ZETA is happy to announce the artists shortlist for the 13th edition of ARDHJE Award 2021:

Fatlum Doçi, Sead Kazanxhiu, Matilda Odobashi and Abi Shehu.

Shortlisted artists will be commissioned to create the new works on view in exhibition at the Zeta Gallery in Tirana. The price will be awarded at the open ceremony in September 2021.

Get to know with ARDHJE Award 2021 finalists!  

SEAD KAZANXHIU was born in 1987, in Fier. He studied at the University of Arts in Tirana (2006-2010) and currently lives and works in Tirana.

Following his studies, he continued to work primarily in the medium of painting, whereas his more recent practice has expanded into sculpture, installation, video, and public space interventions.

Kazanxhiu’s work has been exhibited in The 2nd Roma Biennale, Berlin (2021); ERIAC, Berlin (2020); Galeria e Bregdetit, Vlora (2019); Slovak National Gallery and the Banská Bystrica, Slovakia (2018); ZETA Centre, Tirana (2018); Autostrada Bienale, Prizren (2017); Mediterranea 18 Young Artists Biennale, BJCEM, Tirana (2017); Tulla Culture Center, Tirana (2015); ONUFRI Prize XXI, National Gallery, Tirana (2014); National Historical Museum, Tirana (2013), among others.

ABI SHEHU was born in 1993 in Lezha. She studied Photography at University of Applied Science Europe (BTK) Berlin, currently lives and works between Albania and Germany.

Her work is condensed an esthetical research on the fundamental existential experiences, that create a portrait of humanness in contemporary societies: life rituals, memory, amnesia and death.

Shehu’s work has been exhibited in Bazament Art Space, Tirana (2020-2021); Galeria e Bregdetit, Vlora (2019-2021); Bulbul, Berlin (2020); EMOP, Berlin (2020); ex-Kino Rinia, Pristina (2020); Das Gift, Berlin (2019); CLB, Berlin (2019); ArtHouse, Shkodra (2019); GlogauAir, Berlin (2018), among others.

MATILDA ODOBASHI was born in 1988, in Tirana. She studied at the University of Arts in Tirana (2006–2010) and currently lives and works in Tirana.

Her work is driven by what it means to live together and by the anxiety generated as a result of such relationships. The other(ness) is a focal theme of her work while the rethink of pre imposed social norms and their impact on the society and the individual are recurring themes. She experiments in different mediums as drawing and digital drawing, painting, installation, ect.

Odobashi’s work has been exhibited in National Gallery of Arts, Tirana (2021); National Gallery of Arts, Prishtina (2018, 2021); Haus der Architektur, Graz (2019); ZETA Center, Tirana (2014, 2019); FLUC, Vienna (2017); Ludwig Museum – Museum of Contemporary Arts, Budapest (2016); Traklhaus auf der Festung, Salzburg (2016); Salzburger Kunstverein, Salzburg (2015); Loop house and Musagetes, Lecce (2014), amongst others.

FATLUM DOÇI was born in 1991, in Shkodra, Albania. He studied at the University of Arts in Tirana, at multimedia atelier (2010–2015) and currently lives and works in Shkodra. 

He experiments in different mediums as painting, drawing, watercolor, sculpture, video, installation, jewelry and typewriting art. Regardless of the medium, Doçi envisions his creative process as a departure from the ordinary and a journey inward, in order to experience what appears to be obvious to the human eye and, also, what doesn’t. 

Doçi’s work has been exhibited in: Doza Gallery, Sofia (2021); ZETA Centre ,Tirana (2020, 2018, 2016); Museum Stanze della Memoria, Siena (2019); Galerija Flora, Dubrovnik (2019); Galerija Podroom, Kulturni centar Beograda, Belgrade (2019); Galerija VN, Zagreb (2019); Tulla Cultural Centre, Tirana (2019); Art Gallery, Shkodra (2019, 2015); Collezione Giuseppe Iannaccone, Milano (2018); The Biennial of Humor and Satire, Gabrovo (2017); Mediterranea – 18 Young Artists Biennale, Tirana (2017); Tirana Art Lab, Tirana (2016); arTVision – A Live Art Channel, M’ARS Center for Contemporary Art, Moscow (2015) amongst others. 

The 13th edition of the ARDHJE 2021 Award for young artists is made possible thanks to the Ministry of Culture of Albania, Trust for Mutual Understanding and Residency Unlimited in New York.

The ARDHJE Award was initiated in 2005, by TICA – Tirana Institute of Contemporary Art and became part of the regional network Young Visual Artists Award in Central and Southeast Europe, in 2007.