Manifesta purposely strives to keep its distance from what are often seen as the dominant centres of artistic production, instead seeking fresh and fertile terrain for the mapping of a new cultural topography.
Manifesta 6 was cancelled by the President of the Greek Part of Cyprus
Alicja Rogalska, PL
Sister Flats, 2022, © Alicja Rogalska. Photo © Manifesta 14 Prishtina / Ivan Erofeev.
Rows of identical houses are a common sight in Kosovo. Known as “brother houses” they bear witness to the strength of family bonds and to a performative equality and solidarity – among men.
Sisters are seldom included either in this practice or the family inheritance, thus ensuring their financial dependence on fathers, brothers, husbands and sons. Sister Flats invites us to imagine how things could be different, how wealth and power could be distributed justly, and the structures of oppression dismantled.
Developed in dialogue with Kosovar feminist activists, Alicja Rogalska’s project proposes sisterhood as the place to start. Borrowing from immersive theatre, escape rooms and ethnographic museums, the artist sets her enquiry within the domestic sphere.
The site of much gendered oppression, it may also hold within it the key to emancipation. On Mondays, when the space is closed to the general public, it will be used for legal advice sessions for local women.