Driant Zeneli (1983, Shkoder, Albania), lives between Tirana and Turin.
Graduated:
The Academy of Fine Arts in Macerata, Italy. 2001 – 2005 BA: Sculpting, and 2006 – 2008 MFA: Multimedia.
Main Solo Shows:
Museum of Contemporary Art Zagreb, 2024; National Gallery of North Ma Macedonia, 2022: National Gallery of The Republic of Kosovo, Prishtina (2019); Albanian Pavilion 58th International Art Exhibition – Venice Biennale, (2019); GAMEC, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Bergamo, (2019); Villa Medici, Rome (2016); GAM, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Turin (2013)
Main Group Shows:
Sharjah Biennial 16, (2025); 15th Bienal De La Habana, 2024; Ruhr Triennale, Bochum 2024; 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); Albanian Pavilion 54th International Art Exhibition – Venice Biennale, (2011); Autostrada Biennale, Prizren, (2011); Mostyn Gallery, Wales, UK (2017); MuCEM, Marseille, (2016) Centre Pompidou, Paris (2016); ZKM, Karlsruhe (2012); MUSAC, Castilla León. Spain, (2012); Prague Biennale 5 (2011); National Gallery of Albania, Tirana (2008).
Awards:
2024 Winner of Italian Council 13th edition
2017 Winner of the Moroso Concept Prize, Milan.
2009 Winner Young European Artist Trieste Contemporanea Award, Trieste.
2008 Winner of the 15th International Onufri Prize, Tirana.
2007 Winner of L’attimo fuggente”, International Film Festival, Pesaro. 2024 Italian Council 13th edition
Residencies:
2010 Upload Art Project, Trento, Italy
2011 Situa.to, Torino, Italy
2013 T.I.C.A AIRLAB – Spring Tirana, Albania
2015 Pistoletto Foundation, Biella, Italy
2015 M.A.M Foundation, Tirana, Albania
2016 Kunstlerhaus, Salzburg, Austria
2016 Campus in Camps, Dheisheh Refugee Camp, Westbank, Palestine. 2017 Artist meets Sheef, Hotel Adriatik, Rovinjo, Croatia
2022 The Jonas Psychoanalytic Clinic Center, Trento, Italy
2023 Kora, Center of Contemporary Art, Castrignano Dei Grecci, Italy 2025 RAVE- East Village Artist Residency- Trivignano, Italy
Lecture Professor:
2023-2025 Lecturer at the Department of Creative Industries at Barleti University, Tirana.
2024-2025 Lecturer at the Department of Visual Art at NABA University, Rome.
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 was a co-founder of Harabel Contemporary Art Platform, Tirana 2018.
Statement
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?
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.
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.
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.