Prison Radio

22/09/2026

Thomas Krempke contributed to PRISON RADIO with Befas u zgjove… (You suddenly woke up…), an installation created specifically for the former Prishtina Prison and inspired by Visar Zhiti’s poem Ëndrrat, written in 1982 while imprisoned in Spaç, Albania. Through image, music, sound and text, the work explored the space between dreams, expectations and reality. While the poem could barely be heard, it appeared clearly in sign language, shifting between the audible and the visible. Sounds of birds travelled from the installation through the former prison and could be heard across the building.Thomas also accompanied the festival through photography and exchange. Long before the opening, he photographed the building and during the festival the participating artists and researchers.
Sign language interpretation by Franceska XhungaMusic by Francesco Giudici

22/09/2026

For PRISON RADIO, photographer Hazir Reka opened his archive with a photograph taken secretly outside the former Prishtina Prison in 1991. It captures Veton Surroi leaving the prison after serving a sentence following his participation in the peaceful demonstration The Burial of Violence, held in protest against the violence of the Serbian authorities against Albanians. Photographing the prison was prohibited at the time. After receiving information about Surroi’s release from his lawyer, Bajram Kelmendi, Reka prepared himself and took the photograph through the window of a car. Kelmendi, who accompanied Surroi upon his release, was killed together with his two sons in March 1999. We hung the photograph in the fig tree in the Small Courtyard, at Pema e Lirisë (Tree of Freedom), bringing a rare historical image back within the walls of the prison it once could only depict in secret. A photograph that had to be taken clandestinely could now be shown openly, inside the very place where photographing had been forbidden.

21/09/2026

Albanian cultural journalist and writer Elsa Demo contributed to PRISON RADIO through live radio, dialogue, archival material, and the exhibition.For From the Silence of Words / Nga Heshtja e Fjalëve, a live radio essay performed at Burgu i Idealit on 12 September, she explored literature emerging from imprisonment and political repression, including a reading of Jamarbër Marko’s poem Sot është e shtunë.

In From the Ashes of Images / Nga Hiri i Imazheve, Demo entered into a radio dialogue with Krenar Zejno of Zenit Publishing House about Maks Velo—his artistic practice, his imprisonment under Albania’s socialist dictatorship, the destruction of hundreds of his works by the secret police, and the drawings that survived.

For Selected Archival Pieces / Pjesë të Përzgjedhura nga Arkivi, she contributed materials including her interview with Zef Pllumi and lithographs by Maks Velo. She also proposed bringing Festivali i Këngës into the programme, which we presented through a dedicated playlist, extending her contribution into the musical and cultural history of socialist Albania.

Photos: grid & Verena Walzl

19/09/2026

“so that weʼd never feel alone” is a quote from an interview with Teuta Bekteshi, a former political prisoner, conducted by Oral History Kosovo. The sound installation refers to the prisoners’ communication with one another. The work references the knocking signals that were used to communicate through walls and via radiator pipes. These acoustic signals became an expression of solidarity and hope amongst the prisoners: for example, they were used to warn of the presence of prison officers, to call for a strike, or simply to say ‘good night’. The sound installation can be experienced spatially and is complemented by quotes from former political prisoners.Interviews with former political prisoners: oralhistorykosovo.org

Quotes include those by: Teuta Bekteshi, Hidajete Osmani Bytyqi,Shukrije Gashi, Mehmet Hajrizi, Ibush JonuziDuring PRISON RADIO, the sounds of “so that we’d never feel alone” travelled through the pipes of the former prison and could be heard throughout the building. Their movement through the architecture recalled the acoustic expressions of former prisoners and the knocking signals that once travelled through walls and radiator pipes, connecting prisoners across separate cells.

In her live concert, Adina Camhy weaved together works and improvisations from the last three years, during which she has been struggling with Post-Covid syndrome: field recordings from the rugged karst landscape, improvisations recorded on a wooden church organ in an Alpine mountain village, and poem-like fragments dealing with chronic illness and hope. Camhy’s music combines electronic sounds, field recordings, vocals and effects, creating subtle, alienating and eerily fragmented soundscapes ranging from noise and ambient to drone and industrial. For the concert presented as part of PRISON RADIO, she incorporated fragments from Prishtina Prison: sounds and songs of solidarity.

Supported by: Austrian Embassy Pristina
SKE

Photos & Videos: grid

18/09/2026

EPISODE 6ANOUK ALBRECHTFor Episode 6 of her ongoing nomadic performance series, Anouk Albrecht worked in the Small Prison Courtyard of Burgu i Idealit, capturing radio signals and translating their reception into a live performative action. Moving between transmission, interference and response, the work connected invisible signals travelling through the space with the presence and movements of the performing body.

Photo & Video: grid

17/09/2026

Maja Zećo contributed two works to PRISON RADIO.

Defend and Protect / Odbrana i Zaštita / Mbrojtje dhe Ruajtje, performed at Burgu i Idealit, explored protection, control and violence through body, movement and sound, placing the performing body in relation to the architecture of the former prison. Wearing a handmade “bulletproof” vest filled with over 20 kg of soil, Maja moved through the space while emitting military drone sounds. The sonic action questioned our sense of safety and personal agency in relation to drones as weapons and tools of surveillance.

For Retracing Steps, Maja led a collective soundwalk through Prishtina together with Blertë Ismajli and Verena Walzl. Blerta Ismajli Verena Walzl The group retraced the route Blertë took to school in the 1990s, moving through the same narrow streets and neighbourhoods and ending at the site of a school that no longer exists. Maja guided the walk through a series of listening prompts and exercises, directing attention to the changing acoustic environment and inviting participants to practice close listening and take notes on what they heard. The present-day soundscape entered into dialogue with Blertë’s memories and Verena Walzl’s text Walk to School, connecting past and present through walking and listening.

Photos soundwalk: grid
Photos performance: Thomas Krempke
Videos: grid

16/09/2026

Prison Radio

RTK

Video zyrtare nga Radio Televizioni i Kosovës (RTK).Ndiqni RTK pë...

16/09/2026

Prison Radio

Day 2

Photo credit: Kushtrim Haxha

16/09/2026

Mbyllja e festivalit Prison Radio
Për disa ditë, "Burgu i Idealit" u shndërrua në një hapësirë të përbashkët dëgjimi, transmetimi, kujtese dhe rezistence. Faleminderit të gjithë bashkëpunëtorëve, artistëve, pjesëmarrësve dhe publikut që për katër ditë e ndjekën dhe e bënë këtë festival të mundur.

***

Prison Radio Festival Closing
For four days, “Burgu i Idealit” was transformed into a shared space for listening, broadcasting, memory, and resistance. Thank you to all our collaborators, artists, participants, and audiences who followed the festival throughout these four days and made it possible.

Photo credit: Kushtrim Haxha

16/09/2026

Prison Radio

Day 3

Photo credit: Kushtrim Haxha