Si Okarina e Runikut, 2022

Si Okarina e Runikut is a brass sculpture shaped like delicate bird legs which hold a stone and a clay ocarina. The work is a continuation of Petrit Halilaj’s exploration of the history of the ocarina, a musical instrument whose Neolithic origins come from Halilaj’s home region Runik.

In 2015, Halilaj introduced the ocarina in a series made for the exhibition Slip of the Tongue, at Punta della Dogana. Titled Si Okarina e Runikut, the series of sculptures are clay and stone renditions of the ocarina, encircled with thin brass resembling the bodies and legs of birds. Halilaj learned the technique from Shaqir Hoti, one of the last Kosovarian musicians to make and play the ocarina.

Photo by Marjorie Brunet Plaza.