Lola Sylaj and Dardan Zhegrova are the winners of the 2016 Artists of Tomorrow award/ Young Visual Artists Awards which provides young visual artists from Kosovo under the age of 35 the opportunity to spent a 2 month residency at RU and have an exhibition at Stacion – Center for Contemporary Art Prishtina.

Both artists work as a duo (see interview at Radio FM Urban) but also independently. Lola Sylaj is part of HAVEIT a collective of 4 young women artists whose art vehemently rebels against power and water shortages, nationalism, LGBT discrimination and the oppression of women prevalent in Albanian society. They also try to illustrate their struggle with the day-to-day difficulties confronted by nearly every Kosovar. Often, their artistic performances are staged in Kosovo’s public spaces.

Represented by LambdaLambdaLambda, the first international gallery for contemporary art in Prishtina, Dardan Zhegrova’s work plays with the flux between language and its translation into visual representation. In his works emotion is used as an artistic medium that potentially could act as a means to question our assumptions about intimacy and expression. Mostly known for his videos the artist can be regarded as a poet in a time where physical proximity is being replaced by an ubiquitous availability through modern means of communication.

Lola Silay's most recent exhibitions include: 2016 ‘’Stiching needs’’ Dam Festival, Prishtina, Kosova; ‘’Memories old thorns of mine, scratching the sky ‘’, Artist of tomorrow award, Prishtina, Kosova; ‘’Shaving Patriarchy’’ Prishtina, Kosova; 2015 “Pushimi i gjatë”, Prishtina, Kosovo; “Tager”, Young Artists Biennale, Milan, Italy; “Use your mouth”, Ljubljana, Slovenia, “L dhe Sh”, Stacion – Center for Contemporary Art, Prishtina, Kosova.

Zhegrova's selected exhibitions include: 2016 Lucky Pierre (Sometimes I Dream Of a Casual Day) with Adem Hasani (piano), Live poetry performance, M, Prishtina; Solo booth at Material Art Fair Mexico; States of Flux: The Token (together with Sebastian Burger and Lucy Lippard) at Waschsalon, Frankfurt; Europa war eine Frau, together with HAVEIT + CADAM, Galerie der Künstler, Munich; 2015 Where we meet sometimes at night, bright bright, long talk in white, LambdaLambdaLambda, Prishtina; You look like you know how to treat a body, Live poetry performance, with trio Heinz Herbert, Gessnerallee Theater, Zurich; I kissed your kiss on your girlfriend’s cheek, it was still wet, FeKK short film festival, Ljubljana Automatic film, Work In progress Festival, Prishtina, DOKUFEST Filmfestival, Prizren; No Ordinary Love, Galerie Sultana, Paris; 2015 am I, if you, Performance/Installation, Baushtelle: Balkan Temple, Fraumünster Kirche, Zurich; Your Enthusiasm to tell a story, Gallery 12Hub, Belgrade; I’d, I’ve, I’ll, He’s, He’ll, He’d, She’s, She’ll, She’d, We’re, We’ll, We’d, with Jakup Ferri and Brilant Pireva, LambdaLambdaLambda, Prishtina. In 2017 Dardan will be an artist in residence at ISCP, NY.

To learn more about Dardan and Lola's collaboration check here.