鈥淲hen I conceived and constructed the shuttle rocket for They鈥檙e lucky to be Bourgeois Hens, I was thinking deeply of how things might be transformed if looked at or considered from above, from an unusual point of view.鈥 With this statement, Petrit Halilaj introduces one of the largest works to be displayed outside HangarBicocca, in Milan. The intervention was planned to stand just outside the exhibition space, serving as a metaphorical entrance to the show. As a connection between the external urban fabric and the hangar within; between natural and artificial light, as well as between imaginary worlds and multiple realities. It takes the form of a rudimentary space rocket conjuring up the notion of a voyage of discovery and re-evokes the title of Halilaj鈥檚 first institutional solo exhibition in Italy: Space Shuttle in the Garden.
With its Klein-blue vault, the shuttle interior is actually home to dozens of real hens 鈥 a metonymic animal in Halilaj鈥檚 work 鈥 that are as free to move among the works in the exhibition as the visitors themselves. Just like a poetic declaration, this installation aims to strip away all notions of hierarchy between living creatures, introducing a humorously-inflected desire for change. The rocket-shaped installation is the latest part of a project begun in 2008 as part of Art Is My Playground, a group exhibition held in an amusement park in Istanbul. There, Halilaj presented a series of sculptures made from water, iron, wood and objets trouv茅s. These offered an introduction to the Space Shuttle in the Garden installation, with a floating black feather immersed in the waters of an austere, hydraulically-activated fish tank.
Halilaj聽practice聽bears witness to the renaissance of an independent country 鈥 Kosovo 鈥 while elaborating on various experiences of the recent war. A period of loss for the artist and his family is explored, representing the history of his country of origin, considered a new ground for re-birth. Employing his baggage of memories, he delves into universal themes like the search for identity and the concept of home as both common and individual space.聽The issue of Domesticity at HangarBicocca is primarily examined in works like The places I鈥檓 looking for, my dear, are utopian places, they are boring and I don鈥檛 know to make them real (2010-2015). Created in 2010 for the 6th Berlin Biennial, and now on show in a new form for the first time in Italy, the installation is made from the wooden framework used to construct Halilaj鈥檚 new family home in the capital, Pristina, after the family decided to leave Runik, where they had lived for years. Like a disassembled negative mark, the structure 鈥 a mould of the building 鈥 fills the exhibition space with its outlined emptiness, defining different rooms and spaces.
In HangarBicocca, the work has been exploded on different horizontal and vertical levels. The common areas of the house serve as the central section of the installation, connecting other, surrounding works such as 26 Objekte n鈥橩umpir (2009) and the metal enlargements of the space, realised in 2015, entitled It is the first time dear that you have a human shape. In fact, imbued by a desire marked by expectation, a feeling that precedes any move to a new city, The places I鈥檓 looking for聽is actually a family portrait in which past and future intertwine to compose new stories derived from the vicissitudes of its inhabitants鈥 lives. 鈥淲hen I look at this new displacement鈥, remarks Halilaj, 鈥淚 can almost perceive the real house, now almost finished in Pristina. The same house that I have not been able to build with all of my family and the one I still have to see in person, because I鈥檓 often abroad. Each artwork shown here in Milan is a measurement of the distance, in space and time, I could have not covered during the years.鈥澛燭his is the common element that runs equally strongly through the sculptures, projections, installations and drawings on show: truth spreading through a time-lapse microcosm.
Ginevra Bria
Petrit Halilaj:聽Space Shuttle in the Garden,聽until 13 March,聽HangarBicocca,聽Via Chiese 2, Milan, Italy.
Learn more at
Follow us on Twitter for the latest news in contemporary art and culture.
Credits
1.聽Petrit Halilaj,聽26 Objekte n鈥 Kumpir, 2009.聽Courtesy the Artist and Pirelli HangarBicocca.聽Photo: Agostino Osio.
