Filling Archival Gaps: A Collection of Posters and Leaflets
Aranit Krasniqi

Aranit Krasniqi’s research project, Filling Archival Gaps, addresses a significant void in the Kosovo Archive’s collection of graphic materials, including posters, leaflets, and catalogues. While the current archive spans from 1898 to 1968, it neglects the period from the 1970s to the present. Krasniqi’s interest lies in exploring how graphic design intersects with the political, socio-economic, and cultural contexts of these ephemeral materials, designed to circulate briefly—on walls, in streets, or hand-to-hand.

Confronted with institutional limitations such as funding and staffing shortages, Krasniqi turned to private collectors, embarking on a journey to locate, document, and digitize their collections. This process intertwined archival documentation with personal histories, uncovering motivations for collecting and preserving these materials. The resulting digital archive offers a dual narrative: one of public history through transient documents and another reflecting the impact of personal agency on collective memory and archival architecture.