Graduated:

The Academy of Fine Arts in Macerata, Italy. 2001 – 2005 BA: Sculpting, and 2006 – 2008 MFA: Multimedia.

Main Solo Shows & Screenings:

Jameel Art Center, Dubai, (2026), Museum of Contemporary Art, Bulgaria, Sofia, (2026); Museum of Contemporary Art Croatia, Zagreb, (2024); Double Feature – Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt (2023); National Gallery of North Macedonia, Skopje, (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); Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Turin (2013)

Main Group exhibitions & Screenings:

Kochi Muziris Biennale 6th, Kochi, (2026); EMST National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens (2025); Sharjah Biennial 16, (2025); 15th Bienal De La Habana, (2024); Ruhr Triennale, Bochum (2024); Maxxi Museum, Rome (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, (2019); 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).

Statement

How do we push the boundaries of our limitations without becoming superheroes? Can the realm of the possible coexist with that of the imaginary?

The redefinition of failure, utopia, and dreams lies at the core of Driant Zeneli’s artistic research. Rather than signs of weakness or impossibility, they become openings toward alternative futures and new ways of imagining reality.

Working across film, video installation, sculpture, drawing, and collaborative interventions, Zeneli explores the intersections of power, science, ecology, and mythology. Fairy tales intertwine with personal narratives to generate speculative worlds in which established orders are suspended, and new possibilities emerge. His practice is shaped by unexpected encounters and by a sustained engagement with communities, architecture, and the historical and social memory of places.

Film functions as a sculptural medium through which Zeneli shapes space and time. His projects often unfold as processes of co-creation, inviting audiences to participate in the production of meaning. Throughout his work, gravity recurs as both a physical and political condition as a metaphor for the desire to transcend human limitations, negotiating the fragile threshold between aspiration and failure.

Since 2008, Zeneli has developed Alternative Atelier, an educational platform investigating the relationship between artistic practice and pedagogy. Through workshops—primarily with children—he experiments with storytelling, electronics, and robotics as tools for collective learning, critical thinking, and the expansion of the imagination.

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.

Residencies:

2010 Upload Art Project, Trento, Italy

2011 Situa.to (curated by a.titolo, Maurizio Cilli and Andrea Bellini), Torino, Italy

2013 T.I.C.A, Tirana Institute of Contemporary Art, Albania

2015 Pistoletto Foundation, Biella, Italy

2015 M.A.M, Foundation, Tirana, Albania

2016 Kunstlerhaus, Salzburg, Austria

2016 Campus in Camps, Dheisheh Refugee Camp, Palestine.

2017 Artist meets Sheef, Hotel Adriatik, Rovinjo.

2023 Waiting Room Residency, Trento

2023 Kora, Center of Contemporary Art, Castrignano Dei Grecci.

2025 RAVE- East Village Artist Residency- Trivignano, Italy

2025 – 2026 Art Explora – Cité internationale des arts residencies, Paris

Lecture Professor:

2023- on  Lecturer at the Department of Creative Industries at Barleti University, Tirana.

2024- on Lecturer at the Department of Visual Art at NABA University, Rome.