Driant Zeneli's Albanian Pavilion at 2019 Venice Biennale explores utopias through industrial landscapes

Driant Zeneli represents Albania at the 2019 Venice Biennale with a sculptural video installation titled 'Maybe the cosmos is not so extraordinary' (2019). The work expands on his multidisciplinary project 'Beneath a surface there is just another surface' initiated in 2015 at Metallurgjik, a dystopian industrial site in Elbasan, Albania. Zeneli's inspiration comes from Arion Hysenbegas's 1983 science-fiction novel 'On the way to Epsilon Eridani'. His installation features five teenagers discovering a cosmic sphere inside a factory in Bulqizë, a village in northeastern Albania. Chrome metal extracted from Bulqizë's mountains connects local industrial identity to universal tools like cutlery and spaceships. Curator Alicia Knock collaborates on a catalog inviting artists, writers, curators, scientists, and geologists to respond to the title. Albania has officially participated in the Venice Biennale since 1999, offering exposure to its contemporary art scene. The Biennale runs from May 11 to November 24, 2019, with Zeneli's pavilion located in the Arsenale.