Charlie's Angels, Mission, 2003, detail from video triptych.
(part of bal’26)
Body as an Archive: Performative Art Practices in Postwar Kosova is an ongoing curatorial and research project by Anyla Kabashi and Renea Begolli, edited by Dr. Vjollca Krasniqi. Drawing on feminist and decolonial perspectives, it explores the body as a site of memory, knowledge, and resistance through performance, video, and installation. Its first outcome is a non-linear publication by the National Gallery of Kosova, available in Albanian and English.
Anyla Kabashi (1996) is an art historian, researcher, and curator based in Prishtina. Her practice moves between institutional and independent contexts, foregrounding embodiment, collectivity, and marginality through feminist and decolonial approaches. Recent projects include Hajde me tepru (2026) and All this time, becoming (2025). She is the art coordinator at Sekhmet Institute, an editor at the National Gallery of Kosova, and part of the “___.” (Blank) Collective. She holds a BA from the University of Zagreb and pursued an MA in Semiotics at Eötvös Loránd University. anylakabashi.carrd.co
Renea Begolli (1998) is a visual artist and researcher based in Prishtina, Kosova. Her work explores themes of gender, archiving, ecology, memory, and the body, mostly through multimedial approach. She holds a Master’s and Bachelor’s in Painting from the University of Prishtina. In 2023, she received the Artist of Tomorrow Award in Kosova and in 2025 she was one of the laureates of the program “Shtëpi”, by National Gallery of Kosovo and Cité Internationale des Arts Paris. She worked in exhibitions/projects like All this time, becoming (2025), Mothers of War (2023). She is part “___.” (Blank) Collective in Prishtina and Program Coordinator at ODA Theater. www.reneabegolli.com
Duration: 20 min.
bal’26: Dismantling the Promise
bal’26 thematic focus looks into resistance against power structures. With the title Dismantling the Promise, the program reflects on the consequences of power agreements and connections, as well as the missed opportunities for solidarity, care, and dissent when viewed from a feminist standpoint. It is an intentional look back at the power structures that constrain the autonomy of marginalised bodies and their landscapes of physical territories, social spaces, and embodied environments—turning back toward these structures, using their own tools of language, technology, and speculation against them.
bal’26 program is perceived as an exhibition which is multilayered and denies the common structure by bringing together artworks (including research presentations) in different formats that unfold over time. Exhibition Ghost Town by Paula Veidenbauma forms a constant presence, while additional works: short film (The City That Has Peace by Petra Matić), a performance (RADIO GLAS DRINE by Vildana Hermann), a performative reading by Collective Dreaming , publication presentation (Body as an Archive: Performative Art Practices in Postwar Kosova by Anyla Kabashi and Renea Begolli), bal screenings and a symposium are introduced at different moments. These function independently, yet remain in dialogue with the Ghost Town creating a shifting field of relations across the duration of the exhibition.
The selected presentations in the symposium cover problematic decisions regarding transregional via-politics of so called Baltic Sea – Black Sea – Aegean Sea Corridor stretching from the Baltics to the Balkans (Corridor Limbo by Paula Veidenbauma); investigate how weaponised digital tools are recognised and reclaimed by feminist artists (Feminist Data as Resistance: Algorithmic Bias, Bodily Autonomy, and Digital Feminist Resistance in the Post-Yugoslav Balkans by Ana Marinković), expose how city scapes and eco systems co-exist and are disrupted by political governance (Ecologisation of Architecture by Aljaž Rudolf), and explain how Aesopian language influenced the transgenerational somatic effects of repression (Aesopian language by Rūta Junevičiūtė).
A separate event of bal screenings, will invite to view three anthropological short films. Through a slow, observant lens, the film program invites into liminal spaces imbued with a sense of freedom, waiting and the passage of time. Included films are Pagirnis (dir. Anastasija Pirozenko), I Have A Song To Sing You (dir. Eluned Zoë Aiano, Alesandra Tatić, Greta Rauleac), Mother Mare (dir. Elisa Chiari).
During the opening of the exhibition, the bal’26 publication will be presented with contribution by Helena Aadli, Renea Begolli, Likana Cana, Hana Čeferin, Anton Goncharov, Vildana Hermann, Rūta Junevičiūtė, Anyla Kabashi, Kroplya, Diona Kusari, Ana Marinković, Petra Matić, Milica Popović, Justina Špeirokaitė, Saša Tatić, and Paula Veidenbauma.
Curated by Justina Špeirokaitė
Curatorial and editorial team: Merete Väin, Ajda Ana Kocutar, Lara Mejač, Urtė Špeirokaitė, Miloš Vučićević
Graphic design by René Vogelmann
Supported by BMWKMS, MA7, 15. Bezirk, Lithuanian Council for Culture, and the Lithuanian Embassy in Vienna
bal is a transdisciplinary comparative project exploring the artistic and cultural landscapes of the Baltic states and the post-Yugoslav region. Combining academic research, artistic practice, public discussion, and critical discourse, the project challenges homogenising views of Eastern Europe and foregrounds diverse identities and experiences. Through an intersectional perspective, bal examines how historical and contemporary transformations shape the lives of women and others affected by intersecting forms of marginalisation.