Lost Highway Expedition - Skopje, Macedonia
press to exit project space
August 11th –12th, 2006

DAY 1: Friday, August 11th, 2006

10:00 a.m. Welcome and introduction
press to exit project space and its programs will be introduced by artists and founding members Yane Calovski (Artistic Director) and Hristina Ivanoska (Cultural Program Officer at Swiss Cultural Program Macedonia / Pro Helvetia Skopje).
Since press to exit project space is located in the center of the city and it will be the starting point for the tour/walk through the center and the old city led by Hristina and Yane.
Meeting point: press to exit project space; address: Makism Gorki 19 (in the Embassy of Switzerland); contact: (+389-2) 3103-374.

10:30 a.m. City walk and breakfast
Introduction of the immediate surrounding of the gallery including the Post Office, the main city square “Macedonia”, the palace of the Ristic family, the Stone Bridge, etc. Crossing the bridge will mean crossing over in the oldest part of the city - Old Turkish Bazaar – where we will visit and make short stops at number of places including the National Gallery “Daut Pashin Amam” (Baut Pasha’s baths), the church Sv. Spas – Saint Holy Savior, The mosque of Mustafa Pasha, the Academy of fine arts Suli An, and many others… As part of the tour we will also make stops at various shops and workroom where crafts are still being made and sold. The tea-house “Galerija” will be our breakfast stop where we will try variety of traditional foods, coffees and teas.
The tour will finish up by at the Kale fortress where we can enjoy one of the best panoramic views of the city. The bus will be waiting for us to take us to lake Matka and the river Treska.
Meeting point: press to exit project space; address: Makism Gorki 19 (in the Embassy of Switzerland); contact: (+389-2) 3103-374.

13:00 p.m. Pick-nick by the lake Matka and a swim
The trip to Matka will be an opportunity to escape the heat and to have an opportunity to see the periphery. While driving thorough different neighborhoods that are also part of city we will see new social and cultural demarcations of the capitol.
Program for the outing at Matka will include visit of the Matka Dam and walk along the narrow pathways of the hillsides, swimming in the river Treska, a pick-nick and live concert by a local band. Also planed are visit of number of smaller churches and a small monastery. Various presentations are planed including the projects of architect Bilajna Stefanovska, curator Elena Veljanovska from the cultural center “Tocka”, and others.
Meeting point: press to exit project space; address: Makism Gorki 19 (in the Embassy of Switzerland); contact: (+389-2) 3103-374.

18:00 p.m. ECO patrol with artist Aleksandar Stankoski
Opportunity to meet up with one of the most prolific artist, writers and filmmaker working in Skopje, Aleksandar Stankoski, joining him an “Eco patrol” – his research project about debate and observation dating back to the time of Aristotle’s séances of education and exchange.
Meeting point: press to exit project space; address: Makism Gorki 19 (in the Embassy of Switzerland); contact: (+389-2) 3103-374.

20:00 p.m. 3D, exhibition opening and reception
Opening of an exhibition “3D” by artist Jovan Shumkovski at press to exit project space. The exhibition will feature hypothetical architectural proposals for Skopje inlcuidng an Olympic stadium with 180,000 seats for para-olympic games to be hosted in the city; a multi functional economic, operative and detention center, as well as a new EXPO center. Each of the proposals is accompanied by a video and photo material of an extensive interviewing process related to the present and future realities of the city and its citizens.
Jovan Shumkovski is one of the most established Macedonian artists whose work has been exhibited internationally including the 2001 Venice biennial. He is a professor at Academy of Fine Art in Skopje.
Meeting point: press to exit project space; address: Makism Gorki 19 (in the Embassy of Switzerland); contact: (+389-2) 3103-374.

22:00 p.m. Party with DJ Sonja Ismail at café and club “Medium” located at the Multimedia Center “Mala Stanica”.
DJ Sonja Ismail works as Project Assistant at Forum – Center for Strategic Research and Documentation. She also works as a journalist covering culture in the weekly magazine “Forum”. Her set will include variety of styles accented by pop music form the time of the building of the highway from the 60’s onward.
Meeting place: café and club “Medium” located at the Multimedia Center “Mala Stanica”; address: Zeleznicka b.b.

DAY 2: Saturday, August 12th, 2006

10:00 a.m. City walk with Oliver Musovik
Macedonian artist Oliver Musovik has created a tour based on collected stories of various off-site spaces in the city and also navigates an interesting reading of the “city wall” designed by one of the most important 20th century architects Kenzo Tange.
Meeting point: press to exit project space; address: Makism Gorki 19 (in the Embassy of Switzerland); contact: (+389-2) 3103-374.

13:00 p.m. “EDEN 06”, exhibition opening and a reception
Introducing the first public presentation of the work of young Macedonian artist Velimir Zernovski site-specifically installed in the off-site press to exit project space used as office and residency. The installation includes the painting series t “Welcome to Skopje”, a video works “EDEN 06” and “Isidora is getting drunk”
Meeting point: press to exit office and residency space; Vasil Gorgov 28, apartment #4; contact: (+389-2) 3228-594

17:30 p.m. Shutka ECO patrol
ECO patrol with artist Aleksandar Stankoski in the municipality of Suto Orizari known as Shutka - the largest urban settlement of Roma’s in Europe that started developing after earthquake In Skopje in 1963. Recently this place was the subject of the acclaimed documentary “The Shutka Book of Records” by firm director Aleknsadar Manic. Today Sutka symbolizes the life of many Roma in Macedonia. It is an unusual combination of extreme poverty as embodied in dilapidated cardboard and metal shacks and muddy streets on the one side, and paved roads and nice, big houses on the other.
Seating for this event will be limited so please confirm your interest to join the tour ASAP at: presstoexit@on.net.mk Subject: Shutka ECO patrol
Meeting point: press to exit project space; address: Makism Gorki 19 (in the Embassy of Switzerland); contact: (+389-2) 3103-374.

20:00 p.m. Film projection and a reception, Museum of Contemporary Art
Macedonian premier of a new work by Hristina Ivanoska “Naming of the Bridge: Rosa Plaveva and Nakie Bajram” with introduction by curator Suzana Milevska. Ivanoska’s new work focuses on the first women protestors against the veil in Macedonia: the Macedonian Rosa Plaveva and the Turkish Nakie Bajram. This is an on-going research project concerning Ivanoska’s proposal to the local authorities in Skopje about the naming of the newly built bridge in the centre of the town after the two women who protested there together. Ivanoska’s concept clearly points to the urgent need to re-establish the silenced communication between the two strictly divided parts of the town on either side of the river Vardar; one Macedonian Orthodox Christian, the other, Albanian Turkish Muslim. The project is a rare example of an individual initiative that looks at the issue of the veil with a sensitivity unburdened by the conflicts of the past; an attempt to build a bridge between the different stances towards the veil in conflicting intellectual and cultural camps. (Excerpt from the text by Suzana Milevska for the premier of the work at The Foundation for Women’s Art in London, June 2006).

Also on view will be paintings by young Macedonian artist Aleksandra Petrushevska and screening of the film by Oliver Rassler and Dario Azzellini “5 factories – Workers Control Venezuela”.
Meeting place: Museum of Contemporary Art, address: Samoilova bb.; contact: (+389-2) 3117-734

23:00 p.m. Party on in one of the nigh clubs in the city
(Location and meeting place TBA)