Silva Agostini
post@silvaagostini.com
Contact
Silva Agostini
post@silvaagostini.com
Silva Agostini born 1979 in Tirana, is an artist living and working in Berlin. She attended the Academy of Arts in Tirana and the Berlin University of the Arts, where she graduated as master student in 2005.
Silva Agostini grew up in Tirana during the communist regime, she witnessed the opening of Albania and went through the transition years as a teenager. The upheavals that characterized this period significantly influenced her artistic endeavors. With a cinematic perspective, she absorbed the images of Albania's cities and landscapes during that time, interpreting them as a naked portrayal of human existence. Raised in a family of artists, Art, during the comunist dictatorship mostly censored and often prohibited by the regime, was present in her parents home, consistently standing in stark contrast to the surrounding reality.
Silva Agostini artistic endeavors focuses on how historical time reveals itself in an ongoing dialogue between past and current events. Her primary source of inspiration is drawn from cultural histories. Elements originating from the realms of arts, architecture, and traditional cultural, religious, and social practices, which render the dispositions of the past, are intricately layered with symbolic meanings and the social dynamics of the present. With her work, she captures the underlying conflicts within societies, portraying them as a perpetually frothing, emotionally blurred dimension of life, while also alluding to the universality of existence over the course of time. Her work includes photography, video, site-specific performances, and urban interventions.
Silva Agostinis works have been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Germany and Europe, including: Elevation 1049, Draussenstadt – Call for action, the National Gallery Tirana, Bazament Tirana, Belvedere 21 Wien, Nassauischer Kunstverein Wiesbaden, Basis Frankfurt, Grieder Contemporary Zürich, Macedonian Museum of contemporary art Thessaloniki, the Muzeul National de arta contemporana Bucharest, Gallery Isabella Czarnowska Berlin, Kunstsammlung Gera, as well as at the Tirana Biennale. She received the Onufri Award in 2014 and has attended the TICA Residency in 2016 and the Art House in Shkodra 2018. She is a founding member of the project space “Very” in Berlin.
1998-99 Studium an der Akademie der Künste Tirana
1999-04 Studium an der Universität der Künste Berlin
2004-05 Meisterschülerin - Universität der Künste Berlin
2005-07 Kunst im Kontext - Studium an der Universität der Künste Berlin
2018 - 2021 Mitbegründerin und Mitglied der Project Space “Very” Berlin
Förderungen und Residenzen
2021 Draussenstadt - Berliner Projektfonds Urbane Praxis
2021 Recherchestipendium – Berliner Senatsverwaltung für Kultur und Europa
2018 Arte Polino Residency, Basilicata
2017 Arthouse Residency, Shkodra
2016 TICA Residency, Tirana
2014 ONUFRI Award, Tirana
2008 Artist-in-residence, City of Gera
2007-08 NaFöG Fellowship
Einzelausstellungen
2022 Three Times Black, Harabel Contemporary Art Platform Tirana / Manifesta 14
2021 Music Requisites, (intervention in public space) Berlin Kreuzberg
2018 With open eyes, with eyes closed, Bazament, Tirana
2016 Forms of Presence, Miza Gallery, Tirana
2014 on display, Basis, Frankfurt
2013 Kino der Kunst, Gallery Jo Van de Loo, München
2012 Perp Walk, TÄT Berlin
2011 Steady Cadence, Gallery Isabella Czarnowska, Berlin
2009 Am hellichten Tag, Gallery Isabella Czarnowska, Berlin
Zwischen den Zeilen, Kunstsammlung Gera, Gera
2008 Obstacle, TÄT, Berlin
Gruppenausstellungen
2023 Elevation 1049, Luma Foundation, Gstaad
Silver Lining, Bazament, Tirana
2021 Ambitions, National Gallery Tirana & National Gallery Pristina
2019 As seen in Demi-gross, Kwadrat, Berlin
Dal Tempo Fossile - Matera 2019/ Artepollino Latronico
2018 Ex Gratia, Collezione Giuseppe Iannaccone, Milano,
Conteso 2018, Edolo,
Like Quack Grass, Bar Babett Berlin
2016 TICA Residency Final Exhibition, Tirana
2015 This is not a Palm Tree, Neurotitan, Berlin
Grieder Contemporary, Zurich
2014 Hausbesetzung, Nassauischer Kunstverein, Wiesbaden
Le Ping Le Pong, Gallery Jo van de Loo, München
je ne sais quoi III, Berlin
2013 Praise of Doubt, Onufri Preise, National Gallery, Tirana
Pieces, Kwadrat, Berlin
Save as, science, Kreuzberg Pavillon, Berlin
2012 Once Upon, Kunstverein Arnsberg
Berlin Status, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin
Berliner Zimmer, Kunstpavillon Beograd/Mestrovic Pavilion, Zagreb
2011 Halleluhwah! Hommage à CAN, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin
Lo Stupore, Associazione Marco Magnani award, Sassari
Baumann & Fuchs, Anton von Werner Haus, Berlin
Berlin Passage, Muzeul National de arta contemporana, Bukarest
Berlin Passage, Macedonian Museum of contemporary art, Thessaloniki
2010 Envos Preis Junge Kunst 2010, Wilhelm-Hack-Museum, Ludwigshafen
Ein Fest für Boris Akt 1 und 2, Vittorio Manalese gallery, Berlin
AKA SYMBOL II und II, HBC, Berlin Forgotten bar Project, Berlin
Das Geschehen 2, Appartment, Berlin
Salon Österreich zu Gast, Kunstverein Aschersleben
2009 Berlin Meets Vienna, Salon Österreich, Vienna
Dank an, Czarnowska gallery, Berlin
Temporäre Kunsthalle Berlin
Tirana Biennale 4, Tirana
2008 Galerie Andata Ritorno, Geneva
5. Biennale des Arts, Tunis
Knorke Gören, KWADRAT, Berlin
My Space, Galerie Fap, Tirana
My Space, Haus am Lützowplatz, Berlin
Constructed Space, Deutsche Welle, Berlin
Screening
2019 Schermo del Arte, Art House Shkodra
Dejuner avec Marubi, Belvedere 21/Museum of Contemporary Art Wien
2017 Acts and Practices, Moves #162, Image Movement, Berlin
2018 9 hours Away – Screening at Pica, Portland
2016 Davor, Freilichtkino Weißensee, Berlin
Film Festivals
2018 Film Festival Oberhausen, Image Movement Program Selection
Kollektionen
Collection of the National Gallery of Arts Tirana