DRIANT ZENELI

ARTIST STATEMENT

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How do we push the boundaries of our limitations without becoming superheroes? Can the realm of the possible be balanced with the one of the imaginary?

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The redefinition of the idea of failure, utopia, and dream stands at the core of Zeneli’s research, as elements that open up possible alternatives. In his films, and video sculpture installations the representation of power, science, mythology, and fairy tales are interlaced with individual narratives, giving rise to utopias that subvert the natural order of things. The creative act feeds on unplanned encounters and the relationship with the architectural heritage of places.

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Zeneli uses his films as a material to sculpt place and time. The performances take the form of participatory interventions, during which the artist con-creates the meaning of the work with the spectators.  The element of gravity resonates throughout the artistic production, be it films, drawings, or happenings, in a constant attempt to detach himself from the earth, to play with his own limits.

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Since 2008, this artist has launched an art education project dedicated to the relationship between practice and pedagogical research, an investigation into the relationship between creation and education that intends to experiment with alternative practices to those carried out by public institutions. From time to time, the artist creates workshops for children focused on storytelling and uses tools such as electronics and robotics to understand our actions and boost our imagination.

BIO​

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Driant Zeneli (1983, Shkoder, Albania).

Driant Zeneli lives in Turin. In 2019 and 2011 he represented Albanian Pavilion at the 58th (solo show) and 54th (group show) International Art Exhibition – Venice Biennale. In 2017 he won the MOROSO Prize and in 2009 the Young European Artist Award Trieste Contemporanea. In 2008 he won the Onufri International Contemporary Art Prize, Tirana. He was the artistic director of Mediterranea 18, the Young Artists Biennale from Europe and the Mediterranean, taking place for the first time in 2017, between Tirana and Durres. He is co-founder of Harabel Contemporary Art Platform, Tirana.

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Main Exhibitions: Maxxi Museum, Rome (2023); Double Feature – Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt (2023); Dhaka Art Summit (DAS), Dhaka (2023); 59th October Salon, Belgrade Biennale (2022); Manifesta Biennial 14, Prishtina (2022); Teatrino Palazzo Grassi, Venice (2021); 39th EVA International Biennial, Limerick (2020); Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art, Riga (2019);  National Gallery of The  Republic of Kosovo, Prishtina (2019); Sharjah Art Foundation, Film Platform (2019); Albanian Pavilion 58th International Art Exhibition – Venice Biennale (2019); Autostrada Biennale, Prizren (2019); GAMEC, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Bergamo (2019); Mostyn Gallery, Wales, UK (2017); MuCEM, Marseille (2016) Centre Pompidou, Paris (2016); Villa Medici, Rome (2016); GAM, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Turin (2013); ZKM, Karlsruhe (2012); MUSAC, Castilla León, Spain (2012); Prague Biennale 5 (2011); National Gallery of Albania, Tirana (2008).

The firefly keeps falling and the snake keeps growing, film, 2022, 11’46”, color, sound. Courtesy

of the Artist and Fondazione In Between Art Film

The film is inspired by an ancient fable. It was filmed at Skopje’s Central Post Office, one of the

most emblematic brutalist buildings in the Balkans. Built in 1974, the structure was ravaged after

a fire outbreak and UNESCO now considers it as one of the 7 most endangered buildings in the

world. Developed in a collaborative process that is integral to the artist’s practice, this film was

conceived and created with the students of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Ss. Cyril and

Methodius University in Skopje, North Macedonia.

This is the III Chapter of the trilogy: The Animals. Once Upon a Time … in a present Time.

(2019 – 2022)