Law and Architecture’s Brutal Times of Prishtina. The legal meaning of liminal spaces

by Vittoria Becci

I took this photo of an art installation in the Grand Hotel of Prishtina, that was the headquarters and first venue of the Nomadic Art Biennale, Manifesta14. These televisions and their environment inspired the “cover” of what I would call “the brutal times of Prishtina”, a homogeneous blend of different imaginaries, where spaces in-between express multiple possibilities of orders. These spaces refer to the gap between brutalist socialist buildings that still design the skyline of the city and are still part of the lives of the people, even though most brutalist architecture represents a way of inhabiting space that is a fruit of the socialist imagination. This latter was created by a political system that was then swept away by a decade-long war. As a result, many socialist institutional buildings still stand out in a space that no longer recognises the very sovereignty that built them. In the picture you can see one of them, the Palace of Youth and Sport, just outside the window. With this photo I wanted to capture a short-circuit between questions like: what law plans?; how law developed in the spatiality of the city?; and how law is represented by architecture?

It’s in these representations and prescriptions that law becomes something in action with other actors of the space. In this case, I was one actor, taking a picture of an art installation placed in the abandoned side of Prishtina’s Grand Hotel, while I was looking at the Palace of Youth and Sport, and wondering about the subversive potential of spaces in-between imaginaries, legal orders, and social norms.

Vittoria Becci is a PhD candidate at Sciences Po Law School. She has a background in law and philosophy. Her research looks at law and urban spaces -cities- and explores new possible legal infrastructures and/or the absence of them, especially through the study of private property.