A collective discussion on the various issues raised by the project developed by Genti Korini for the Albanian Pavilion at the 61st Venice Biennale.
Where is "a place in the sun" and what can we say about it? Does the unknown attract or frighten us more today? How did European travelers perceive Albania at the beginning of the 20th century? What does the trans-rational language of zaum, invented by the first avant-garde artists over a century ago, have in common with contemporary art? and how can art decolonize our gaze and adapt it to the unknown?
The seven essays in this book were written in response to Genti Korini's project A Place in the Sun for the Albanian Pavilion at the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia 2026. Renowned anthropologists, art historians, curators, and researchers examine the mechanisms of othering and dis-othering—from a historical and contemporary point of view, through the prism of the Albanian case or from the perspective of the global majority. The texts engage with contemporary discussions on decolonization, broadening its definitions, outlining less obvious geographies, and exploring the role of art today.
Genti Korini (born 1979 in Tirana, Albania) works at the intersection of fiction and historical reality, past and present, perception and projection, abstraction and representation. Drawing from the cultural and historical frameworks of his native country Albania, his practice examines the afterlives of modernity, modernism, post-communism, and the neoliberal present – less as fixed narratives than as unstable conditions. His work is research-driven and draws from a diverse range of influences, including art history, architecture, literature, and film.
Working across painting, moving image, photography, and objects, 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.
