photo: marjorie brunet plaza
petrit halilaj
1986, Kostërrc, Kosovo
Petrit Halilaj understands exhibitions as a way to alter the course of personal and collective histories, creating complex worlds that claim space for freedom, desire, intimacy, and identity. His work is deeply connected to the recent history of his native country Kosovo and the consequences of cultural and political tensions in the region, which he often takes as a starting point for igniting countercurrent poetics for the future. Rooted in his biography, the projects encompass a variety of media, including sculpture, drawing, text, and performance. Often incorporating materials from Kosovo and manifesting as ambitious spatial installations, his work transposes personal relationships, places and people into sculptural forms. Halilaj's work can be seen as a playful and, at times, irreverent attempt to resist oppressive politics and social norms towards an untamed celebration of all forms of connectedness and freedom.
In 2013, Halilaj represented Kosovo for the country’s first appearance at the Venice Biennale. In 2017, he was invited to participate in the 57th Venice Biennale by the curator Christine Macel, where he was awarded Special Mention by the Jury. That same year, he was awarded the Mario Merz Prize, which resulted in a major commissioned project he presented in 2018 at the Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern and at Fondazione Merz, Turin, Italy. He also received the Kunstpreis Berlin granted by the Akademie der Künste, Berlin (2023). He is member of the Akademie der Künste der Welt from Cologne, Germany. He is currently a professor at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux Arts de Paris, France, where he shares his class with Alvaro Urbano.
Petrit Halilaj lives and works between Germany, Kosovo and Italy.
installation view, do you realise there is a rainbow even if it’s night!?, hammer museum, los angeles, 2018
installation view, petrit halilaj: ru, new museum, new york, 2018
dreaming on, fast asleep, your face came to my mind. when i opened my eyes, it was nowhere to be found., 2018
bricks, wood, glass and metal from the former house of culture in runik, steel, clay, resin, textile
variable dimensions
shkrepëtima (vitrines) (detail), 2018
ink on archival document from the runik kooperativa, brass, glass
shkrepëtima, 2018
performance held at the former house of culture in runik, kosovo
shkrepëtima, 2018
performance held at the former house of culture in runik, kosovo
do you realise there is a rainbow even if it’s night!? (grey), 2017
qilim carpet from kosovo, flokati, polyester, stainless steel, brass
93.7 in.
ru_aves migrantis, 2017
wood, soil, glue, brass, resin
variable dimensions
ru_cuculus canorum, limosa limosa, nyctanassa violacea, riparia riparia, scolopax mira, 2017
wood, soil, glue, brass, resin
abetare (wallpaper installation), 2015
wallpaper, scans of pages from the abetare book repeated on gallery walls
variable dimensions
installation view, poisoned by men in need of some love, bundeskunsthalle, bonn, 2015
poisoned by men in need of some love (quattuor bubo bubo), 2013
four owls made of iron, cow excrement, soil, glue, brass structure
whole installation circa: 157.48 x 137.8 x 19.69 in.
poisoned by men in need of some love (vitrines) (detail), 2013
set of three vitrines from the museum of natural history of kosovo.
73.62 x 40.55 x 17.72 in. each
i'm hungry to keep you close. i want to find the words to resist but in the end there is a locked sphere. the funny thing is that you're not here, nothing is., 2013
various materials, birds, branches, earth, metal, clothes
variable dimensions
i'm hungry to keep you close. i want to find the words to resist but in the end there is a locked sphere. the funny thing is that you're not here, nothing is., 2013
various materials, birds, branches, earth, metal, clothes
variable dimensions
i'm hungry to keep you close. i want to find the words to resist but in the end there is a locked sphere. the funny thing is that you're not here, nothing is., 2013
various materials, birds, branches, earth, metal, clothes
variable dimensions
i'm hungry to keep you close. i want to find the words to resist but in the end there is a locked sphere. the funny thing is that you're not here, nothing is., 2013
various materials, birds, branches, earth, metal, clothes
variable dimensions
several birds fly away when they understand it (detail), 2012
31 artist’s drawings from childhood, metal frames, glass
variable dimensions
it is the first time dear that you have a human shape (diptych ii - earring) (detail), 2012
metal, ruins
each earring: ø 137.8 in.
several birds fly away when they understand it, 2012
31 artist’s drawings from childhood, metal frames, glass
variable dimensions
the places i’m looking for, my dear, are utopian places, they are boring and i don’t know how to make them real., 2010 - 2015
wood, iron, various materials
314.96 x 433.07 x 511.81 in.
they are lucky to be bourgeois hens ii, 2009
wood, paint, electricity, chickens
216.54 x 59.06 in.
bourgeois hen, 2009
drawing on paper
24.02 x 15.16 in.
installation views of the roof garden commission: petrit halilaj, abetare, 2024. courtesy of the artist; chert lüdde, berlin; kurimanzutto, mexico city / new york; mennour, paris. image credit: the metropolitan museum of art. photo by hyla skopitz
installation views of the roof garden commission: petrit halilaj, abetare, 2024. courtesy of the artist; chert lüdde, berlin; kurimanzutto, mexico city / new york; mennour, paris. image credit: the metropolitan museum of art. photo by hyla skopitz
installation views of the roof garden commission: petrit halilaj, abetare, 2024. courtesy of the artist; chert lüdde, berlin; kurimanzutto, mexico city / new york; mennour, paris. image credit: the metropolitan museum of art. photo by hyla skopitz
installation view petrit halilaj: runik, museo tamayo, 2024. photo: gerardo landa / eduardo lópez (glr estudio)
installation view petrit halilaj: runik, museo tamayo, 2024. photo: gerardo landa / eduardo lópez (glr estudio)
installation view petrit halilaj: runik, museo tamayo, 2024. photo: gerardo landa / eduardo lópez (glr estudio)
when the sun goes away we paint the sky, 2022. site-specific project done for manifesta 14, prishtina, kosovo
when the sun goes away we paint the sky, 2022. site-specific project done for manifesta 14, prishtina, kosovo
when the sun goes away we paint the sky, 2022. site-specific project done for manifesta 14, prishtina, kosovo
installation view petrit halilaj: very volcanic over this green feather, tate st. ives, 2021. photo: matt greenwood
installation view petrit halilaj: very volcanic over this green feather, tate st. ives, 2021. photo: matt greenwood
installation view petrit halilaj: very volcanic over this green feather, tate st. ives, 2021. photo: matt greenwood
installation view, to a raven and hurricanes that from unknown places bring back smells of humans in love (in collaboration with álvaro urbano), palacio de cristal, museo reina sofía, madrid, 2020
installation view, to a raven and hurricanes that from unknown places bring back smells of humans in love (in collaboration with álvaro urbano), palacio de cristal, museo reina sofía, madrid, 2020
installation view, to a raven and hurricanes that from unknown places bring back smells of humans in love (in collaboration with álvaro urbano), palacio de cristal, museo reina sofía, madrid, 2020
Solo exhibitions include: Syrigana, Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart, Berlin (2026); An Opera Out of Time, Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart, Berlin (2025); Nous construisions un fantastique palais la nuit…, Institut Giacometti, Paris (two-person exhibition with Alberto Giacometti) (2025); Abetare (Noisy Classroom), kurimanzutto, New York (2024); Abetare, as part of The Roof Garden Commission, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (The MET), New York (2024); RUNIK, Museo Tamayo, Mexico City (2023); Unfinished Histories, International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum, Geneva, Switzerland (2023); You used to fly, go everywhere and wake up those who are asleep, Fries Museum, Leeuwarden, the Netherlands (2022); Very volcanic over this green feather, Tate St Ives, United Kingdom (2021); To a raven and hurricanes that from unknown places bring back smells of humans in love, in collaboration with Álvaro Urbano, Palacio de Cristal del Retiro, Museo Reina Sofía, Madrid (2020); Hammer Projects: Petrit Halilaj, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2018); RU, New Museum, New York (2017); Astronauts Saw My Work and Started Laughing, Stacion – Center for Contemporary Art Prishtina, Kosovo (2017), among others.
Halilaj has also participated in group exhibitions such as: Technologies of Peace: Art and Transition in Contemporary Europe (1989–2026), Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA), Dublin (2026); UNLESS THE PEOPLE LIVE HERE, in collaboration with Álvaro Urbano, Deutsche Oper Berlin (2026); Not all people exist in the same Now, National Gallery of Kosovo, Pristina (2026); why socialism? by albert einstein, kurimanzutto, New York (2025); Ways of Knowing, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota (2025); Performer and Participant, Tate Modern, London (2024); Nationalgalerie. Eine Sammlung für das 21. Jahrhundert, Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart, Berlin (2023); En el jardín: Colección Isabel y Agustín Coppel, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey (MARCO), Mexico (2023); TODOS JUNTOS (All Together), kurimanzutto, New York (2022); MOTHER! Origin of Life, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, Denmark (2021); traveled to Kunsthalle Mannheim, Germany (2021); How Long Is Now?, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem (2021), among others.
The artist has also participated in biennials and triennials such as: Coyote Time, Counterpublic 2026, St. Louis, Missouri (2026); In Interludes and Transitions, Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale 2026, Saudi Arabia (2026); Bounding Histories. Whispering Tales, Art Encounters Biennial 2025, Timișoara, Romania (2025); Ten Thousand Suns, in collaboration with Álvaro Urbano, 24th Biennale of Sydney, Australia (2024); NGV Triennial 2023, Melbourne, Australia (2023); It matters what worlds world worlds: how to tell stories otherwise, Manifesta 14 Prishtina, Kosovo (2022); Once Upon Another Time… gyveno jie jau kitaip, 13-oji Kauno bienalė, Lithuania (2021); What if a Journey…, in collaboration with Álvaro Urbano, 3rd Autostrada Biennale, Pristina, Kosovo (2021); – a breath? a name? – the ways of worldmaking, Biennale Gherdëina 7, Ortisei, Italy (2020); Là où les eaux se mêlent, 15e Biennale de Lyon, France (2019); Viva Arte Viva, 57th International Art Exhibition at the Venice Biennale (2017); I’m hungry to keep you close. I want to find the words to resist but in the end there is a locked sphere. The funny thing is that you’re not here, nothing is., Kosovo Pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennale (2013), among others.
