We cordially invite you to the opening of the exhibitions But you, yourself, with your own hand must open this door and Jahresgaben 2025 on Friday, December 5, 2025, at 7 pm.

Speakers:
JENS NOWAK, Chairman
H. E. FARUK AJETI, Ambassador of the Republic of Kosovo
ULRIKE SCHNEIDER, Visual Arts Officer, Niedersächsische Sparkassenstiftung
CATHRIN MAYER, Director

But you, yourself, with your own hand must open this door

But you, yourself, with your own hand must open this door, after a line from the poem Dera magjike (The Magic Door) writ­ten by the Yugoslavian poet, Mira Alečkovic´ in the 1940s, is dedicated to a generation of young artists who live in Kosovo and Albania or whose origins can be traced back to these coun­tries. Although these two countries are united by a common language and shared traditions, they are also constituents of a larger geographical region with a complex and conflict-laden history characterised by ethnic, cultural and political differ­ences.
The exhibition presents works by artists born in the early 1990s who strive to contribute to the shaping of the future while dealing with our fragile present, which is currently once more defined and riven by a mindset of division.
But you, yourself, with your own hand must open this door aims to use a range of artistic strategies to provide different points of view on a region that is equally on the periphery and at the centre. For artists in the ethnic diaspora, the region itself is associated with both a diffuse sense of nostalgia and cross-generational trauma; for the local scene, it represents an inspiring resonance chamber that – with its borders, con­straints and conditions – simultaneously differs and separates itself from the permeability of a European cultural landscape.

The exhibition was shown last year at the Westfälischer Kunstverein in Münster and was initiated and co-curated by Kristina Scepanski, who was then the director at the Kunstverein. The presentation in Braunschweig was adapted to the spaces of the Villa Salve Hospes and was supplemented by additional artistic positions and works.

Artists
EDONA ADEMI, DJELLZA AZEMI, ANJESA DELLOVA, ENVER HADZIJAJ, BLERTA HAZIRAJ, BRILANT MILAZIMI, LEART RAMA, ABI SHEHU, DARDAN ZHEGROVA

Curator
CATHRIN MAYER

Jahresgaben 2025

On the upper floor of the Kunstverein, we present new editions by KETUTA ALEXI-MESKHISHVILI, ARI BENJAMIN-MEYERS, TOM BURR, MARC ALEXANDRE DUMOULIN, ANNA ERLER, ENVER HADZIJAJ, SINE HANSEN, PAUL HUTCHINSON, DANAE IO, LENNART KOCH, and B. INGRID OLSON. This year’s exhibition loosely focuses on photographic and paper-based works. The presentation is complemented and expanded associatively by a selection of existing editions and artist’s books published by the Kunstverein Braunschweig.

Curators
CATHRIN MAYER, JUNIA THIEDE

Supported by

Botschaft der Republik Kosovo in Berlin