HAVEIT Collective
Ekzaminimi (Examination), 2013

video-recording of the performance, TV-archive, 2’
Courtesy of the artists
Photo: József ROSTA © Ludwig Museum – Museum of Contemporary Art

Public space in Kosovo has traditionally been male-dominated, a place for political meetings, public councils, demonstrations, where women have not usually been allowed to express their opinions. In addition to instituting “life in the public space”, men have historically been able to exercise control over the fate of women and the rules of their public appearance. The establishment of the HAVEIT group was prompted in 2011 by the Diana Kastrati case: along with another thousand women per year on average in Kosovo, Diana was a regular victim of domestic violence, but Diana died as a result of her husband’s abuse and the crime remained largely without consequences. According to the Kanun, the Albanian social code, a woman’s blood is worth less than a man’s: it is common for the authorities to remain silent in such cases. HAVEIT’s activism is aimed at eradicating violence against women and raising awareness; feminism to them is radical action, because it all starts with fundamental rights – they want to ensure equal, humane treatment for women in particular. In the light of the above context, it is not surprising that they choose the open street as the venue for their performances. Ekzaminimi is also linked to this process of revealing: it is estimated that 20,000 women were raped in the Kosovo war. For a long time, they remained completely ignored and shamed, enduring in silence the trauma they had suffered. Years after the war, the idea of state support was finally mooted among members of parliament, but soon turned into a dispute: one MP demanded that the women undergo a gynaecological examination to make sure they had been raped. HAVEIT’s performance takes place in front of the Parliament building: the hammer refers to legislature, the white sheet to the gynaecology clinic and the apple to the charming Albanian songs and sayings in which the apple symbolises feminine beauty and freshness.

KÁLMÁN Borbála