Alban Muja
Kosovan visual artist

Alban Muja (born 1980) is a Kosovan contemporary artist and film-maker.[1] In 2019 he represented Kosovo at the 58th Venice Biennale with the project Family Album. [1] [2].[2] In his work he is mostly influenced by the social, political and economical transformation processes in wider surrounding region, he investigates history and socio-political themes and links them to his position in Kosovo and the region. His works cover a wide range of media including video installation, films, drawings, paintings, photographs and performance which have been exhibited extensively in various exhibitions and festivals.[3]. His film Mua besoj më shpëtoi portreti (I Believe the Portrait Saved Me) [4] [5] [6] premiered at the 75th Berlinale [7] and was nominated for a European Film Award. [8] [9]

Exhibitions (selection)

  • 2024 - ‘Legendary Dog’ | Ulay & Alban Muja, Charim Gallery, Vienna, Austria [10]; ‘THE FADING LINE: Stories on the Edge of Legality’ Museum of Contemporary Art Skopje, N.Macedonia [11]; ‘Fragments of Walls’ Trieste Contemporanea’, Trieste, Italy [12]
  • 2023 - 'Above Everyone' Charim Gallery, Vienna, Austria;[3] 'Bodies of Identities' Casino Luxembourg – Forum d'art contemporain, Luxembourg, Luxembourg;[4] '4th Autostrada Biennale', Prizren, Pristina Mitrovica, Kosovo[5]
  • 2022 - 'Urban Text : This Space Called Balkans', Institut Cultures Islam, Paris, France;[6] Manifesta 14', Pishtina, Pristina, Kosovo[7] 'Hot Mess', Kühlhaus, Berlin, Germany[8]
  • 2021 - 'Beyond Borders', Center for Contemporary Arts, Celje, Slovenia;[9] 'Whatever Happens, We Will Be Prepared', The National Gallery of Kosovo, Pristina, Kosovo[10] 'In spite of everything, there is a wall' Charim Gallery, Vienna, Austria[11]
  • 2021 - 'Family Album' ISCP, New York, United States;[12] 3rd Autostrada Biennale - What If a Journey..., Prizren, Kosovo[13] 'Bigger Than Myself: Heroic Voices from Ex-Yugoslavia' Maxxi Museum Rome, Italy[14]
  • 2020 – 3rd Industrial Art Biennial 'Ride Into the Sun' Rijeka, Croatia[15] Curated by 20 'HYBRID Unknown Identities' Galerie Raum mit Light, Vienna, Austria, Family Album, Ludwig Museum, Budapest, Hungary,[16] 58th. Venice Biennale - May You Live In Interesting Times, La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy[17] NSK State in Time, viennacontemporary Vienna, Austria[18] F.M The Process, Petrit Gallery, Cite des Arts, Paris, France[19] 'All That We Have In Common' MOMus Experimental Center for the Arts Thessaloniki, Greece
  • 2018 – 'Stranger Than Paradise' MeetFactory Prague, Czech Republic 'All That We Have In Common' Museum Of Contemporary Art Skopje, North Macedonia
  • 2017 – Autostrada Biennale 2017 - The Future of Borders, Autostrada Biennale, Prizren, Kosovo[20] 'Symptoms of Society' Zhejiang Art Museum Hangzhou, China;'Migration of fear' Koroska Gallery of Fine Arts Slovenj Gradec, Slovenia; Westkunst – Ostkunst. A Selection from the Collection, Ludwig Museum Budapest, Hungary; 'Utopia / Dystopia: Architecture, City, Territory' Mestna Galerija Ljubljana, Slovenia; 'The Travellers' Kumu Art Museum, Tallinn, Estonia; 'Symptoms of Society' Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China; 'Migration of fear' Forum Stadpark, Graz, Austria; 'Omul Negru' Galeria Nicodim, Los Angeles, United States
  • 2016 – 'Brotherhood Phallicism' Museum of Fine Art, Split, Croatia;[21] The whale that was a submarine' Ludwig Museum, Budapest, Hungary; 'The Travellers' Zacheta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland;[22] 2016 – 'Normalities' Austrian Cultural Forum, New York, United States
  • 2015 – 3rd Mardin Biennial - Mythologies, Mardin Biennial Mardin, Turkey;[23] 'Theories on Forgetting' Gagosian Gallery, Beverly Hills, United States; 'From Brotherhood to Brotherly Love' Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia; 'From Brotherhood to Brotherly Love' 'Trieste Contemporanea, Trieste, Italy
  • 2014 – 'I never knew how to explain' Skuc Gallery, Ljubljana, Slovenia;[24] 'Balcony to the Balkans' Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Baden-Baden, Germany
  • 2013 – 2nd Project Biennial Of Contemporary Art, D-0 Ark Underground Project Biennial of Contemporary Art, Konjic, Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • 2012 – 'Hebron Road/Ridge Route', Art Cube Gallery, Jerusalem, Israel; 'Mediterranean – Arrivals and Departure', Ancona, Italy; 'Cross-Time Stories' Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University, New York, United States
  • 2011 – 'Spaceship Yugoslavia' NGBK, Berlin, Germany;[25] 'Its all about names' KC Tobacna 001-Mesnta Museum, Ljubljana, Slovenia;[26] 'Politics of naming' Myymala2 Gallery, Helsinki, Finland; '255 804 km2' – Brot Kunsthalle, Vienna, Austria[27]
  • 2010 – 'The Another Side of The Coin' Škuc Gallery, Ljubljana, Slovenia; 'Qui Vive?' Moscow International Biennale, Moscow, Russia; 'Spasticus Artisticus' Ceri Hand Gallery, Liverpool, United Kingdom
  • 2009 – 28th Biennial of Graphic Arts Ljubljana, Slovenia[28]

Personal life

Born in Mitrovica, SFR Yugoslavia, now Kosovo. His family was Eastern Orthodox Christian. Muja lives and works in Pristina and Berlin He graduated with a bachelor's and master's degree from the Faculty of Arts, University of Pristina. He is married to photographer and former model Albe Hamiti.

References

  1. ^ "Alban Muja". Artfacts. Retrieved 2019-06-24.
  2. ^ "Kosove Republic". La Biennale di Venezia. 7 May 2019. Retrieved 2019-06-24.
  3. ^ "Above Everyone". 8 September 2023.
  4. ^ "Bodies of Identities'". 8 September 2023.
  5. ^ "4th Autostrada Biennale". 4 July 2023.
  6. ^ "Urban Text : This Space Called Balkans". 20 September 2023.
  7. ^ "Manifesta 14 Prishtina – Public Survey Results". manifesta.org. June 2023.
  8. ^ "Hotmess". kuehlhaus-berlin.com. May 2022.
  9. ^ "Beyond Borders". 20 September 2021.
  10. ^ "Alban Muja / Whatever Happens, We Will be Prepared".
  11. ^ "Alban Muja – In spite of everything, there is a wall". Charim Wien.
  12. ^ "Alban Muja: Family Album". iscp-nyc.org.
  13. ^ "Moving Monument, 2021 – Autostrada Biennale".
  14. ^ "Più grande di me. Voci eroiche dalla ex Jugoslavia | MAXXI". 16 February 2021.
  15. ^ "Alban Muja | Industrial Art Biennial". 16 October 2020.
  16. ^ "Alban Muja: Family Album". 10 February 2020.
  17. ^ "An artist revisits famous images from the Kosovo war – Memory and the media". The Economist. 2019-05-16. Retrieved 2019-06-24.
  18. ^ "Viennacontemporary 2019 | Focus: NSK State in Time". 17 September 2019.
  19. ^ arts, Cité internationale des. "Exhibition & Conversation – F.M - the process - Alban Muja". Cité internationale des arts.
  20. ^ "Moving Monument, 2021 – Autostrada Biennale".
  21. ^ "ALBAN MUJA // Brotherhood Phallicism 8 December 2016 – 3 January 2017 Curator: Branko Franceschi".
  22. ^ "The Travellers - Zachęta Narodowa Galeria Sztuki".
  23. ^ "Saha". saha.org. 2015-06-15. Retrieved 2019-06-24.
  24. ^ "Alban Muja: I Never Knew How to Explain..."
  25. ^ "Raumschiff Jugoslawien. Die Aufhebung der Zeit (2011) – nGbK Archive". archiv.ngbk.de.
  26. ^ "Alban Muja".
  27. ^ "255.804 km² – Young Art from the Former Yugoslavia (Brot Kunsthalle, Vienna)". 25 May 2011.
  28. ^ "MGLC - International centre of graphic arts".
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