A conversation accompanying the eponymous exhibition in the AA Gallery, Potential Monuments of Unrealised Futures, which presents work by two Albanian artists: Edi Hila and Adrian Paci. Curated by Beyond Entropy Balkans (Jonida Turani and Stefano Rabolli Pansera), this exhibition was originally commissioned by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Albania for the Pavilion of the Republic of Albania at the 14th International Architecure Exhibition, Venice Biennale 2014. The exhibition explores how modernity can be absorbed through a reflection on the social and cultural dynamics presented in the work of the two artists. The unrealized futures are the promises of modernity; partially realised, but yet not completed.
Edi Hila (b. Albania 1944) has participated in numerous international exhibitions including the Venice Biennale (1999), After the Wall at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm (1999), Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin and the Ludvig Museum in Budapest (2000), Blood and Honey - Future’s in the Balkans at the Essl Museum in Vienna (2003) and the Liverpool Biennale (2010). His works are part of the collection of Centre Pompidou, Ville de Paris, René Block, and the National Gallery of Arts of Tirana.
Adrian Paci (b. Albania 1969) has participated in numerous international exhibitions, most notably: Adrian Paci, PS1, MOMA, New York (2005), Motion Picture(s), Kunsthaus Zurich (2010), Lives in transit, Jeu de Paume, Paris (2013) and MAC, Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, Montréal (2014). Group exhibitions include: Venice Biennale (2005), Street and studio in urban history of photography, Tate Modern, London (2008), Unfinished Journeys, The National Museum of Arts, Oslo (2012) and Neighbours, Istanbul Museum of Modern Art, Istanbul (2014).
Beyond Entropy is a London-based non-profit limited company practicing architecture, urbanism, and cultural analysis. The company, founded in 2009 as a collaborative practice operating public-private partnerships globally, developed from trans-disciplinary research at the Architectural Association School of Architecture. Currently Beyond Entropy Ltd operates at the threshold between art, architecture, and geopolitics focusing on the notion of energy influencing urban and architectural form. Projects are located in Africa, in the Balkans and in the Mediterranean region and vary from art installations, to architectural master-planning, to public debates.