As part of Buna 2, Doza Gallery presents The Invisible Game, an exhibition by Arbnor Karaliti and Yll Xhaferi that explores the relationship between social constructs and personal introspection. Inspired by Yll Xhaferi’s theories of human cognition and Arbnor Karaliti’s artistic exploration of social isolation, the exhibition challenges viewers to reconsider the nature of reality. It examines how culture and sport can be used as tools for mass exploitation, highlighting the absence of players and evoking a sense of unease.
This anxiety invites viewers to think more deeply about the nature of our society and the relationships within it. Sport as a unifying factor and when it is a source of pride, is freedom of artistic expression subject to censorship? What is the unifying factor for a developed and accepting society? Should athletes and artists be a product of capitalism? Like any semiotic system, Yll and Arbnor lay bare those tools that go hand in hand with structural changes in society. When and what do we support? Do we know what is important? If something is taken away, what should be added? Perhaps it is up to us.
Arbnor Karaliti is a Kosovo-born artist who works with painting and experiments with various mediums in a continuous process of learning about himself through art. His work is influenced by personal experiences as well as existential issues, including isolation, and various social taboos. Process-oriented, he works in consecutive stages; when painting, he first sketches a red line on the canvas, which he refers to when placing his subjects – often his friends, flat mates and fellow artists – and composing their surrounds. Seeking to prompt discussion, he also works with new media, creating research-based installations tailored to specific institutional contexts, frequently produced in close cooperation with generational peers.
Yll Xhaferi is a Kosovo-born interdisciplinary visual artist who works largely across painting and digital media. Xhaferi considers the use of different artistic mediums a direct result of global influences. He incorporates different symbols and metaphors in his visual artwork, playing with collective and personal memory. The goal is to build and monumentalise a fictional narrative that can be used as a “shelter” for the viewer. Within his work, Xhaferi explores technology as another space, viewing it as an opportunity to interrupt our understanding of physical form, or even to transcend it. The use of digital media in Xhaferi’s works is an ironic protest, a way to share his wish to be part of a more global artistic scene. It calls to attention the experience of being a citizen of a state under development.
