Space for Memories Unmade

Luan Bajraktari’s work investigates quotidian lived experiences by changing the character of an object and analyzing our relationship to it. His sculptural installations reconsider the binaries of usefulness and uselessness, the material and immaterial, and question the normative associations of everyday items. For the exhibition Space for Memories Unmade, he presented a newly commissioned work that transformed the gallery into a living room created from remnants of previous interiors. Through architectural and interior design interventions, the artist produces a quintessential domestic environment by using his childhood home as a primary reference. The exhibition aimed to subvert the institutional structures, and create a space that invites reflection and dialogue. Exploring the notion of home from a diasporic perspective, for this exhibition Bajraktari uses ready-made furniture and domestic objects that constitute a ubiquitous living room interior of Kosovar homes and the larger region. Although the basic arrangement of a living room tends to be similar across the globe, the patterns and aesthetics of the carpet, sofa, curtains, and heater amongst other objects presented, tacitly reflect an embodied affectivity. The objects Bajraktari brings into his gallery living room were all sourced from his own house and other homes, embodying their memories of previous lives and the environments they were used in. These objects were selected randomly to convey and emphasize the general feeling, rather than igniting special ideas on their own. Through architectural intervention, the exhibition draws attention to memories embedded in objects and spaces and examines spatial experiences as a signifier of social and economic classes. Giving a public dimension to a private sphere, and vice versa, the exhibition aimed to activate the installation beyond its tangibility. The conceived environment by Bajraktari invited discussion on the gender dynamics and social norms that play out in Kosovar households and beyond, home interactions and cultural practices that shape the individual and collective experiences, and the role of the living room as an architectural element.

Text by Hana Halilaj