Genti Korini (b. 1979, Tirana, Albania) works at the intersection of perception and projection, past and present, fiction and historical reality, abstraction and representation. Drawing from the cultural and historical frameworks of his native Albania, his practice examines how ideology manifest through images and form engaging directly with the politics of aesthetics across the legacies of modernity, modernism, post-communism, and the neoliberal present. His work is research-driven and draws from a diverse range of influences, including art history, architecture, literature, and film.
Shifting fluidly between painting, sculpture, photography, and video, Korini invites viewers to look beyond the surface, and engage with deeper political, social, and conceptual implications of the work. His imagery often explores the migration and transformation of decontextualized forms and symbols, treating them as markers of broader cultural and ideological change.
Korini’s recent film for Manifesta 14 (2022), Spider’s Envy, was staged in a modernist ruin, where two actors engage in a fictional dialogue, rooted in a history of communist Albania and its approach to modernism, which led to persecution of many artists. The conceptual strategy implemented in the video is paradigmatic for Korini’s artistic practice: he moves smoothly between history and the present day, revealing unexpected truths through the carefully build structure of poetic fiction. As Nuit Banai noted (Artforum, June 2019), his work seeks both to diagnose culture and to suggest “new forms of living and working together that connect local tradition and global perspectives.”
Korini studied at the University of Art and Design in Cluj-Napoca, Romania (1997–2000) and earned his MFA from the University of Arts in Tirana, Albania (2001–2003). Co-founder of the non-profit project art space, Bazamet, Tirana, (2017-2024).
His work has been exhibited extensively, including among others, Strangers and Others (Jecza Gallery, Basel Social Club, Basel 2025), One Shade the More, One Ray the Less (myGallery, Madrid, 2024), Kindred Visions, Secci Gallery (Florence, 2023), Manifesta 14 (Prishtina, 2022), Bright Futures (DoubleQ Gallery, Hong Kong, 2022), Lateral Geometries (IOMO Contemporary, Bucharest, 2021), The Drawing Lesson (Jecza Gallery, Romania, 2019), Notes from the Upperground (Bazament, Tirana, 2019), 'I AM THE MOUTH' ( Museum of Contemporary Art - MSU in Zagreb, Croatia, 2018), PÓŁPRAWDA| HALF–TRUTH (Xawery Dunikowski Museum of Sculpture at Królikarnia Palace, Warsaw, 2017). Shape of Time – Future of Nostalgia (MNAC Bucharest, 2016), Art Encounters Biennale (Timisoara, 2016), Fragile Sense of Hope, (meCollectors Room, Berlin, 2014), The Object and Its Background (Jecza Gallery, Romania, 2014). Ephemeral Structures, (National Gallery of Albania, 2013).
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Genti Korini (b. 1979) lives and works in Tirana, Albania.
1997- 2000, studied at the University of Art and Design, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
2001- 2003, studied and graduated, MFA at the University of Arts, Tirana, Albania.
Solo Exhibitions
2025. On Strangers and Others ( Jecza Gallery, Basel Social Club, Basel 2025)
2024. One Shade the More, One Ray the Less, mygallery, Madrid.(Esp)
2023. The Curse of The Eye / curated by Maria Rus Bojan, Harabel Contemporary, Tirana.(Al)
2022. Bright Futures / DoubleQ Gallery, Hong Kong.(Ch)
2022. Lateral Geometries /curated by Horatiu Lipot, IOMO Contemporary, Bucharest, (Ro).
2021. Hem Hem / Neither Nor, Either Or. Galeria e Bregdetit.(AL).
2020. Speculations/Simulations, Lachenmann Gallery, Frankfurt, (Ge).
2019. The Drawing Lesson, curated by Cristian Nae. Jecza Gallery, (Ro).
2019. Notes from the Upperground Bazament, Tirana, (AL).
2017. Solid Uncertainties, BeersLondon Gallery, London, (UK).
2016. Inside My Walls I See Yours, Martin Asbaek Gallery, Copenhagen (De).
2014. The Object and Its Background, curated by Jean Neal, Jecza Gallery, (Ro).
2013. Ephemeral Structures, National Gallery of Arts, Tirana, (AL).
Group Exhibitions
2023. Kindred Visions, curated by Maria Rus Bojan. SECCI Gallery, Florence (It).
2022. On/Off the Grid, curated by Alina Serban. Jecza Gallery, (Ro).
2022. Geometric Environment, Ani Molnar Gallery, Budapest, (Hu).
2019. Listen to Us Artistic Intelligence, curated by Office for Art, Berlin.
City Art Gallery Plovdiv, (Bu).
2018. Painting #2, Riccardo Crespi Gallery, Milan, (It).
2018. Articulations, curated by Barnabás Bencsik. Glassyard Gallery Budapest, (Hu).
2018 I Am The Mouth,
curated by Office for Art. Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb, (Cr).
2017. Half-Truth, Klorikarnia,
curated by Office for Art. Contemporary Art Museum Warsaw (Po).
2017. Power of Line, Jecza Gallery, (Ro).
2016 Homage Ideal or Pattern, curated by Edit Sasvari. Knoll Gallery, Vienna, (Au).
2016. Shape of Time Future of Nostalgia, curated by Office for Art. National Museum of Contemporary Art, MNAC Bucharest, (Ro).
2016. Appereances and Essence, ArtEncounters Biennale, curated by Rainald Schumacher and Nathalie Hoyos. Timisoara. (Ro)
2015. Mona, 68 Projects, Berlin. (Ge).
2014. Fragile Sense of Hope, me Collectors Room, Berlin, (Ge).
2012. Perchance to Dream, Onufri XIX Annual Albanian Contemporary Art Prize, curated by Daniele Capra, National Gallery of Arts, Tirana, (Al).
2007. There Is No Place like Home, curated by Ricardo Caldura. Galeria Contemporaneo, Venice. (It).
Biennales
2022. Manifesta 14 Biennale, Prishtina, Kosovo
2016. ArtEncounters Biennale, Timisoara. (Ro)
Film/Video Festivals
2022, TIFF-Tirana Film Festival.
2022, Ekrani i Artit, Shkodra Art House, Shkodër, Albania
Art Residencies
2025. Zuecca Projects. Venice. Italy.
2017. CCA Andtraitx, Mallorca, Spain.
2015. ISCP, International Studio & Curatorial Program, New York. USA.
2013. Autocenter Summer Academy, Berlin, Germany, Masterclass with Thomas Scheibitz.
Exhibition Publications
2022 Lateral Geometries, IOMO Contemporary, Text by Horatiu Lipot, Bucharest, Romania.
2016. Inside My Walls I See Yours, Martin Asbeak Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark. Text by Christina Steinbrecher Pfandt, Anton Streletzki.
2014. The Object and Its Background, Jecza Gallery, Timisoara, Romania. Text by
Jean Neal.
2013. Ephemeral Structures, National Gallery of Arts, Tirana, Albania.
Text by Alban Hajdinaj.
photo, courtesy of Bazament Art Space, Tirana.