A New Cycle: Slowing Down, Co-Creating, Transforming
Reflection, Care, and Collective Action
Shtatëmbëdhjetë has long been committed to creating, holding, and protecting space — not only for artistic expression, but for dialogue, reflection, and collective presence. In a context where public space was neglected, abandoned, or privatized, opportunities for free and experimental gathering were scarce, Shtatëmbëdhjetë in response reclaimed and reimagined spaces where ideas and communities could grow together.
At the heart of this effort, Galeria 17 emerged not as a traditional gallery, but as a living forum — a space where exhibitions became conversations, where history met experimentation, and where community took shape through practice. Housed in a former 1960s auto-mechanic workshop in the historic center of Prishtina, the gallery retained material traces of its past while opening itself to new imaginaries.
From 2021 to 2025, Galeria 17 established itself as a pivotal reference point within Kosovo’s contemporary art landscape. Anchored by themes such as Scanning the Region, Techne, Archiving Transition, and Queer Ecology, it was built through self-initiative, community support, and a collective fundraising campaign, demonstrating the power of independent infrastructure.
Across its first cycle, more than 23,450 people entered the space not as passive visitors, but as participants in a shared process. Over four years, Galeria 17 realized 140+ public programs — including 16 major exhibitions, 15 pop-up presentations, and 28 VR-based formats engaging 2,063 people, alongside workshops, talks, and collective learning sessions. Its work was carried by 96 exhibiting artists, 11 curators, and 200+ contributors, supported by 120+ guided tours, family programs, and informal gatherings that ensured accessibility across ages and backgrounds. The interdisciplinary May Classes further expanded this landscape of exchange, bringing together 100+ participants and 10+ international contributors in spaces that blurred the line between learning, dialogue, and experimentation.
Through this activity, Galeria 17 modeled new ways of working — professionalizing artistic labor, strengthening collaboration, advancing documentation and self-historization, and proving that independent institutions are not supplemental, but essential.
As of 2026, Shtatëmbëdhjetë enters a new phase of transition, preparing for its next strategic cycle (2027–2031). After a period defined by intense production, we recognize the need to slow down — to move from urgency to longevity, from output to process. This shift is not only practical but ethical: a commitment to care, reflection, and sustained relationships.
The new strategy will center environment and climate not just as ecological concerns, but as questions of how we live together, how we share space, and how we relate — across human and more-than-human worlds. It calls for proximity instead of separation, reciprocity instead of extraction.
In line with this shift, Galeria 17 will undergo its own transformation. True to its original metaphor — a conch shell that grows with its inhabitant — the gallery will move beyond its physical walls and re-root itself in the garden of Rezidenca 17. There, it will evolve into a fluid, responsive platform where artistic expression meets ecological research, long-term residencies, and collective inquiry through queer ecology.
What changes is the form — from fixed exhibitions and themed programs to porous, evolving processes shaped by weather, soil, season, and relation. What remains is the spirit of inclusiveness, critical reflection, and experimentation that defined its first cycle.
This transition is not simply organizational — it is philosophical. It asks us to redefine creativity as care, collaboration as ecology, and strategy as shared authorship.
Above all, it is an invitation.
We call on our community, collaborators, and partners to join in shaping this next cycle — whether through conversation, shared meals, experiments, or moments of reflection. Every gesture folds into a future that does not belong to one, but to many.