Published on 15.11.2023

PP Talk: Ridjet Ferati

The conversation was made in June 2022 as part of the PrivatePrint Meets program and continued in October 2023 through electronic communication. Ridjet Ferati (b. 1995 in Skopje) shares his views on his emerging artistic practice, the media in which he realizes his creativity, and the spirituality he finds in the process versus the pursuit of perfection. He also discusses the possibilities that new technologies offer and the cooperation within the PrivatePrint VR Studio 2023.

Your portfolio includes works in multiple media: painting, video, and sculpture. Which medium do you use most often?

I mainly paint. But, I try to express myself through any medium that my ten fingers can touch.

Do you rely more on concepts and ideas than on the medium?

I rely more on spontaneity in work and expression. Otherwise, the medium is important to me but doesn't play a significant role. Because I have the idea in my head, and then I just spontaneously realize it.

In the process of self-exploration, I decided to devote all my art to existence, to life. I want to present the people around me only as silhouettes in their existence. It is my personal research, and all others are just silhouettes that only help me find myself or find a solution to a problem in the society in which I live. And I do all that spontaneously because I base art on existence, which I define as life; I deny birth, I deny death, only life interests me. That is why you notice something is unfinished in some of the works. This is because I want to avoid the perfection sought in life, which I classify as death. And I don't deal with that; I just want it to be unfinished, spontaneous, alive. It should be natural.

In the research process - if you do research, if the process is not entirely spontaneous - do you have in mind other authors, directions from art history, or references?

I have favorite painters and have worked previously following some of their principles, but I have decided that I should still rely on what I have within me. The idea, the colors... I mix the colors and just see how the image comes out.

Otherwise, I mostly like authors who have specific thoughts. For example, Juan Miro and his idea that the artist is like a tree and we are rooted with the earth: with gravity, we are here, and with the branches, we are in the sky, we can dream and create. I liked that and their expression outside the previous techniques. Mostly, I appreciate anyone who resists, who explodes in some way, the Dadaists or Marcel Duchamp.

How do those ideas influence your creative work? How do you apply them?

I like those ideas and how they thought. They moved away from specific ideas and techniques and established new ones. That freedom, we should search for that freedom in creation. And not to depend on someone else.

How does technology fit into your art? You use it as a medium to express yourself. In what ways do you think technology can help art?

I would try to work with artificial intelligence and artificial creation. I like things developing that way. I am interested in how something can exist as a living matter but is created artificially.

By the way, I mentioned the different media I use, for example, video and film. In them, I like to experiment with sounds because I think the sound or the frequency can be an asset in the communicative process. Sometimes, I feel that the text is excessive; even when making the short film "5 10 15," I thought to have no text but to play with emotions. Although I put them all together, putting text and music, for example, on purpose at the beginning, the voice is not audible to capture that moment of thoughts flying through the person's head.

Did you also write the text in the film?

Yes. Writing is also my passion. I write down the thoughts that come to me spontaneously. I can't explain that process in any way; I know that thoughts come out of me. I started writing with ink and quill. I like to write like that because of the contact with the paper. I wrote the text for the film in one breath. I opened my laptop, typed it, and closed it. Then, after a while, when I reread it, I cut some parts out and realized I should make a film. At that time, I was part of the amateur theater "Chekori," so from that experience, the idea transferred into the form of a film.

You are collaborating with us at VR Studio 2023 as part of a group virtual exhibition. How does this kind of work, in the virtual world and through a collaborative process of creation, fit into your artistic practice?

I believe this collaboration will encourage artistic growth and allow us to explore new horizons in the world of virtual reality art.

In the realm of the virtual world, the collaborative creation process offers a captivating glimpse into the future of artistic expression, a visionary frontier where creativity has endless possibilities. In thinking about how such an endeavor aligns with my artistic practice, I find that it aligns with my vision and pushes it into uncharted and breathtaking territories.

As for the future, I foresee a time when virtual reality becomes a shared consciousness, an interconnected realm where artists worldwide come together in a metaverse of imagination. This fusion of collective human creativity has the potential to transcend borders, languages, and cultural divides, uniting us in the drive of shared dreams and visions. In this virtual future, art is no mere artifact but a dynamic, evolving force that responds to the ever-changing human experience. It adapts, grows, and interacts with its audience, offering a participatory role in the creative process and creating a memorable connection between creator and audience.

So, to answer your question, the collaborative, virtual world we explore today is not just a fleeting experiment but a profound harbinger of a future where artistic practice transcends its traditional boundaries, uniting minds and visions in a realm where art knows no bounds and creativity resonates as a universal language. It is an exciting horizon that I am wholeheartedly committed to embracing, as it calls us to redefine the very essence of art and its place in the human experience.

You talked about nature, that we should return to nature and look towards nature. How, in terms of your artistic work and views, would you define nature?

One Latin saying touched me: "Nature does not take great steps in its development." That is how man should develop. I like that process. How nature works, how it slowly builds, slowly evolves. These are processes we don't see and happen in the background. And we live in a completely different way. In general, we are robotized; we don't have that soul that we need, and that's why I'm looking for that return to nature. On the one hand, it is from a spiritual aspect, but on the other hand, due to the climate changes and environmental aspects.

The photographs of the works are courtesy of the artist.
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PrivatePrintMeets is a series of meetings with emerging artists from N. Macedonia and is part of PrivatePrint's project activities funded by the Prince Claus Network Partnership programme. 
VR Studio 2023 is co-financed by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of North Macedonia and made possible through our activities in the PrivatePrint Meets series funded by the Prince Claus Network Partnership Programme.