Petrit Halilaj

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]

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 October Salon – Belgrade Biennale, claiming that the Cultural Center of Belgrade, which organises it, would not recognize his Kosovar nationality.[4][16]

• 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 Kathrin Rhomberg, at the Arsenale, Venice, Italy[9][13]
• 2013-2014 – Petrit Halilaj: Poisoned by men in need of some love, curated by Elena Filipovic, 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]

• 2010 – 6th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art: what is waiting out there, curated by Kathrin Rhomberg, 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[20]
• 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[21]
• 2017 – 57th Venice Biennale: Viva Arte Viva, curated by Christine Macel, at the Central Pavilion, Venice, Italy[22]
• 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[23]
• 2019 – Homeless Souls, curated by Marie Laurberg, at the Louisiana Museum, Humlebæk, Denmark[24]

• Centre Pompidou, Paris, France[25]
• Museo Ettore Fico, Turin, Italy[26]
• Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA[27]
• Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland[28]
• Tate Modern, London, UK[29]

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

• 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][30]