The 59th Art Biennale, which opened on April 23 in Venice, this year will be different. It will continue until November 27, 2022, under the special care of Cecilia Alemani. 

In this 59th edition, Albania comes for the first time with a personal exhibition of a woman artist who no longer lives, Lumturi Blloshmi. In the premises of the Arsenal, at the International Biennale of Venice, the Albanian pavilion was presented with the special works of Blloshmi, under the care of the curator Adela Demetja.

Blloshmi’s years of work and Demetja’s curatorial concept place the Albanian Pavilion within the political, artistic and conceptual framework of the 59th edition of the Venice Biennale and the current discourse of contemporary art. “Lumturi Blloshmi, from the beginning”, this presentation is conceived as an exhibition that aims to research, examine, present and reposition the work and life of Lumturi Blloshmi in the history of national and international art.

The essence of the exhibition consists of a selection of Blloshmi’s works from different periods. The architecture of the exhibition was created in collaboration with German architect Johanna Meyer-Grohbrügge. Through a virtually built environment, the public accesses Blloshmi’s personal world and creative environment, through a virtual archive, created in close collaboration between curator and British virtual reality artist Alexander Walmsley.

Lumturi Blloshmi was born in Tirana in 1944. She passed away from COVID-19 on November 27, 2020. She graduated in painting in 1968. Lumturi Blloshmi’s extraordinary biography, her powerful personality and above all quality works of art, make her a unique and significant value for national and international contemporary art.

/Klara Ruci/