Brilant Milazimi to Represent Republic of Kosovo at 61st Venice Biennale
45Jan. 15, 2026
Kosovan artistBrilant Milazimihas been selected to represent the Republic of Kosovo at the Sixty-FirstVenice Biennale, to take place May 9–November 22.José Esparza Chong Cuywill curate the country’s pavilion, which is commissioned by Hana Halilaj, curator at theNational Gallery of Kosovo, and supported by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports of the Republic of Kosovo. Milazimi will present the immersive painting installationHard Teeth (Dhëmbë të Fortë). The work comprises a fifty-six-foot-long canvas mounted on a self-standing structure and depicting a line of people, packed close together on mountainous Kosovan terrain, their circumstances and mien evoking stress and endurance. It will be shown in the Chiesa di Santa Maria del Pianto, an octagonal church and monastery facing the Venetian lagoon. Designed by architect Francesco Contino and completed in 1658, the site has been inaccessible since 1970. Milazimi’s exhibition marks its first reopening to the public since that time.
Born in 1994 in Gjilan, Milazimi grew up in the aftermath of the Kosovo War. He is known for darkly humorous and unsettling work addressing themes of trauma, social friction, and freedom. In 2025, he participated in a two-person exhibition alongside Zishi Han at Brownie Project Gallery, Shanghai. He has been the subject of recent solo exhibitions at Storefront Viewing Room, kurimanzutto, New York (2025); Stacion – Center for Contemporary Art, Prishtina (2024; 2020); and Paul Soto, Los Angeles (2023). Milazimi has been featured in group exhibitions at Galleria Continua, Paris (2025) and the Ludwig Museum, Budapest (2020), and participated in the Fiftth Autostrada Biennale, Prizren (2025) and Manifesta 14, Prishtina (2020). He is a 2020 recipient of Kosovo’s Young Visual Artist Award.
Esparza Chong Cuy, a native of Mexico, has served as executive director and chief curator of New York’s Storefront for Art and Architecture since 2018. Between 2019 and 2025 he was part of the curatorial council of the Museo Tamayo in Mexico City. Earlier roles include curatorial positions at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and the Museo Jumex in Mexico City.