BIRN’s Reporting House museum in Prishtina joined the Network of European Museum Organisations, NEMO, which is expected to expand Kosovo’s opportunities for collaboration, research, and cultural exchange across Europe.

Reporting House curator Gazmend Ejupi described the membership as both an important achievement for the recognition of the history the museum represents and a new responsibility for the institution. 

He told Prishtina Insight that Reporting House works directly on communicating narratives of war, survival, and resistance, emphasising the crucial role journalism played in preserving the truth.

“Through documentation and reporting, journalists became part of Kosovo’s civic and cultural resistance, building a living archive of our collective memory,” he stated.

He also emphasised the importance of ensuring that Kosovo’s history is not isolated, but integrated into a broader European and international dialogue on memory, truth, and dealing with the past. 

According to him, joining NEMO places Reporting House in a new context where Kosovo’s experiences “can be discussed and compared with other museum practices across Europe.”

“Reporting House has always operated at the intersection of journalism, memory, and contemporary art, and now we have the opportunity to deepen this approach through international collaborations, joint exhibitions, curatorial programs, and professional exchanges,” he added.

Founded in 1992, NEMO represents more than 30,000 museums across 40 European countries and serves as a platform for cooperation among national museum organisations.

The Reporting House exhibition, opened on June 10, 2024, for Kosovo Liberation Day, presents a detailed account of the 1990s resistance and war period. It brings together journalism, photography, and media artifacts from the era alongside contemporary artworks reflecting on the war’s lasting impact.

Visitors are guided through key stages of Kosovo’s recent history, including peaceful resistance, the emergence of the Kosovo Liberation Army, the 1998–99 war, NATO airstrikes, and Kosovo’s declaration of independence in 2008.

Another important dimension is the opening of Reporting House as a hub for collaboration with students, scholars, and PhD researchers, both from Kosovo and international universities.

“Through its archive, documentary materials, journalistic testimonies, and artistic program, Reporting House offers an important research base for topics related to memory, war, resistance, journalism, and contemporary art. In this way, it becomes not only an exhibition space, but an active platform for research and international cooperation,” he added.

Jeta Xharra, executive director of BIRN Kosovo, said NEMO membership provides an opportunity to exchange expertise on running successful museums.

“Considering that Reporting House has had over 20 thousand visitors since we opened less than 2 years ago, nearly half of them young people attending in school groups despite it not being part of the formal curriculum, we are now confident we have valuable insights about how to create museum experiences attractive to young audiences,” Xharra declared.

Xharra also highlighted practical needs, calling on NEMO’s network to assist in sourcing donations of equipment like video projectors from European museums, noting that, “such technology is often considered outdated in Europe but remains useful in Kosovo.”