Erëmirë Krasniqi

Krasniqi, Erëmirë
Erëmirë Krasniqi, Independent Curator, Pristina, Kosovo.

Conference Report. December 2024

Attending the 56th CIMAM Annual Conference (December 6–8, Los Angeles, USA), which explored the theme of sustainability in cultural institutions—“Sustainable Futures: How? When? For Whom?”—offered valuable insights into the practices of remarkable individuals and museums, as well as an opportunity to address pressing questions I had about museum-building and their broader ecosystems. I have been assisting the Ministry of Culture in Kosovo in designing a roadmap for the future Museum of Contemporary Art. While this work has been carried out in collaboration with local experts, I became acutely aware of the gaps in knowledge we face when undertaking such a significant endeavor. To tackle these challenges, I saw the importance of engaging with global conversations about museums, and attending CIMAM was a natural and necessary step in this process.

Many of our museum structures are shaped by discourse and our positioning in relation to global developments. This necessitates the continuous reassessment of both old and new practices to remain relevant to the times and in dialogue with the communities we serve. However, for this to happen, we need to be part of a larger conversation. Coming from a context without established museological infrastructure, these discussions often feel solitary and one-sided. While access to conferences like CIMAM, a global platform for museums, is valuable, the discourse shared at times can feel disconnected, as different geographies move at different speeds.

Listening closely to well-established museums such as Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, MoCA, Hammer Museum, Haus der Kunst Münich among others presenting on the first day of the conference about their programming and its contribution to sustainable practices offers one perspective, but it doesn’t directly address my locality, as the solutions proposed are not informed by the context I come from. While cutting the carbon footprint by extending the duration of an exhibition and making this practice more sustainable in the long run is an important consideration, it’s not an urgent one in Kosovo, where small-scale exhibition-making typically doesn’t involve significant transportation or complex art handling. Does this mean we're sustainable to begin with? Not necessarily. It might simply reflect that we lack the financial resources to be environmentally irresponsible.

While the presentations from well-established institutions highlighted valuable lessons and potential pitfalls in the museum-making process, I found the most resonance in the speakers who shared their experiences with smaller-scale institutions and initiatives. Their methodologies, rooted in building from the ground up, felt more relatable to my context. A standout moment was Mark Bradford’s keynote speech, where he emphasized that meaningful partnership and collaboration only thrive when everyone has a seat at the decision-making table. To paraphrase: sustaining a partnership means ensuring that all voices are heard, as we come to the table not with the same tools, but with a shared desire to contribute. His process-oriented approach to artistic practice underscored the communal aspect of our work as artists, curators, and institutions.

For these reasons and others, the second day of the conference was especially inspiring, leaving me with very few notes as I was fully immersed in what the speakers were sharing. Zita Cobb’s presentation on place-making in Fogo Island, Mai Abu ElDahab’s discussion on the challenges faced by Mophradat in supporting art communities amid the wars and conflicts in the Middle East, and the conversation between Ibrahim Mahama and Yesomi Umolu about the significance of preserving contentious colonial objects as a means of engaging with history’s multiplicity, all provided valuable insights into distinct practices and geographies. While we share common concerns, our resources are not the same. We often need to create tailored economic and cultural models to address the unique needs of our contexts, fostering local courage to engage in the narratives of our communities, while also promoting sustainable institutional practices.

Third day of the conference offered a great opportunity to learn about indigenous practices within institutional settings. While the indigenous people chose not to inherit the model of the museum, they chose to keep some of its parts. The key takeaway was that, more often than not, we build institutions at the speed of trust. This means acknowledging all stakeholders, bringing them to the decision-making table as Bradford suggested on the first day of the conference, and collaboratively developing cultural institutions that are suited to our communities, while advancing through the process of trust-building.

Overall, I found the 56th CIMAM Annual Conference to be a hub of experts and a vast network of museum institutions, offering a space where you can engage in meaningful conversations and seek the support needed to build a situated museum. This was an incredibly encouraging realization.


Biography

Erëmirë Krasniqi (b. 1985) is an art writer, researcher and curator based in Prishtina, Kosovo. She received her M.A. in Comparative Literature from Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, U.S. and B.A. in Arts and Aesthetics from Bard College Berlin, Germany. In 2017, Erëmirë completed a year-long postgraduate program in curation and museology at the Friedrich Schiller University, Germany.

As a freelance writer, her articles on art and culture were published in local and international magazines, including Kosovo 2.0, Springerin, Frieze, Artforum among others. Alongside, she has contributed to and edited numerous publications focused on art, social movements and cultural heritage. Having started as a Research Coordinator at the Oral History Initiative (OHI) in 2015, soon after Erëmirë became the Executive Director of the organization - a research platform which enables critical engagement with different forms of narrating, recollecting and archiving. During her tenure at OHI, she emphasized an interest in building programmatic links between oral history practice and other disciplines in the arts and humanities and facilitated an environment that encouraged bottom-up local knowledge production and historical dialogue. From 2022 to 2023, Erëmirë served as a member of the Initiating Council of the Museum of Contemporary Art, expected to be fully operational in the capital of Kosovo by 2028.

As an independent curator, she has led and curated projects for the National Gallery of Kosovo, the National Gallery of Arts in Albania, 39th EVA International, Ireland, and Manifesta 14, Kosovo.

Currently, Erëmirë is the curator of the National Pavilion of the Republic of Kosovo at the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, which presented The Echoing Silences of Metal and Skin, a sculptural installation by Doruntina Kastrati, receiving a Special Mention for National Participation at the Official Awards Ceremony of the 60th International Art Exhibition-La Biennale di Venezia.

Erëmirë Krasniqi, Independent Curator, Pristina, Kosovo, has been awarded by the Getty Foundation, Los Angeles.