Petrit Halilaj

Petrit Halilaj (born 1986) is a Kosovar visual artist^[3][4] living and working between Germany, Kosovo and Italy.^[5] His work is based on documents, stories, and memories related to the history of Kosovo.^[6][7]

Halilaj is a joint tutor with Alvaro Urbano at Beaux-Arts de Paris, in Paris, France.^[8]

Early life[]

Born in SFR Yugoslavia, now Kosovo, Halilaj left the country with his family during the Yugoslav wars of 1991-2001.^[9] Settled in Italy, Hililaj studied at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in Milan.^[10]

Career[]

During the 6th Berlin Biennale in 2010, Halilaj exhibited a sculptural reconstruction of a house built by his parents, to replace the family home that was levelled by bombing during the 1998-1999 Kosovo war.^[11][12]

Halilaj represented the Republic of Kosovo at the 55th Venice Biennale in 2013.^[13][14]

Halilaj had several solo exhibitions, including one at the New Museum in New York in 2017-2018^[7] and one at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles in 2018-2019.^[14]

Halilaj created a large site-specific installation of giant sculptural flowers in 2020 for Madrid's Palacio de Cristal.^[2][15]

In 2020 Halilaj dropped out of the 58th  [sr], claiming that the  [sr], which organises it, would not recognize his Kosovar nationality.^[4][16]

Solo exhibitions[]

• 2009 – Back to the Future, curated by Albert Heta, at Stacion – Center for Contemporary Art Prishtina, Pristina, Kosovo^[9]
• 2013 – Kosovar Pavilion, 55th Venice Biennale, curated by , at the Arsenale, Venice, Italy^[9][13]
• 2013-2014 – Petrit Halilaj: Poisoned by men in need of some love, curated by , at WIELS, Brussels, Belgium^[6]
• 2015-2016 – Petrit Halilaj: Space Shuttle in the Garden, curated by Roberta Tenconi, at HangarBicocca, Milan, Italy^[11][17]
• 2017-2018 – Petrit Halilaj: RU, curated by assistant curator Helga Christoffersen, at New Museum, New York City, NY, USA^[7][9][18]
• 2018-2019 – Hammer Projects: Petrit Halilaj, organised by adjunct curator Ali Subotnick and curatorial associate MacKenzie Stevens, at Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA, USA^[9][14]
• 2018-2019 – Shkrepëtima, curated by Leonardo Bigazzi, at Fondazione Merz, Turin, Italy^[9][19]
• 2021-2022 – Petrit Halilaj: Very volcanic over this green feather, curated by Anne Barlow with assistant curator Giles Jackson, Tate St Ives, Saint Ives, UK^[20]

Group exhibitions[]

• 2010 – 6th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art: what is waiting out there, curated by , at KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, Germany^[3][12]
• 2011 – Ostalgia, curated by Massimiliani Gioni, at the New Museum, New York City, NY, USA^[21]
• 2015-2016 – Super Superstudio: Radical Art and Architecture, curated by Andreas Angelidakis, Vittorio Pizzigoni, and Valter Scelsi, at Padiglione d'Arte Contemporanea (PAC), Milan, Italy^[22]
• 2017 – 57th Venice Biennale: Viva Arte Viva, curated by Christine Macel, at the Central Pavilion, Venice, Italy^[23]
• 2019 – Hotel Europa: Their Past, Your Present, Our Future, curated by Théo-Mario Coppola with associate curator Livia Tarsia in Curia, at Open Space of Experimental Art, Tbilisi, Georgia^[24]
• 2019 – Homeless Souls, curated by Marie Laurberg, at the Louisiana Museum, Humlebæk, Denmark^[25]

Collections[]

• Centre Pompidou, Paris, France^[26]
•  [it], Turin, Italy^[27]
• Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA^[28]
• Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland^[29]
• Tate Modern, London, UK^[30]

Awards[]

He received the Mario Merz Prize^[5] and a special mention of the jury at the 57th Venice Biennale, both in 2017.^[14]

Books[]

• Roberta Tenconi, ed., Petrit Halilaj: Space Shuttle in the Garden, Milan: Mousse Publishing, 2016, 160 p., English / Italian, ISBN 978-88-6749-241-1^[11][31]

References[]