The road to Autostrada
Three people, a whole community and perseverance: how Autostrada Biennale came to life.
Excavated earth and mud made part of the Innovation and Training Park (ITP) in Prizren look like an ordinary construction site in early September 2024. Workers had to shout in order to be heard over the noise of excavators and other tools.
The dispersed workers simultaneously working across several spaces could have led one to believe that the results would take a long time to appear, rather than just a few days. Yet the work was completed by September 14, 2024, in time for Autostrada Biennale’s 10th anniversary event, during which Hangar II and the open air theater were officially opened.
From the Prizren fortress, a white hangar near the construction site, featuring a logo with Prizren’s four bridges, was visible, surrounded by excavated earth and the sound of rhythmic hammering from outside.
This is the home of Hangar I, Autostrada Biennale’s first component, which is dedicated to education, production and exhibition. In Hangar I, everything is intentionally placed. Everything revolves around tall plants: desks, couches, reception counters and vegetarian kitchens are all touched by their leaves.
Behind the counter, books, t-shirts and posters documenting Autostrada’s 10-year journey are carefully arranged in a large display case. The display case also functions as a divider, separating the rest area from the exhibition space. Behind it is a small workshop, usually used for woodworking.
In Hangar I, everything is on wheels, including the kitchen, closet and tables. This design allows the space to be transformed according to the needs of the community using it. This constant movement embodies the core idea that brought Autostrada Biennale to life. “We have always seen Autostrada not as something static, but always in motion, either spatially or metaphorically, always in development, growing,” said Vatra Abrashi, co-founder of Autostrada.
Healthy bonsai trees with strong trunks look as if they have stood there for many years, yet Autostrada Biennale and Hangar I have never had such a large home. Autostrada’s journey was not always easy, but its founders’ determination has led to 10 successful years and now the establishment of a second hangar.
Photo: Tughan Anit, Autostrada Biennale
Photo: Autostrada Biennale
Before Autostrada
Abrashi, Leutrim Fishekqiu and Barış Karamuço boldly envisioned a biennale and without any examples from the region to follow, they took it upon themselves to turn their vision into reality.
The journey to the Autostrada Biennale began with SculpFest, a sculpture festival launched in 2011 in Prizren. SculpFest brought sculptors from Kosovo and abroad together to explore the art of sculpture. It aimed to challenge conventional views of sculpture at a time when bronze statues dominated the city’s public spaces.
Fishekqiu, a sculptor by training, aimed to highlight the variety of materials used in sculpture and the diverse meanings it can convey through SculpFest.
“The idea was to show the process of creating a work of art, not just the final form,” Fishekqiu said. “That’s why we chose water — to freeze it, turn it into ice, shape it and then let it melt. All of this was done in front of the public and it was important to show the process.”
SculpFest also focused on sharing knowledge with the community through SculpEdu. Abrashi, trained as a teacher and speech therapist and Karamuço, a cinematographer, were actively involved in SculpEdu. The program covered various topics, with a particular focus on environmental issues and recycling.
Sculpfest held two editions each year and in 2014, Autostrada Biennale officially established itself as an independent organization.
One of the main events leading up to the biennale was “Parkingu,” held in May 2015. This international contemporary art event took place three floors underground in a parking lot in Prizren. It brought together artists from various disciplines and countries, including Kosovo, Italy, North Macedonia, Serbia, Sweden and Turkey.
The parking lot, chosen as the exhibition’s location, symbolized a moment of pause, marking the beginning of a new journey toward the biennale, with its first edition taking place in 2017.
“We took it very seriously. From the beginning, we understood that you cannot organize a biennale in one year. We took our time from 2014, to make sure we were prepared,” Fishekqiu said.
After “Parkingu,” Autostrada Biennale organized a two-day conference in July 2016 called “The Contemporary Past. The Historical Future.” The conference brought together artists, curators, gallerists, collectors, lecturers and employees from cultural institutions to discuss the importance of organizing a biennale in the region.
Thus, a biennale emerged in Prizren, Kosovo, which Fishekqiu described as a meeting point between Venice, Italy and Istanbul, Turkey — two cities nearly 1,000 kilometers from Prizren, each with a long history of organizing biennales. The Venice Biennale, founded in 1895, has hosted 60 editions, while the Istanbul Biennale, founded in 1987, has held 17 editions so far.
A biennale in a city without galleries
The two-day conference prompted the team to ask important questions: How do you organize a biennale in a city without galleries? In a small country? And for a public that has been isolated by a visa regime that only ended just before the Autostrada Biennale turned 10 years old?
“That was exactly what we wanted to achieve with the biennale. We saw the need for such a platform to exist in a city without galleries, where young people cannot travel to experience galleries and exhibitions,” Abrashi said.
After the conference, Autostrada Biennale introduced its advisory board, which included curator and art critic Iara Boubnova, contemporary artist Sislej Xhafa, art theorist and sociologist Sezgin Boynik, curator Juan A. Gaitan, art critic and curator Edi Muka, art and architecture critic Yehuda Safran and visual artist Miran Mohar. The team consulted with this board for months on how to shape the first edition of the biennale and what direction it should take.
Photo: Erza Bata, Autostrada Biennale
Ultimately, the team chose Manray Hsu, an independent curator and art critic from Taipei, Taiwan, as the first curator. Hsu decided to address the future of borders — both visible and invisible — emphasizing how borders are being restored and placing refugees, migrant workers and environmental disasters at the center of the conversation.
The first edition brought together dozens of artists from different mediums around the world, who took over the city and transformed it into a gallery. Instead of bringing the people to the art, they brought art to the people — which has always been a guiding motto for them, according to Abrashi.
Like many other cultural initiatives in Kosovo, Autostrada Biennale’s founding team faced challenges due to limited spaces and support. These obstacles pushed them to seek alternative solutions, underscoring the need for more sustainable backing for art and culture.
“There were no galleries, but we utilized alternative spaces that were not necessarily abandoned; they had a function, but we gave them another purpose,” she said. “From the beginning, we have used public spaces that belong to the community, making them co-participants in the creation of works of art.”
Photo: Majlinda Hoxha / K2.0
By utilizing spaces that aren’t typically on a visitors’ itinerary, Autostrada Biennale expanded Prizren’s potential beyond its historic center. This allowed locals to experience their city in a new way through contemporary art and gave international visitors a chance to explore parts of Prizren often overshadowed by the divide between the center and the suburbs.
The artworks were exhibited in the bus station, the ruins of the houses beneath Prizren’s fortress and private homes. The success of the first biennale wasn’t accidental — it was born from the team’s desire and careful, patient preparation.
All the work for the first edition was done voluntarily by Abrashi, Fishekqiu and Karamuço, who were then all in their 20s. This remained the case until 2019, when the second edition was organized. While juggling other jobs, they pooled money from their monthly salaries to fund Autostrada.
Their commitment to Autostrada’s vision didn’t come out of nowhere; it grew from memories and deeply personal experiences.
When asked about the source of her determination, Abrashi immediately recalls her early childhood, when a gallery in her hometown was named after her. In 1991, her father, lawyer and activist Adnan Abrashi, opened a gallery named after Vatra, who was then two years old. Amid the oppression of Albanians in Yugoslavia — heighted with the suppression of Kosovo’s autonomy in 1989 — various forms of resistance began to take shape and grow.
The Vatra gallery’s archive was part of the fourth edition of the biennale, titled “All Images Will Disappear, One Day” Photos: Tughan Anit, Autostrada Biennale
The gallery served as the elder Abrashi’s form of resistance against the shrinking public spaces for Albanians. It hosted exhibitions, concerts and literary events featuring artists such as Xhevdet Xhafa, curator and visual artist Maksut Vezgishi and painter Esat Valla.
“I grew up with a strong passion for art and culture. In my house, my father worked hard to acquire the works on display, dedicating all his income from other jobs to the gallery,” Abrashi recalled.
Fishekqiu recalled 2011, when he returned from Turkey after studying sculpture. “The greatest joy was coming back, at a time when everyone else wanted to leave,” said Fishekqiu. “We have always viewed art as an educational process. For a society to thrive, there is always a need for art and culture.”
Despite doubts from both art workers and those who questioned them because of their age, they remained convinced that the right approach would build an audience. Over time, this conviction proved true.
Photo: Majlinda Hoxha / K2.0
The first hangar
After the success of the first edition of the biennale in 2017, the team aimed to sustain that momentum and use it to develop the new edition. In 2019, Abrashi, Fishekqiu and Karamuço resigned from their paid positions at other institutions to focus entirely on this goal.
The positive reception of the first edition and the public’s strong interest motivated them to enhance the organization’s educational component. However, they struggled to achieve this in their small office in the center of Prizren, where the three co-founders worked. That year, the team began developing a more detailed education program. “Many young people wanted to be part of the biennale and when we saw the interest, the benefits, we decided to have a cultural space where we run educational programs to develop young people’s skills,” said Abrashi.
This period coincided with the withdrawal of German KFOR from the field camp in Prizren at the end of 2018. The Germans left behind a 39-hectare site with dozens of usable facilities. Through a joint project between the Kosovar and German governments, the former military camp was transformed into the ITP, a hub for local and international businesses, which officially opened in May 2020. The ITP aimed to attract people from five key sectors: information technology, green energy, creative and cultural industries, research and development and professional training.
At that time, Autostrada Biennale secured the support it needed and became one of the first tenants at ITP. Moving from their small office, the Autostrada team now had a 550-square-meter space — a true hangar. The hangar’s appearance and military past were not seen as drawbacks but as opportunities for transformation and the demilitarization of the space.
Photo: Sibel Sumuç, Autostrada Biennale
Poto: Tughan Anit, Autostrada Biennale
“We loved the idea of creating a new story from that history. It’s no longer a military space, but a space for art,” said Abrashi. Fishekqiu recalled how the unfinished appearance of the first hangar was actually liberating. “In terms of space, it was a miracle for us to see an empty container where we were free to conceive and create entirely on our own,” he said.
Meanwhile, the biennale continued.
In 2019, the second edition, titled “La rivoluzione siamo noi” (The Revolution is Us), was curated by art historian Giacinto Di Pietrantonio. This edition featured works by visual artist Lek M. Gjeloshi, contemporary artist Jakup Ferri, interdisciplinary visual artist Hristina Ivanoska and author-artist Jan Fabre, among others.
For this edition, the biennale was once again spread across the city.
“From the start, we attracted many visitors because it was a new platform, something they felt part of, rather than something exclusive. The art came to them,” said Abrashi. “We used the gymnasium’s roof as an exhibition space; Adrian Paci and Lek Gjeloshi displayed their work. 2,000 students, during their art class, visited and critically discussed it.”
Photo: Autostrada Biennale
The third edition of the biennale, titled “What if a journey,” took place before Hangar I opened. It was co-curated by curator, writer and educator Övül Ö. Durmusoglu and curator, editor and writer Joanna Warsza. This edition featured artists such as the artistic collective HAVEIT, multimedia artist Flaka Haliti, research artist and sculptor Doruntina Kastrati, visual artist Camila Rocha, visual artist Alban Muja and feminist artist Agnes Denes.
Unlike previous editions, the biennale expanded beyond Prizren to include Peja and Prishtina. In Peja, it took place in the former EXIT space, founded in the summer of 1999 by artist Sokol Beqiri and curator and artist Erzen Shkololli. In Prishtina, two artworks were showcased. “Lule, mos më harro,” by visual artists Petrit Halilaj and Alvaro Urbano, was exhibited in the National Library. This work celebrated non-conformism and invited new perspectives.
“A ton of flowers were installed without drilling a single hole,” Fishekqiu recalled, highlighting the special care and respect given to exhibition spaces during the biennales.
Photo: Autostrada Biennale
The other work, “Sunflower Field 2021,” by Denes, involved planting flowers above the Palace of Youth and Sports. This installation was created in collaboration with Manifesta 14, the nomadic art biennale, which came to Prishtina from July to October 2022 for its fourteenth edition. Manifesta 14 temporarily set up offices right next to the space where the flowers were planted.
Meanwhile, alongside the flowers, Hangar I took root. As soon as Autostrada Biennale secured the space, it opened a call for young people to join the educational program to transform the area in 2021. Over 100 people from all over Kosovo responded to the call and 60 participants were selected — 90% of them women.
They purchased machinery, wood, metal and textile processing equipment, high-performance computers and cameras for the media and communications program. Then they got to work. Together, they built everything in Hangar I — the cupboards, tables and kitchen — in two phases of work. Half of the materials were recycled from artworks from the three previous editions of the biennale, which they had stored in a small warehouse.
“For us, it was important that the young people were part of the process, so they realized that this space belongs to them. We wanted to have a discussion with them and bring together multiple disciplines,” said Abrashi.
This space officially opened its doors in March 2022 and included a technology lab, exhibition space, green pavilion, library, bar, kitchen and co-working area. At that time, as the sunflower field of 2022 and the work of artist Denes bloomed, the team prepared for the fourth edition of the biennale, titled “All Images Will Disappear, One Day.”
This edition marked the first time Hangar I was used as an exhibition space. Additionally, 17 of the 30 works showcased in this edition were created in the workshop at Hangar I. The fourth edition of the biennale, held in Prizren, Prishtina and Mitrovica, was recognized by the international contemporary art magazine Frieze as one of the 10 best exhibitions in Europe in 2023.
Beyond the biennale, Hangar I remains open to the public, particularly for young people in the fields of art, design and architecture, who can use the space for their projects. This initiative reflects Autostrada Biennale’s commitment to addressing gaps in the formal education system.
“Unfortunately, education here is very theoretical, especially for professions that require practical experience. We aimed to create multidisciplinary teams in the hangar, bringing together artists, designers, architects and mechatronics specialists to think beyond traditional boundaries during their studies,” said Fishekqiu.
Each year, the Autostrada Hangar brings together young people for a variety of educational initiatives. In addition to the Autostrada Biennale, these efforts aim to engage the community and support its development.
A new hangar
The first hangar grew so influential that it eventually became too small to accommodate its needs.
10 years after founding Autostrada Biennale, the team began working on Hangar II, which officially opened its doors in September 2024. But the community was welcomed into Hangar II even before its construction was complete. While workers were still painting the walls, the young women from the Pezull business were already sewing clothes on their machines in one area of the space.
Hangar II will create additional space for production, featuring a warehouse designed to meet the necessary standards for storing artwork and residences for artists who come to Prizren to create their work. In the center, an open air theater will host outdoor activities organized by Autostrada Biennale or by other organizations and initiatives that wish to make use of it.
While the first three editions of the biennale took place without any hangar, the fifth edition will utilize two. This edition will be curated by Erzen Shkololli and is scheduled for 2025. Its theme will be announced in the coming months.
Looking back after 10 years, one might think that the three young individuals who once contributed a portion of their salaries to support the organization could never have imagined such growth. However, this isn’t the case; they always envisioned this growth and impact, even if, in Abrashi’s words, “This is even more beautiful than we thought.”
Feature Image: Majlinda Hoxha / K2.0
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- This story was originally written in Albanian.