BMW Art Guide by Independent Collectors

LambdaLambda Lambda – Pristina, Kosovo

Mastering the Language in the Kosovan Capital

Charlotte Herzig, "Harmless Hiccup" curated by Elise Lammer for SALTS, 2017 (exhibition view). Courtesy the artist and SALTS. Photo: Majlinda Hoxha
Charlotte Herzig, "Harmless Hiccup" curated by Elise Lammer for SALTS, 2017 (exhibition view). Courtesy the artist and SALTS. Photo: Majlinda Hoxha

Off a winding side street in Pristina, the capital of Kosovo, an exciting new art space is bringing an outsider’s perspective to the sometimes inward-looking art world. LambdaLambdaLambda was set up by two Viennese curators, Isabella Ritter and Katharina Schendl. How they made it to Pristina is a “long story” but came about “through friends and artists that we like,” they explain. Their choice of location has presented some interesting challenges for the pair: “Things work completely differently to Western places. Here, we don’t have any market.” However, LLL have found that this lack of traditional sales pressures in the gallery space has freed them from certain constraints: “There are no rules how certain things have to be done or said, so it opens up space for art in its core.” They note that a few other places have sprung up more recently in the Kosovan capital, such as Motrat and Passenger. “We are very glad about that because it means that there is good energy going around,” the gallerists say.

Dardan Zhegrova, "When we meet sometimes at night, bright bright, long talk in white", 2015/16 (exhibition view). Courtesy the artist. Photo: Dren Maliqi
Dardan Zhegrova, "When we meet sometimes at night, bright bright, long talk in white", 2015/16 (exhibition view). Courtesy the artist. Photo: Dren Maliqi
Nora Turato, "Pissed Walking", 2017 (exhibition view). Courtesy the artist. Photo: Majlinda Hoxh
Nora Turato, "Pissed Walking", 2017 (exhibition view). Courtesy the artist. Photo: Majlinda Hoxh

In the time that LLL has been open they have exhibited Kosovan artists such as Flaka Haliti, who represented Kosovo at the Venice Biennale in 2015, and Astrit Ismaili. They also work with international artists, such as Tatjana Danneberg, Hanne Lippard, and Nora Turato. There tends to be a focus on works that work with language as a medium, as one might expect, given the incantation-like title of the gallery. “Language is of utmost importance to us,” the gallerists explain. “We are interested in language as a medium and its immaterial nature. Also how, through the mastering of language, one can create mental images, ambiguities, etc.” Since the Kosovan scene is fairly minimal, Schendl and Ritter work hard to get their artists onto an international platform through art fairs and their pre-existing global network. They have also begun a collaborative exchange project, where they swap shows with galleries in other cities. “Last year it was with Dawid Radziszewski Gallery from Warsaw. This year we invited SALTS, the art space from Basel. So, next year we will do something with one of our artists in their space in Basel.”

Hanne Lippard, "Foam", 2016 (exhibition view). Courtesy the artist. Photo: Georg Petermichl
Hanne Lippard, "Foam", 2016 (exhibition view). Courtesy the artist. Photo: Georg Petermichl
Flaka Haliti, "Its urgency got lost in reverse (while being in constant delay)", 2017 (exhibition view). Courtesy the artist. Photo: Majlinda Hoxha
Flaka Haliti, "Its urgency got lost in reverse (while being in constant delay)", 2017 (exhibition view). Courtesy the artist. Photo: Majlinda Hoxha

Collaborative projects are only the first part of LLL’s coloring outside the lines of how galleries traditionally operate. They also take the enchanting and mystical sound of their name seriously, with a series of “rituals” commissioned before each show. “The idea started when Astrit Ismaili did the initial ritual ‘to protect the future’ when we first moved into the gallery space,” Schendl and Ritter say. “As rituals vary across every culture we thought we could experiment a bit on the concept of the ritual. The rituals that were done so far vary a lot, spanning from art historical references to very abstract ideas. What is also great about them is to get some people in one place and experience something together.” Far from the art world’s centers of gravity, communal experiences have a special kind of power.

by Josie Thaddeus-Johns

Josie Thaddeus-Johns is a writer and editor based in Berlin, covering art, music, film and more. She writes for the Guardian, Broadly, Creators Project, and others. She is currently working on her first novel.

All images courtesy LambdaLambdaLambda, Pristina

More Information on LambdaLambdaLambda

Galleries (40)

Futura Art Gallery — Pietrasanta, Italy

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Gianni Manhattan - Vienna, Austria

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Misako & Rosen — Tokyo, Japan

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Tiwani Contemporary – London, Great Britain

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Frutta Gallery — Rome, Italy

Understanding Tradition Without Hesitating to Break It

Contemporary Fine Arts – Berlin, Germany

From West to East and Back Again: a Berlin Institution That’s Made Its Mark

Bo Bjerggaard – Copenhagen, Denmark

Showcasing Figurative Painting With a Side of Communal Spirit

Pierre-Yves Caër Gallery – Paris, France

The Parisian gallery creating a home for Japanese artists in the European art market.

Blindspot Gallery — Hong Kong, China

Throwing a Spotlight on Local Artists

Vane – Newcastle upon Tyne, Great Britain

The Not-for-profit Space Offering Context And Critique In Newcastle

H’art Gallery — Bucharest, Romania

One of Bucharest’s Oldest Private-Run Galleries

Deák Erika Galéria – Budapest, Hungary

Beyond Budapest’s Baths

The Breeder Gallery – Athens, Greece

Breeding New Forms in Athens

Tim Van Laere Gallery – Antwerp, Belgium

An autonomous gallery representing both upcoming and well-established artists

Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler – Berlin, Germany

One of the most cutting-edge galleries in Berlin

Galerie Fons Welters – Amsterdam, The Netherlands

A Doorway to Amsterdam’s Contemporary Art

Bosse & Baum – London, United Kingdom

Ambitious perspectives in Peckham

TM51 – Oslo, Norway

Three Galleries in One – Oslo’s Most Accessible Space

mfc-michèle didier – Paris, France

A Space that Reflects the Artistic Discipline

V1 Gallery – Copenhagen, Denmark

Challenging the Boundaries of Art

Upstream Gallery – Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Tackling the Shift Between the Analog and Digital in a Post Internet World

Galerie Forsblom – Helsinki, Finland

Bringing international contemporary art to the Finnish capital

The Journal Gallery – New York, USA

Saving New York from Becoming a Sale-Focused Gallery Wasteland

Peres Projects – Berlin, Germany

Bridging the Gap Between Los Angeles and Berlin

Galeria OMR – Mexico City

Mexico City’s advocate for modern artistic tendencies and international contemporary art

LOYAL – Stockholm, Sweden

A Gallery that Pushes the Dialogue Around Young and International Art in Sweden’s Capital

Chimera-Project — Budapest, Hungary

Post-contemporary interest in aesthetics while eagerly re-constructing and defining traditions

La New Gallery — Madrid, Spain

Celebrating contemporary art in all its multi-faceted forms

Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery – Sydney, Australia

Her uncanny ability to recognize unique Pacific Rim talent

Take Ninagawa Gallery – Tokyo, Japan

Promoting emerging Japanese artists within a cross-generational, international framework

RaebervonStenglin – Zurich, Switzerland

It is much more about concepts, long conversations and long-term commitment

Galerie Emanuel Layr – Vienna, Austria

Finding the right chord among the various artists

Platform China – Beijing/Hongkong, China

This shows how much prejudgment there still is

Fluxia – Milan, Italy

Strive to discover new approaches in contemporary art

Gaudel de Stampa – Paris, France

“Discreet” seems to be the perfect adjective

NON – Istanbul, Turkey

The dawn of an era of collaboration

Vermelho – São Paulo, Brazil

There were no galleries open to a new generation of artists working in a nontraditional way

Eleven Rivington – New York, USA

Newfound talent and rediscovers international artists for a new audience

Ibid. – London, Great Britain

Rather than listing names