave Behind”, HOoST (2019).
The exhibition runs until 13th January 2024 at the Kahan Art Space Budapest.
Photocredit: ©Réka Hegyháti