Nationalists break up Priština artists exhibition

Much as I deplore activities undertaken by this extreme right wing rabble there are a number of points to be made here.

First they are not ordinary nationalists - its wrong to tar all nationalists with the same brush. If I remember correctly Serbian MUP classifies this group as clero fascist or similar.

Secondly B92 isnt giving the complete story. If I remember rightly some pictures at this exhibition were of KLA commander Jashari. For sure art should have more free license to be expressed but art which celbrates mythical nationalism is surely precisely the type of thing the 'liberal' lobby should be against? My position has to remain principled, I am deeply suspicious of the celebration / promotion of supposed nationalist war heros.

Dont misunderstand me, I defend the rights of artists from Pristina to have their art shown in Belgrade but if their aims are not dissimilar to the Obraz boys then it makes me wonder...

Let me add that I have noticed a distinct reaction in B92's reporting since this latest political crisis. I share some of this anger but one should continue to give the whole story.

Of course this is awful that politics spills over into art (nowadays also the other way round).

But wasn't there a portrait of Krasniqi in the exhibition? I mean, honestly. What would happen if there was a picture of Milosevic in Pristina? Far worse than this!

This sort of poor taste must have had some sort of involvement from Ms Kandic.

This was not an art show, but rather an albanian provocation. As if they didn't know they weren't going to provoke Serbs?? the kla, which are responsible for so many terrorist attacks on Serbs, brutal murders and killings - their pictures are not welcome in Serbia. Not now not ever!

So this is the face of Belgrade Serbia 2008.
Very,very sad.

Well done the people of Novi Sad for allowing a little art to pass through you town

When even an abandoned house is burned in Kosova, the serbs do not hesitate at all to accuse the albanians.
But now lets see what the serb commentators have to say about this case.
Just to remind you that few weeks ago, some serb singers held a concert in Prishtina and nobody bothered them at all.

So much for Serbia respecting rights of K. Albanians.

I have always said that the reasons why there are not many attacks on K.Albanians by serbs, is because they don't get the opportunity to do that anymore, and NOT because they are more tolerant or democratic.

I would never feel safe going to Serbia.

I strongly condemn this attack; it should not happen any how. ´But I wonder who are the artists that glorify war criminals? I do not know not a one Serbian artist portraying any Serbian war criminal. Imagine Mladic or Karadzic hanging somewhere in some Bosnian art exhibition centre. What do you think, what would have happen. Anyway, it is not artists' fault for exhibiting in Serbia but it is the fault of the organiser who let them exhibit. Perhaps the organiser had no clue who was Adem Jaseri? But I am even most worried for the fact that there are 300 members of Obraz, that is I say too many. Next time Albanian artists should make exhibition of real art.

It is a fact, unfortunate for some, that art and politics cannot be separated. Some of the best art ever produced has been politically inspired and artists who ignore the political are either naive or are abdicating social responsibility.

Having said that, I agree with "smile" on this one. The organisers of this exhibition are idiots, especially at this time of great tension surrounding Kosovo. On the other hand, these Obraz yobs should have their asses kicked from one end of Belgrade to the other. It is probably unwise to ban organisations like this, but whenever they act against the common good, the resources of the state should fall on them like a tonne of bricks.

To the K-Albanians who are gloating at these events: there is a big difference between disrupting an art exhibition and driving people from their homes with violence.

i can't figure out who is more of an idiot here, those who organized this or those who attacked it. i'm just sorry police have to spend their evening and our tax money standing between such two bunches of dunces.

I would like to point one thing to B92 journalists. There is a statement by Vida Knezevic. Shouldn't we hear the other side too?
Statement for someone from Obraz, maybe?
So, there were posters (paintings) of Adem Jashari, Krsniqi, etc.
I don't have anything against Albanian art in Belgrade, or Serbian art in Pristina. But this is not art, this is provocation.
I clicked on village-bey's link, and that is art (really good one, too. Congratulations). In the same way, paintings from Serbian artists shown in Pristina are fine. As long as they don't show Milosevic or Seselj! In that case it's a provocation. Just like having an "art" exibit in Sarajevo with posters of Karadzic, or Mladic.
It's nothing new, there are "artists" who find inspiration in Mladic. Or in this case Krasniqi and Jashari. Very sad.
Few coments here were directed at Serbia and "how democratic Serbia is and how they cheerish the freedom of speech and expression"
What would a democratic and free country do?
Danish cartoons about prophet Mohammed, come to mind when everyone defended artist's freedom of expression.
Another thing come to mind too.
Peter Handke's cancelled play in France. Was anything offensive about the play? Not at all. But this Austrian author dared to attend Milosevic's funeral and to say few positive words for him.

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/story/2006/05/30/peter-handke.html


"For my soul and my conscience it was impossible to welcome this person into my theatre," company administrator Marcel Bozonnet said, adding that to host someone's work in the theatre was "an act of recognition, of love."

Needless to say, Milosevic didn't kill any Frenchmen, and there was nothing wrong with the play. Jasari did kill Serbs.

Were there Alain Finkielkraut, André Glucksman, Bernard Henri Levy and Salman Rushdie to protest at this censure ? No.

But, Vida Knezevic does not have a "soul and conscience" of Marcel Bozonnet, and she
didn't have a problem to "host someone's work" as "an act of recognition, of love."
So what would a democratic country like France that cheerishes the freedom of speech and expression, do in this case?
I'm pretty sure that they would ban the exibition. But, it's Serbia, not France, so it may go on.
As for Obraz members, probably just nationalist extrimists, that have nothing good to say. Still, everyone deservs to give its side of the story.

"The exhibition was organized by the Youth Initiative for Human Rights"

Another NGO funded by those same governments that bombed Serbian schools, hospitals and refugees in 1999.

These NGOs are a curse for every small nation.

This whole "incident" was a set-up to further blacken the name of the heoric Serbian nation, the most tolerant nation on earth.

It seems that K-Albanains are not allowed to art exebitions let alone live in Serbia. This tells that there are still Milosevic around.

Nice one. I like how serbs here label all albanians as extremist- yet they get ruffled over some paintings in Belgrade- where "moderates" and "academics" rule. Just imagine what the average peasant thinks about albanians!

Kate, who the hell is Krasniqi now? Did you mean Jashari? Yes, there was a picture of Adem Jashari portrayed in a pop art fashion. It resembles Andy Warhol's Turquoise Marilyn Monroe and it's combined with the portrait of Elvis. This is called Avant-garde, if you've heard about it.

Smile: "i can't figure out who is more of an idiot here, those who organized this or those who attacked it."

I couldn't agree more. What a provocative event. Why not have a mixed group of artists and drop the portraits of KLA leaders?

to mr ahmet:

"When even an abandoned house is burned in Kosova, the serbs do not hesitate at all to accuse the albanians."

So what's your point? We are not supposed to accuse albanians for this? Is that a wrong thing to do? The house didn't burn by itself.

This doesn't even come close to the destruction of over 155 Serbian Orthodox Churches by the K-Albanians in their attemp to erase Serbian identity in Kosovo. Not to mention the ethnic cleansing of 250k minorities from Kosovo, mostly Serbian. So please stop with how Serbs treat an art show that represents the illegal act of stealing 15% of their land. TonyT, lets have an art show in Pristina on how Kosovo will remain in Serbia and see how some "civilized Albanians" will react. Does 2004 ring a bell.

Aleksander: "Yes, there was a picture of Adem Jashari portrayed in a pop art fashion. It resembles Andy Warhol's Turquoise Marilyn Monroe and it's combined with the portrait of Elvis. This is called Avant-garde, if you've heard about it."

Yes, obviously that's the picture I meant. The point is that it is of a KLA terrorist who has killed many Serbians and it is being displayed at a time of great political sensitivity. Very poor taste.

Would a picture of a Serbian war criminal, no matter how 'avant-garde', be allowed to hang in Pristina? Of course not!

And by the way, comparing this to images of Marilyn Monroe or Elvis proves the point even further. It is glamorising the murderer of Serbs, 'disployal' Albanians, Roma and others.

Unfortunately it seems as if tolerance of Albanians as far as the Serbs are concerned ammounts to no more than not killing or physically abusing them. Destroying art exhibitions, as long as they don't kill the artists seems to be fair game. So please tell me how that is any different from throwing a stone at a Serb house or school in Kosova?

As bmrusila, jovan, kate, princip etc. say: "these action shows very well how democratic Serbia is and how they cheerish the freedom of speech and expression". To those who loves to spread propaganda, I say "Let the one without sin cast the first stone."

the only way to judge this objectivly is to have a exhibition in prishtine where serbian artists will bring theyr works with pictures of exp. miloevic,mladic,etc,than we can see is it a normal way to show anger or its just extremist group we are talikng about. thanks
(illario, 8 February 2008 15:45)

Serbian "artist" have shown their artworks by dissappering Mladic and Karadzic in broad day light for 12 years.Belive me David Copperfield is still trying to figure out the trick!

OK so I've spoken to somebody who was present last night.

For those interested there was a pop art style Jashari picture opposite a pop art style Elvis Presley. The artist was apparantly trying to make the point of cult of personality - ie in the US they have Elvis and in Kosovo they have Jashari.

I mistakenly assumed that the exhibition was somehow celebrating Jashari. The irony is that nobody understood the exhibition. Another irony is that such an exhibition in Kosovo would also be misunderstood by most Albanians who would think it would be to glorify Jashari.

I'm not usually of the 'not yet' mentality but I cant help thinking that at this point its not the best idea to hold this exhibition. Serbia is in political crisis and Kosovo may be about to declare independence.

Its upto the media to keep us informed on what exactly is going on but I had to find out first hand.

The timing of this was clearly provocative! Why not have an "art" show with Avant-garde pictures of Hitler in Jerusalem, how would the Jews react to this? Liberal Serbs seem to be following the same path as Liberals here (US) and the UK. The path of self hatred, the path of hating your past, your religion, a path of promoting your enemies and of self destruction. This is not being a true "Liberal", this is Anglo inspired neoliberalism which is a cancer on society. Serbia should not follow this path but find its own "Liberal" path with does not include self-hatred.

That’s a really sad state of affairs. Art can be one of the few mediums that can overcome divisions.
Anyone interested in the subject here is one my paintings entitled Kosova’s Independence. http://bp2.blogger.com/_PjiupYKzZag/R5n4IoWJmUI/AAAAAAAAARY/hjVb1wkXE8M/s1600-h/IMG_0302.JPG

Kate & company:

The only relation Adem Jashari had to war crimes, was being the victim of one where he and 57 other members of his extended family were killed in early 1998. He was the inspiration behind the KLA and his death did mark a turning point in the conflict, but please your facts right because even Milosevic never accused Jashari of being a war criminal.

Why dont you add that the gallery or what to call it hade picture of former UCK leader (?) Adem jeseri (?) .

Oh the shock and horror!! Those evil Serbs are at it again! Why can't they just embrace the Albanians and stop persecuting them once and for all?? The Serbs should unite and prove to the world that they are not what the media portray them to be. Perhaps by opening and 'art' exhibition in Pristina? Some of the artwork could include Arkan, or maybe even Milosevic?

What a disgrace that these people would even consider holding an exhibition in Belgrade, where the 'artwork' included KLA criminals

ps B92, its one thing to try and be 'even sided' when reporting on such stories, but failing to notify the reader that the artwork in this exhibition included a former KLA criminal is very troubling

bmrusila, 'I do not know not a one Serbian artist portraying any Serbian war criminal'.

Trust me there is such an artist, whats more his work was shown at the October Salon some years ago. The pop art style was quite similar in a way. I know I saw the exhibit and interviewed him.

The problem as I wrote in my previous post (which I hope will be published) is that nobody understood the point of Jashari's picture. The point was heros and cult of personality. To put it rather bluntly in the states heros are pop stars and in Kosovo they are murderers. Just as the heros of those idiots outside (Legija) were murderers too.

I'm pro cultural events, but this is clearly not the time for these things! After Eurovision would be more appropriate, if at all for now.

People, think! Milosevic, Ratko Mladic etc and Adem Jashari are not the same thing.
Adem Jashari defendent his home and his family in his home, not somewhere else. Didnt kill any civilian.
And, just to let you know, there is pictures of Milosevic and Seshel in Kosovo, almost in every in places where Serbs Lives.
If you go in Gracanica, You'll see them.

It is really sad to see here that all the serbs think that Adem Jashari was a criminal.
In fact, Adem Jashari was killed together with his 57 family members from the serbian police/military. His family members included: children, women, elders...
The house where he and his family members were killed was and is visited all the time from all the high ranking officials of the West.
I must say that it is really sad that someone who was killed together with all his family is being accused as criminal.
I hope that I will at least see one comment from the serb side saying the truth here. Only one, not more.
So... These are the serbs who accuse someone as a criminal, someone that was killed with all his family members.

I think it is neither the time nor the place to exhibit art displaying KLA fighters. It is inflammatory and no surprise at all that some exercised their democratic right to protest. Personally, I would have thought the interest for this sort of event in Belgrade would have made it a nonstarter.

jashari was a marxist leninist, i.e. kla terrorist. did he get to also be a war criminal or was his life of hard work and charity ended before he could get to? hm. we could debate this. elvis' family should sue asap. i'm emailing them now :)

Thank you Sreten. Encouraging signs nonetheless. Far right taking an interest in modern art, that’s the bare minimum that we require from our nationalists.
The reality is that we have two opposing narratives to our shared historical events. That should not surprise anyone. Irony of this incident is that the “Retreat” exhibition was trying to challenge the very collective thinking of our respective camps.
Debate wrongly focuses on the figure of Adem Jashari per-se and it is very sad that some on the Serbian camp are trying to justify Obraz’s action.

Michael Thomas said: "Another NGO funded by those same governments that bombed Serbian schools, hospitals and refugees in 1999.

These NGOs are a curse for every small nation.

This whole "incident" was a set-up to further blacken the name of the heoric Serbian nation, the most tolerant nation on earth."

I couldn't agree more, dear Michael.

I will add that the Serbs reacted very politely to this provocative "exhibition".
...This jashari as thema for a tableau in an exhibition in the capital of Serbia? Unbelievable and exactly as shoking as the hearing of the term..."albanian artists"...

Dobar dan from Greece!

"These NGOs are a curse for every small nation ... This whole "incident" was a set-up to further blacken the name of the heoric Serbian nation"
(Michael Thomas, 8 February 2008 17:42)

FYI Michael, YIHR is a Serbian organization, founded by a young Serb from Prokuplje. They have offices in Pristina, Podgorica and Sarajevo with local staff, but to my knowledge they only have a single employee from outside the territories in which they operate.
They rely on competitive, project-based funding from a variety of sources - they are not on anyone's bankroll.
Having met members of their Pristina office, I can assure you that they are just as critical of the Kosovo administration as the Belgrade office sometimes is of the Serbian government. But they are not primarily about political pressure; rather, they do valuable work trying to bring young people from divided communities together at a grass-roots level. Inviting Kosovan artists to Belgrade is just one example of this.
Please, don't presume to criticize an organization you know nothing about.

the only way to judge this objectivly is to have a exhibition in prishtine where serbian artists will bring theyr works with pictures of exp. miloevic,mladic,etc,than we can see is it a normal way to show anger or its just extremist group we are talikng about. thanks

I wrote my first comment before there was a comment number 21 by bganon. I guess, I shouldn't judge it before seeing it. As explained there, it's prefectly fine to have it exibited, and it's not a provocation.
But, the rest of my comment stays. About democratic country, that cheerishes the freedom of speech and expression. Don't you go thinking that in such country ( in this case, France) they will not ban questionable work of art. In the case of Peter Handke's play there was actually nothing questionable, so it may not be the best example. While piece of art is not conraversial, they found him to be contraversial for expressing his thoughts, and attending Milosevic's funeral.
To Olf, comment No. 8. There is plenty of Albanians living in Serbia.
To Teni , comment No. 10. It's really sad that you can't see the difference between this and throwing a stone at a Serb house or school in Kosovo.
I initially though of this as provocation, until comment 21 explained what's this all about.
Let me put it this way.
If child (on its way to school) is flashing the portrait of Arkan towards the Albanians, I would say that pelting with rocks was in respons to provocation. In respons to insult, a spit in the face of all Albanians who had their relatives brutally killed.
If rocks were thrown for no reason, that's another story.

Like i said before for albanians the best for them is right after the indepedence to start to build that electric fence around the border whith serbia and it will never be a headache for kosovars ...

Thank you bgnanon for that extra info. I heard about this on the news yesterday, and was hoping to hear more about what happened from B92 but found out that they only copy-pasted the material and, instead of adding more information, they actually omitted the crucial reasons for the exhibition.

bganon, whether or not Obraz are "ordinary nationalists" or not is beside the point. With their clerico-fascist ideology they are just one step further to the right than the DSS and SRS are, who also are highly nationalist and clerically-oriented.
Whether the Serbian "MUP" (How about saying "interior ministry"?) classifies this group as clero fascist or not is also of little significance. It's true, but just because there's folks out there who are even more nationalist than the DSS, NS and SRS that doesn't mean these parties are harmless. Milosevic also used to like pointing the finger at those forces even more radically nationalistic than himself, whose cahuvinism served as an "electric hare" for his own.

bgnon,

Who is he /she? I would like to know the name of that artist? Wonder who in the Erth can find inspiration in war criminals? The world has gone crazy!

The author of "Jasari - Pristley, Face to Face", Dren Malici is half serb. I think it would be fair to mention this fack in the article.

Having pictures of adem jashari? maybe we should have an art exhibit in NYC that glorifies osama bin laden. How long would it take to tear that one apart???

bmrusila he is a Belgrade based montenegrin, one of his pieces also included Bin Laden. Actually his installation was quite interesting. But I dont want to name him here.
The surprising thing is that he was allowed to be part of the Salon at all, it caused some controversy.

I'm glad my post was some use to people and I'm also glad we are talking about Jashari.

I mentioned irony - well some Kosovo Albanian posters here who are praising Jashari, this exhibition is aimed at them - and they obviously dont understand that.

The thing is my friends cult of personality. Do you really want the biggest national hero to be a fighter / killer?

I'd rather the biggest national hero is a doctor or a writer or even a pop star. Now that I've explained it simply I hope you will understand.

Let's not get into debate about Jashari. I didn't say that he was a criminal on purpose. I don't want to get into that. The fact is that he was a KLA commander. In the minds of most Serbians, that means that he was a terrorist.
KLA started its armed struggle by killing women and children, refugees from Krajina. This is the fact. They kiddnapped and killed a number of Serb and other non-Albanian civilians, and a number of Albanians too, who were regarded as collaborators.
When you look at ETA, for example, in Spain, you'll see that they are waging much cleaner campaign for independent Catalonia, then it was a case with KLA. Yet, ETA is on the list of terrorist organizations.
Like I said, I did not understand what was exibit about until bganon explained it. I thought that it was glorifying KLA.
And that's enough. It doesn't have to be someone who commited any crimes himself, just an affiliation.
Parrallel would be to exibit a piece of art in New York that glorifies an anonimus Al-Qaida fighter (who personally may have not commited any crimes). Just an affiliation with Al-Qaida would be insult to the citizents of New York.
I'm sure that Albanians in Pristina wouldn't welcome any glorification of Serbian general, regardless if he was or wasn't ever in Kosovo.

It seems that K-Albanains are not allowed to art exebitions let alone live in Serbia. This tells that there are still Milosevic around.

So this is the face of Belgrade Serbia 2008.
Very,very sad.

Well done the people of Novi Sad for allowing a little art to pass through you town

When even an abandoned house is burned in Kosova, the serbs do not hesitate at all to accuse the albanians.
But now lets see what the serb commentators have to say about this case.
Just to remind you that few weeks ago, some serb singers held a concert in Prishtina and nobody bothered them at all.

So much for Serbia respecting rights of K. Albanians.

I have always said that the reasons why there are not many attacks on K.Albanians by serbs, is because they don't get the opportunity to do that anymore, and NOT because they are more tolerant or democratic.

I would never feel safe going to Serbia.

Unfortunately it seems as if tolerance of Albanians as far as the Serbs are concerned ammounts to no more than not killing or physically abusing them. Destroying art exhibitions, as long as they don't kill the artists seems to be fair game. So please tell me how that is any different from throwing a stone at a Serb house or school in Kosova?

Nice one. I like how serbs here label all albanians as extremist- yet they get ruffled over some paintings in Belgrade- where "moderates" and "academics" rule. Just imagine what the average peasant thinks about albanians!

This was not an art show, but rather an albanian provocation. As if they didn't know they weren't going to provoke Serbs?? the kla, which are responsible for so many terrorist attacks on Serbs, brutal murders and killings - their pictures are not welcome in Serbia. Not now not ever!

As bmrusila, jovan, kate, princip etc. say: "these action shows very well how democratic Serbia is and how they cheerish the freedom of speech and expression". To those who loves to spread propaganda, I say "Let the one without sin cast the first stone."

Of course this is awful that politics spills over into art (nowadays also the other way round).

But wasn't there a portrait of Krasniqi in the exhibition? I mean, honestly. What would happen if there was a picture of Milosevic in Pristina? Far worse than this!

This sort of poor taste must have had some sort of involvement from Ms Kandic.

i can't figure out who is more of an idiot here, those who organized this or those who attacked it. i'm just sorry police have to spend their evening and our tax money standing between such two bunches of dunces.

That’s a really sad state of affairs. Art can be one of the few mediums that can overcome divisions.
Anyone interested in the subject here is one my paintings entitled Kosova’s Independence. http://bp2.blogger.com/_PjiupYKzZag/R5n4IoWJmUI/AAAAAAAAARY/hjVb1wkXE8M/s1600-h/IMG_0302.JPG

Much as I deplore activities undertaken by this extreme right wing rabble there are a number of points to be made here.

First they are not ordinary nationalists - its wrong to tar all nationalists with the same brush. If I remember correctly Serbian MUP classifies this group as clero fascist or similar.

Secondly B92 isnt giving the complete story. If I remember rightly some pictures at this exhibition were of KLA commander Jashari. For sure art should have more free license to be expressed but art which celbrates mythical nationalism is surely precisely the type of thing the 'liberal' lobby should be against? My position has to remain principled, I am deeply suspicious of the celebration / promotion of supposed nationalist war heros.

Dont misunderstand me, I defend the rights of artists from Pristina to have their art shown in Belgrade but if their aims are not dissimilar to the Obraz boys then it makes me wonder...

Let me add that I have noticed a distinct reaction in B92's reporting since this latest political crisis. I share some of this anger but one should continue to give the whole story.

Kate, who the hell is Krasniqi now? Did you mean Jashari? Yes, there was a picture of Adem Jashari portrayed in a pop art fashion. It resembles Andy Warhol's Turquoise Marilyn Monroe and it's combined with the portrait of Elvis. This is called Avant-garde, if you've heard about it.

the only way to judge this objectivly is to have a exhibition in prishtine where serbian artists will bring theyr works with pictures of exp. miloevic,mladic,etc,than we can see is it a normal way to show anger or its just extremist group we are talikng about. thanks

Why dont you add that the gallery or what to call it hade picture of former UCK leader (?) Adem jeseri (?) .

Smile: "i can't figure out who is more of an idiot here, those who organized this or those who attacked it."

I couldn't agree more. What a provocative event. Why not have a mixed group of artists and drop the portraits of KLA leaders?

the only way to judge this objectivly is to have a exhibition in prishtine where serbian artists will bring theyr works with pictures of exp. miloevic,mladic,etc,than we can see is it a normal way to show anger or its just extremist group we are talikng about. thanks
(illario, 8 February 2008 15:45)

Serbian "artist" have shown their artworks by dissappering Mladic and Karadzic in broad day light for 12 years.Belive me David Copperfield is still trying to figure out the trick!

Kate & company:

The only relation Adem Jashari had to war crimes, was being the victim of one where he and 57 other members of his extended family were killed in early 1998. He was the inspiration behind the KLA and his death did mark a turning point in the conflict, but please your facts right because even Milosevic never accused Jashari of being a war criminal.

It is really sad to see here that all the serbs think that Adem Jashari was a criminal.
In fact, Adem Jashari was killed together with his 57 family members from the serbian police/military. His family members included: children, women, elders...
The house where he and his family members were killed was and is visited all the time from all the high ranking officials of the West.
I must say that it is really sad that someone who was killed together with all his family is being accused as criminal.
I hope that I will at least see one comment from the serb side saying the truth here. Only one, not more.
So... These are the serbs who accuse someone as a criminal, someone that was killed with all his family members.

This doesn't even come close to the destruction of over 155 Serbian Orthodox Churches by the K-Albanians in their attemp to erase Serbian identity in Kosovo. Not to mention the ethnic cleansing of 250k minorities from Kosovo, mostly Serbian. So please stop with how Serbs treat an art show that represents the illegal act of stealing 15% of their land. TonyT, lets have an art show in Pristina on how Kosovo will remain in Serbia and see how some "civilized Albanians" will react. Does 2004 ring a bell.

Aleksander: "Yes, there was a picture of Adem Jashari portrayed in a pop art fashion. It resembles Andy Warhol's Turquoise Marilyn Monroe and it's combined with the portrait of Elvis. This is called Avant-garde, if you've heard about it."

Yes, obviously that's the picture I meant. The point is that it is of a KLA terrorist who has killed many Serbians and it is being displayed at a time of great political sensitivity. Very poor taste.

Would a picture of a Serbian war criminal, no matter how 'avant-garde', be allowed to hang in Pristina? Of course not!

And by the way, comparing this to images of Marilyn Monroe or Elvis proves the point even further. It is glamorising the murderer of Serbs, 'disployal' Albanians, Roma and others.

bganon, whether or not Obraz are "ordinary nationalists" or not is beside the point. With their clerico-fascist ideology they are just one step further to the right than the DSS and SRS are, who also are highly nationalist and clerically-oriented.
Whether the Serbian "MUP" (How about saying "interior ministry"?) classifies this group as clero fascist or not is also of little significance. It's true, but just because there's folks out there who are even more nationalist than the DSS, NS and SRS that doesn't mean these parties are harmless. Milosevic also used to like pointing the finger at those forces even more radically nationalistic than himself, whose cahuvinism served as an "electric hare" for his own.

Like i said before for albanians the best for them is right after the indepedence to start to build that electric fence around the border whith serbia and it will never be a headache for kosovars ...

Michael Thomas said: "Another NGO funded by those same governments that bombed Serbian schools, hospitals and refugees in 1999.

These NGOs are a curse for every small nation.

This whole "incident" was a set-up to further blacken the name of the heoric Serbian nation, the most tolerant nation on earth."

I couldn't agree more, dear Michael.

I will add that the Serbs reacted very politely to this provocative "exhibition".
...This jashari as thema for a tableau in an exhibition in the capital of Serbia? Unbelievable and exactly as shoking as the hearing of the term..."albanian artists"...

Dobar dan from Greece!

OK so I've spoken to somebody who was present last night.

For those interested there was a pop art style Jashari picture opposite a pop art style Elvis Presley. The artist was apparantly trying to make the point of cult of personality - ie in the US they have Elvis and in Kosovo they have Jashari.

I mistakenly assumed that the exhibition was somehow celebrating Jashari. The irony is that nobody understood the exhibition. Another irony is that such an exhibition in Kosovo would also be misunderstood by most Albanians who would think it would be to glorify Jashari.

I'm not usually of the 'not yet' mentality but I cant help thinking that at this point its not the best idea to hold this exhibition. Serbia is in political crisis and Kosovo may be about to declare independence.

Its upto the media to keep us informed on what exactly is going on but I had to find out first hand.

bmrusila, 'I do not know not a one Serbian artist portraying any Serbian war criminal'.

Trust me there is such an artist, whats more his work was shown at the October Salon some years ago. The pop art style was quite similar in a way. I know I saw the exhibit and interviewed him.

The problem as I wrote in my previous post (which I hope will be published) is that nobody understood the point of Jashari's picture. The point was heros and cult of personality. To put it rather bluntly in the states heros are pop stars and in Kosovo they are murderers. Just as the heros of those idiots outside (Legija) were murderers too.

"The exhibition was organized by the Youth Initiative for Human Rights"

Another NGO funded by those same governments that bombed Serbian schools, hospitals and refugees in 1999.

These NGOs are a curse for every small nation.

This whole "incident" was a set-up to further blacken the name of the heoric Serbian nation, the most tolerant nation on earth.

Having pictures of adem jashari? maybe we should have an art exhibit in NYC that glorifies osama bin laden. How long would it take to tear that one apart???

I strongly condemn this attack; it should not happen any how. ´But I wonder who are the artists that glorify war criminals? I do not know not a one Serbian artist portraying any Serbian war criminal. Imagine Mladic or Karadzic hanging somewhere in some Bosnian art exhibition centre. What do you think, what would have happen. Anyway, it is not artists' fault for exhibiting in Serbia but it is the fault of the organiser who let them exhibit. Perhaps the organiser had no clue who was Adem Jaseri? But I am even most worried for the fact that there are 300 members of Obraz, that is I say too many. Next time Albanian artists should make exhibition of real art.

to mr ahmet:

"When even an abandoned house is burned in Kosova, the serbs do not hesitate at all to accuse the albanians."

So what's your point? We are not supposed to accuse albanians for this? Is that a wrong thing to do? The house didn't burn by itself.

It is a fact, unfortunate for some, that art and politics cannot be separated. Some of the best art ever produced has been politically inspired and artists who ignore the political are either naive or are abdicating social responsibility.

Having said that, I agree with "smile" on this one. The organisers of this exhibition are idiots, especially at this time of great tension surrounding Kosovo. On the other hand, these Obraz yobs should have their asses kicked from one end of Belgrade to the other. It is probably unwise to ban organisations like this, but whenever they act against the common good, the resources of the state should fall on them like a tonne of bricks.

To the K-Albanians who are gloating at these events: there is a big difference between disrupting an art exhibition and driving people from their homes with violence.

Thank you bgnanon for that extra info. I heard about this on the news yesterday, and was hoping to hear more about what happened from B92 but found out that they only copy-pasted the material and, instead of adding more information, they actually omitted the crucial reasons for the exhibition.

Thank you Sreten. Encouraging signs nonetheless. Far right taking an interest in modern art, that’s the bare minimum that we require from our nationalists.
The reality is that we have two opposing narratives to our shared historical events. That should not surprise anyone. Irony of this incident is that the “Retreat” exhibition was trying to challenge the very collective thinking of our respective camps.
Debate wrongly focuses on the figure of Adem Jashari per-se and it is very sad that some on the Serbian camp are trying to justify Obraz’s action.

People, think! Milosevic, Ratko Mladic etc and Adem Jashari are not the same thing.
Adem Jashari defendent his home and his family in his home, not somewhere else. Didnt kill any civilian.
And, just to let you know, there is pictures of Milosevic and Seshel in Kosovo, almost in every in places where Serbs Lives.
If you go in Gracanica, You'll see them.

I think it is neither the time nor the place to exhibit art displaying KLA fighters. It is inflammatory and no surprise at all that some exercised their democratic right to protest. Personally, I would have thought the interest for this sort of event in Belgrade would have made it a nonstarter.

jashari was a marxist leninist, i.e. kla terrorist. did he get to also be a war criminal or was his life of hard work and charity ended before he could get to? hm. we could debate this. elvis' family should sue asap. i'm emailing them now :)

I would like to point one thing to B92 journalists. There is a statement by Vida Knezevic. Shouldn't we hear the other side too?
Statement for someone from Obraz, maybe?
So, there were posters (paintings) of Adem Jashari, Krsniqi, etc.
I don't have anything against Albanian art in Belgrade, or Serbian art in Pristina. But this is not art, this is provocation.
I clicked on village-bey's link, and that is art (really good one, too. Congratulations). In the same way, paintings from Serbian artists shown in Pristina are fine. As long as they don't show Milosevic or Seselj! In that case it's a provocation. Just like having an "art" exibit in Sarajevo with posters of Karadzic, or Mladic.
It's nothing new, there are "artists" who find inspiration in Mladic. Or in this case Krasniqi and Jashari. Very sad.
Few coments here were directed at Serbia and "how democratic Serbia is and how they cheerish the freedom of speech and expression"
What would a democratic and free country do?
Danish cartoons about prophet Mohammed, come to mind when everyone defended artist's freedom of expression.
Another thing come to mind too.
Peter Handke's cancelled play in France. Was anything offensive about the play? Not at all. But this Austrian author dared to attend Milosevic's funeral and to say few positive words for him.

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/story/2006/05/30/peter-handke.html


"For my soul and my conscience it was impossible to welcome this person into my theatre," company administrator Marcel Bozonnet said, adding that to host someone's work in the theatre was "an act of recognition, of love."

Needless to say, Milosevic didn't kill any Frenchmen, and there was nothing wrong with the play. Jasari did kill Serbs.

Were there Alain Finkielkraut, André Glucksman, Bernard Henri Levy and Salman Rushdie to protest at this censure ? No.

But, Vida Knezevic does not have a "soul and conscience" of Marcel Bozonnet, and she
didn't have a problem to "host someone's work" as "an act of recognition, of love."
So what would a democratic country like France that cheerishes the freedom of speech and expression, do in this case?
I'm pretty sure that they would ban the exibition. But, it's Serbia, not France, so it may go on.
As for Obraz members, probably just nationalist extrimists, that have nothing good to say. Still, everyone deservs to give its side of the story.

The timing of this was clearly provocative! Why not have an "art" show with Avant-garde pictures of Hitler in Jerusalem, how would the Jews react to this? Liberal Serbs seem to be following the same path as Liberals here (US) and the UK. The path of self hatred, the path of hating your past, your religion, a path of promoting your enemies and of self destruction. This is not being a true "Liberal", this is Anglo inspired neoliberalism which is a cancer on society. Serbia should not follow this path but find its own "Liberal" path with does not include self-hatred.

bgnon,

Who is he /she? I would like to know the name of that artist? Wonder who in the Erth can find inspiration in war criminals? The world has gone crazy!

I wrote my first comment before there was a comment number 21 by bganon. I guess, I shouldn't judge it before seeing it. As explained there, it's prefectly fine to have it exibited, and it's not a provocation.
But, the rest of my comment stays. About democratic country, that cheerishes the freedom of speech and expression. Don't you go thinking that in such country ( in this case, France) they will not ban questionable work of art. In the case of Peter Handke's play there was actually nothing questionable, so it may not be the best example. While piece of art is not conraversial, they found him to be contraversial for expressing his thoughts, and attending Milosevic's funeral.
To Olf, comment No. 8. There is plenty of Albanians living in Serbia.
To Teni , comment No. 10. It's really sad that you can't see the difference between this and throwing a stone at a Serb house or school in Kosovo.
I initially though of this as provocation, until comment 21 explained what's this all about.
Let me put it this way.
If child (on its way to school) is flashing the portrait of Arkan towards the Albanians, I would say that pelting with rocks was in respons to provocation. In respons to insult, a spit in the face of all Albanians who had their relatives brutally killed.
If rocks were thrown for no reason, that's another story.

I'm pro cultural events, but this is clearly not the time for these things! After Eurovision would be more appropriate, if at all for now.

Oh the shock and horror!! Those evil Serbs are at it again! Why can't they just embrace the Albanians and stop persecuting them once and for all?? The Serbs should unite and prove to the world that they are not what the media portray them to be. Perhaps by opening and 'art' exhibition in Pristina? Some of the artwork could include Arkan, or maybe even Milosevic?

What a disgrace that these people would even consider holding an exhibition in Belgrade, where the 'artwork' included KLA criminals

ps B92, its one thing to try and be 'even sided' when reporting on such stories, but failing to notify the reader that the artwork in this exhibition included a former KLA criminal is very troubling

"These NGOs are a curse for every small nation ... This whole "incident" was a set-up to further blacken the name of the heoric Serbian nation"
(Michael Thomas, 8 February 2008 17:42)

FYI Michael, YIHR is a Serbian organization, founded by a young Serb from Prokuplje. They have offices in Pristina, Podgorica and Sarajevo with local staff, but to my knowledge they only have a single employee from outside the territories in which they operate.
They rely on competitive, project-based funding from a variety of sources - they are not on anyone's bankroll.
Having met members of their Pristina office, I can assure you that they are just as critical of the Kosovo administration as the Belgrade office sometimes is of the Serbian government. But they are not primarily about political pressure; rather, they do valuable work trying to bring young people from divided communities together at a grass-roots level. Inviting Kosovan artists to Belgrade is just one example of this.
Please, don't presume to criticize an organization you know nothing about.

bmrusila he is a Belgrade based montenegrin, one of his pieces also included Bin Laden. Actually his installation was quite interesting. But I dont want to name him here.
The surprising thing is that he was allowed to be part of the Salon at all, it caused some controversy.

I'm glad my post was some use to people and I'm also glad we are talking about Jashari.

I mentioned irony - well some Kosovo Albanian posters here who are praising Jashari, this exhibition is aimed at them - and they obviously dont understand that.

The thing is my friends cult of personality. Do you really want the biggest national hero to be a fighter / killer?

I'd rather the biggest national hero is a doctor or a writer or even a pop star. Now that I've explained it simply I hope you will understand.

The author of "Jasari - Pristley, Face to Face", Dren Malici is half serb. I think it would be fair to mention this fack in the article.

Let's not get into debate about Jashari. I didn't say that he was a criminal on purpose. I don't want to get into that. The fact is that he was a KLA commander. In the minds of most Serbians, that means that he was a terrorist.
KLA started its armed struggle by killing women and children, refugees from Krajina. This is the fact. They kiddnapped and killed a number of Serb and other non-Albanian civilians, and a number of Albanians too, who were regarded as collaborators.
When you look at ETA, for example, in Spain, you'll see that they are waging much cleaner campaign for independent Catalonia, then it was a case with KLA. Yet, ETA is on the list of terrorist organizations.
Like I said, I did not understand what was exibit about until bganon explained it. I thought that it was glorifying KLA.
And that's enough. It doesn't have to be someone who commited any crimes himself, just an affiliation.
Parrallel would be to exibit a piece of art in New York that glorifies an anonimus Al-Qaida fighter (who personally may have not commited any crimes). Just an affiliation with Al-Qaida would be insult to the citizents of New York.
I'm sure that Albanians in Pristina wouldn't welcome any glorification of Serbian general, regardless if he was or wasn't ever in Kosovo.