Maybe the Cosmos is not so Extraordinary

English below

Padiglione Albania 2019 58° Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte La Biennale di Venezia Curatrice Alicia Knock Commissario Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Albania Arsenale - Artiglierie, Venezia

Maybe the cosmos is not so extraordinary (2019), è un’installazione che combina video e scultura, risultante da un progetto multidisciplinare intitolato Beneath a surface there is just another surface, iniziato nel 2015 al Metalurgjik, un complesso industriale distopico, ad Elbasan, Albania. L’opera, e il titolo, derivano dal racconto di fantascienza Sulla via per l’Epsilon Eridani (1983) dello scrittore e fisico albanese Arion Hysenbegas.

L’installazione presenta un film a due canali ambientato nelle miniere di Bulqize, una città a Nord-Est del paese, dove, dal 1918, viene estratto il minerale del cromo. Questo rappresenta una risorsa chiave per lo sviluppo industriale dell’Albania ed è alla radice di conflitti economici e politici nel Sud del mondo. Il film mette in scena la scoperta, da parte di un gruppo di adolescenti di Bulqize, di una capsula cosmica che segue il percorso del cromo: dall’estrazione e lavorazione all’interno della fabbrica fino alla sua esportazione e utilizzo a livello globale. Questo viaggio spaziale «geopolitico», tuttavia, trasforma questo luogo industriale ambiguo e drammatico in uno spazio ambivalente di collasso e decollo. Un drone accompagna i personaggi durante tutto il tragitto, mentre l'eco incrociata delle voci di Bujar e Flora, i due protagonisti del capitolo precedente della trilogia, risuonano dall'alto. Citando il racconto scientifico e letterario di Hysenbegas, instillano un ritmo parallelo nella narrazione filmica.

Tramite un duplice racconto, una coreografia precisa d’immagine e suono, la fabbrica non solo appare come un sito industriale o un centro geopolitico, ma anche come una forza visualmente performativa. L’estrazione del cromo diventa un’immagine scultorea ipnotica e l’intero stabilimento si traduce così in una luce intensa e un’installazione filmica sonora ‘‘parallela’’, inserita organicamente nelle pareti dell’Arsenale. In questo ambiente produttivo e immersivo, Driant Zeneli intende creare una tensione tra una realtà oppressiva nascosta e uno spazio utopico di possibilità e liberazione.

Maybe the cosmos is not so extraordinary prova a rivelare la possibilità dell’ordinario in maniera tangibile, anche nei suoi aspetti più bui, per ampliare la nostra esistenza.

Driant Zeneli (1983, Scutari, Albania), vive e lavora tra Tirana e Milano. Nel 2008 ha vinto l’Onufri International Contemporary Art Prize, Tirana; nel 2009 il Young European Artist Award Trieste Contemporanea. Nel 2017 il MOROSO Prize, Italia. È stato il direttore artistico della Biennale di Mediterranea 18, la Biennale dei Giovani Artisti dell’Europa e del Mediterraneo che ha avuto luogo nel 2017 tra Tirana e Durres. È co-fondatore di Harabel Contemporary Art Platform, Tirana. Ha esposto a: GAMeC, Bergamo, (2019); Passerelle, Centre d’Art Contemporain, Brest, (2018); Mostyn Gallery, Wales, UK (2017); MuCEM, Marsiglia, (2016); Academie de France, Villa Medici, Roma (2016); Centre Pompidou, Parigi (2016); MSFAU Tophane-i Aime, Istanbul, (2016); Prometeogallery di Ida Pisani, Milano (2018; 2015; 2010); IV Bienal del Fin del Mundo, Cile (2015); Viafarini, Milano (2014); GAM, Galleria d’Arte Moderna di Torino (2013); White House Biennial, Atene (2013); KCCC, Klaipeda, Lituania (2013); ZKM, Karlsruhe (2012); MUSAC, Castilla León, Spagna, (2012); TICA, Tirana (2012); Prague Biennale 5, Praga (2011); 98 weeks Project Space, Beirut (2011); Trongate 103, Glasgow (2011); Galleria Nazionale del Kosovo, Pristina (2010); Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Villa Croce, Genova (2009); Galleriea Nazionale di Tirana (2008).

Catalogo, Alicia Knock (ed.), Driant Zeneli. Maybe the cosmos is not so extraordinary, Mousse publishing, 2019, inglese/albanese. Con il contributo di più di trenta artisti, scienziati, scrittori e curatori.

Englis 

Maybe the cosmos is not so extraordinary (2019), is a sculptural video installation which expands upon a multidisciplinary project entitled Beneath a surface there is just another surface started in 2015 at Metallurgjik, a dystopian industrial complex, in the city of Elbasan, Albania. The project and its title derive from the pioneering science-fiction novel On the way to Epsilon Eridani (1983) by Albanian physicist and writer Arion Hysenbegas.

The installation develops from a two-channel film set in the mines of Bulqize, a city in the North-East of the country, where, since 1918, the chrome mineral has been extracted. Chrome represents a key resource for the industrial development of Albania and collides with economic and political conflicts in the Global South. The film stages a group of teenagers from Bulqize discovering a cosmic capsule which follows the journey of chrome, from its extraction and processing within the factory to its exportation and worldwide exploitation. This “geopolitical” space travel therefore turns this shady and dramatic industrial environment into an ambivalent space for collapse and takeoff. A drone escorts the characters throughout the space travel, whereas the crossed echo of the voices of Bujar and Flora, the two protagonists of the previous chapter of the trilogy, resonate from above. Quoting Hysenbegas' scientific and literary tale, they breathe a parallel rhythm into the filmic narrative.

Through binary storytelling, precise choreography of image and sound, the factory operates not only as an industrial space or geopolitical hub but as a visually performative force. The extraction of chrome is turned into a hypnotic sculptural image and the overall factory therefore translates into a big light and sound "parallel" installation, organically plugged into the walls of Arsenale. In this productive and immersive space, Driant Zeneli intends to create a tension between an oppressive underground reality and a utopian space of possibility and liberation.

Maybe the cosmos is not so extraordinary tries to physically reveal the ability of the ordinary, even in its darkest corners, to expand our existence.

Driant Zeneli per l'Albania

Driant Zeneli will represent Pavilion of Albania in 58^th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia - with the project titled “Maybe the cosmos is not so extraordinary” commissioned by Minister of Culture of the Republic of Albania and curated by Alicia Knock, curator at Center Pompidou in the Department of Contemporary Art in Paris. The title is inspired by science fiction novel of Albanian author Arion Hysenbegas, “Drejt Epsilonit të Eridanit” (“Towards Epsilon of Eridan”), first published in 1983 and republished uncensored in 2018.

Driant Zeneli (1983, Shkoder, Albania), lives between Milan and Tirana. In 2011 he represented Albania at the 54th International Art Exhibition – Venice Biennale. In 2008 he won the Onufri International Contemporary Art Prize, Tirana, in 2009 the Young European Artist Award Trieste Contemporanea and in 2017 MOROSO Prize, Italy. He was the artistic director of Mediterranea 18, the Young Artists Biennale from Europe and Mediterranean, taking place for the first time in 2017 between Tirana and Durres. He is co-founder of Harabel Contemporary Art Platform, Tirana.

Alicia Knock - Curator at the Centre Pompidou in the Contemporary art and Prospective Department, working at expanding the museum towards Africa and Central Europe, through both acquisitions and exhibitions. In charge of recent Duchamp Prize exhibitions (Kader Attia, Yto Barrada, Ulla von Brandenburg and Barthélémy Toguo, 2016; “The most foreign country”, women artists from the Duchamp Prize, Fondation Fernet Branca, 2017; Maja Bajevic, Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige, Charlotte Moth, Vittorio Santoro, 2017), she is also involved in the new project space of the Pompidou, Galerie 0, aiming at becoming a laboratory for new practices.

Armando Lulaj per l'Albania

Con la curatela di Marco Scotini, Armando Lulaj interverrà nel padiglione dell'Albania

dal sito del governo albanese

The Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Albania has the pleasure to announce the participation of the Republic of Albania at the 53rd International Art Exhibition in Venice (9 May 2015 – 22 November 2015), with Albanian Trilogy: A Series of Devious Stratagems, a project by Armando Lulaj, curated by Marco Scotini.

Lulaj’s and Scotini’s project was selected through an open call for proposals (21 August – 30 September 2014) announced by the Ministry of Culture, as the commissioner of the Albanian pavilion, a process that marks a first for the Albanian contemporary art scene. Albanian Trilogy: A Series of Devious Stratagems represents for Lulaj the conclusion of many years of research on the Cold War period in Albania and beyond, on the role of the past in the present; as well as on memory and historical experience – research conducted through archive material, and in particular the “trophies” and the gaps of the past. The first work in this series is the film It Wears as It Grows, whereas the second one is Lulaj’s well known project Never – which has been widely exhibited internationally. The third work, Recapitulation, will be produced especially for the forthcoming Venice Biennial.

Albanian Trilogy: A Series of Devious Stratagems was selected unanimously by a prestigious international jury – composed of: Boris Groys, Kathrin Rhomberg, Adrian Paci, Albert Heta, and a representative of the Ministry of Culture – that convened in Tirana during 16 – 19 October 2014 for the occasion. The jury has motivated its decision as follows: From among the number of thoroughly convincing artistic projects submitted for the forthcoming International Art Exhibition in Venice (9 May – 22 November 2015), the jury unanimously decided to recommend Albanian Trilogy: A Series of Devious Stratagems by Armando Lulaj, curated by Marco Scotini, to represent the Republic of Albania.

With Albanian Trilogy: A Series of Devious Stratagems, Armando Lulaj pursues the investigation of available readings of Albanian history from the Cold War to the present day by reintroducing once highly representative and politically charged images and narratives still ingrained in the people’s visual memory, in a way that goes far beyond a subjective questioning of one nation’s history to forcefully account for a general analysis of the ruins and failures of modernity.

Lulaj’s ability to create connections and contexts that are not obvious but at the same time persuasive, the visual appeal of the works themselves (It Wears as It Grows, Never and Recapitulation) as well as the installation, which manages to be both playful and monumental at the same time– a rare achievement, ensure that Albanian Trilogy: A Series of Devious Stratagems will be able to engage a wider public, apart from those who are interested in and informed about Albanian history. 

The pavilion of the Republic of Albania is commissioned by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Albania. 

Commissioner: Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Albania

Artist: Armando Lulaj

Curator: Marco Scotini

Location: Arsenale di Venezia

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THE ARTIST:

ARMANDO LULAJ (1980) is an artist, playwright, and filmmaker living and working in Tirana, Albania.

Following his expulsion from the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence in 2001, as a result of a series of actions aimed at freeing the instution from theoretical and academic conformism, he continued his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna, from where he subsequently also obtained an MFA.

His solo shows include UNTITLED (Bologna: Galleria Cavour, 2014); Fiend (Tirana: National Theatre, 2013); Cold Wind (Bologna: Art Fair, 2013; Basel: Volta8, 2012); No More Feelings (Rovereto: Paolo Maria Deanesi Gallery, 2012); No Mercy (Milan: Artra Gallery, 2011); Silent Soziale Corruption (Munich: Stästische Kunsthalle München, 2010); Time Out of Joint (New Zealand: Te Tuhi Center for the Arts, 2007); Mainstream Dissent (Milan: Artra Gallery, 2006); Temporary Autonomous Zones (Tirana: Insurgent Space, 2005).

He participated in many international group shows, such as: Territories (Graz: centre for contemporary art, 2014); Utopian Days (South Korea: Total Museum of Contemporary Art, 2014); Lost in Landscape (Rovereto: MART Museum, 2014); Les Rencontres Internationales (Paris: Palais de Tokyo, 2014); The Empty Pedestal (Bologna: Museo Civico Archeologico, 2014); The Aesthetics of the Small Act (Thessaloniki: Action Field Kodra, 2013); Off Side (Locarno: La Rada Space for Contemporary Art, 2013); 63. Berlinale Film Festival (Berlin, 2013); 6th Berlin Biennial for Contemporary Art (Berlin, 2010); 8th Baltic Biennale of Contemporary Art (Szczecin, 2009); Italian Vision Film Festival (Bologna: Cineteca, 2007); October. Art from the East (Milan: Artra Gallery, 2007); 52th Venice Biennial, Albanian Pavilion (Venice: Palazzo Malipiero, 2007); 4th Gothenburg Biennial (Gothenburg: Roda Sten, 2007); Prague Biennial 3 (Prague, 2007); Laws of Relativity (Torino: Fondazione Sandreto Re Rebaudengo, 2007); Opening Hours (Athens: Rebecca Cahmi Gallery, 2007); Onufri 06 (Tirana: National Gallery, 2006); Bunker no Bunker (Mexico: Ramis Barquet Gallery, 2006); AYOR. No Man’s Land (Athens: Hellenic Foundation, 2006); Action Field Kodra (Thesaloniki: Boundary Lines, 2006); Mini Tirana Biennal (New York: Apexart, 2006); Tirana Biennale 3: Episode 1 – Temptations & Episode 3 – Democracies (Tirana: National Gallery, 2005); Glokal (Kosova: National Gallery, 2004); Post-Albania (Hamburg: Kunst Raum Gallery, 2004); Tirana Biennale 2: U-Topos, Endurance-Transmigration (Tirana: Debatikcenter of Contemporary Art); Prague Biennale 1 (Prague: Wetricki Palace, 2002); Cosi lontani cosi vicini (Firenze: Amerigo Vespucci Airport, 2002); Onufri 02: Small Brother (Tirana: National Gallery, 2002); BalkanArt02 (Novi Sad: National Gallery, 2002); Networking 1 (Siena: Magazini del Sale, 2002); Rotte Metropolitane 3 (Firenze: Galleria Biaggioti, 2001); Till I Collapse (Firenze: Gallery of Academy, 2001). Short films include: ; Living in Memory (2004); Problems with Relationship (2005); It Wears As It Grows(2011), and NEVER(2012). His screenplays include: The Tristidia Rhapsody (2010); Firefly (2011), and 100 Euros (2012).

Lulaj has been an artist in residence at (Graz, 2014), TICA – AIRLAB (Tirana, 2012) IASPIS (Stockholm, 2010); Villa Valberta (Munich, 2009); Action Field Kodra (Thessaloniki, 2006). His work has been awarded first prizes at the Marco Magnani Prize, 2011; Premio Paolo Parati, 2011; Premio Carmen Silvestroni 2008; Onufri Prize 2006. In 2014 he was awarded with the Albanian prize for Visual Arts  “Danish Jukniu”.

THE CURATOR:

MARCO SCOTINI is an independent curator and art critic based in Milan. He is the Director of the

department of Visual Arts and Curatorial Studies at NABA in Milan. He is Editor-in-Chief of the magazine No Order: Art in a Post-Fordist Society (Archive Books, Berlin), and Director of the Gianni Colombo Archive (Milan). He has been recently appointed as Artistic Director of PAV in Turin for the year 2015. He is one of the founding members of Isola Art and Community Center in Milan.

His writings can be found in periodicals such as Moscow Art Magazine, Springerin, Flash Art, Domus, Manifesta Journal, Kaleidoscope, Brumaria, Chto Delat?/What is to be done?, Open!, South as a State of Mind, and Alfabeta. He is the editor of a book dedicated to film documentary and archive, Politics of Memory (Rome: DeriveApprodi, 2014; Archive Books, 2015) with contributions by John Akomfrah, Eric Baudelaire, Ursula Biemann, Yervant Gianikian e Angela Ricci Lucchi, Khaled Jarrar, Lamia Joreige, Gintaras Makarevicius, Angela Melitopoulos, Deimantas Narkevicius, Lisl Ponger, Florian Schneider, Eyal Sivan, Hito Steyerl, Jean-Marie Teno, Trinh T. Minh-ha, Wendelien van Oldenborgh, Clemens von Wedemeyer, Mohanad Yaqubi.

His most recent exhibitions include the ongoing project Disobedience Archive (Berlin, Mexico DF, Eindhoven, Karlsruhe, Nottingham, Bucharest, Riga, Zagreb, Atlanta, Boston, Umea, Copenhagen, Turin, Madrid, Istanbul 2005–2014); Da Capo: Deimantas Narkevicius (Zagreb: MSU, 2014); Vegetation as a Political Agent (Turin: PAV, 2014); The Empty Pedestal: Ghosts from Eastern Europe (Bologna: Archeological Museum, 2014); A History of Irritated Material (London: Raven Row, 2010) co-curated with Lars Bang Larsen and Gianni Colombo (Turin: Castello di Rivoli, 2009), co-curated with Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev. He is working on a major exhibition dedicated to art from the Middle East, Too Early, Too Late for Pinacoteca Bologna, 2015.

He has curated more than 100 solo shows or retrospective exhibitions of artists such as: Santiago Sierra, Deimantas Narkevicius, Jaan Toomik, Ion Grigorescu, Regina Josè Galindo, Gianni Motti, Anibal Lopez, Said Atabekov, Alimian Jorobaev, Vangelis Vlahos, Maria Papadimitriou, Armando Lulaj, Bert Theis, and many others. He has also dedicated numerous exhibitions to the artistic scene from Eastern Europe, including: A Sense of Wellbeing: Loss, History and Desires (Karlovy Vary: Palace of the Imperial Thermal Baths, 2001); Revolutions Reloaded (with Mihnea Mircan, Berlin & Milan, 2003–2004) Der Prozess: Collective Memory and Social History (Prague Biennale 3, 2007); October: Exit, Memory and Desire (with Andris Brinkmanis, Milan, 2007); The Empty Pedestal: Ghosts from Eastern Europe (Bologna: Archeological Museum, 2014). His collaboration with Armando Lulaj lasts since 2001 and he has supported and collaborated with the artist ever since.