TBA:19 FESTIVAL

Adela Demetja is a curator and author born in 1984 in Tirana, Albania. She holds a Master’s Degree in Curatorial and Critical Studies from Goethe University and Städelschule, Frankfurt/Main, Germany. Demetja was first trained as a painter and studied from 2002 to 2006 at Academy of Art in Tirana, Albania. She is the director of Tirana Art Lab – Center for Contemporary Art, Albania’s leading independent art institution, which she established in 2010.

As an independent curator, she has organized, managed and curated numerous international exhibitions and events in a number of European countries. In 2016, she was appointed curator of Focus: Ex-Yugoslavia and Albania at viennacontemporary international art fair in Vienna, Austria. In 2015, she co-curated the Third Edition of the International Contemporary Project Biennale D-0 Ark Underground, which took place in the anti-atom shelter built by Tito in Konjic, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Other thematic exhibitions she has curated include: The aesthetic of the small act at Action, Action Field Kodra Festival in Thessaloniki, Greece and Voices of Truth in Villa Roman, Florence, Italy. As an author, she writes exhibition reviews, catalogue texts, and articles for online platforms and publications in Albania and throughout Europe.

Dante Buu (b. 1987 in Montenegro) lives and works between Vienna, Rožaje, and Berlin. Rooted in intimacy, his work addresses the brutal sociocultural environment and omnipresent alienation in society through a variety of media. Raluca Croitoru (b. 1989 in Romania), lives and works between Bucharest and Amsterdam. Her ongoing interest in systems of exchange, social choreographies, and knowledge hierarchies finds its translation mainly through performances, videos and text. Emily Henderson is an art historian, writer, and curator from Portland, Oregon USA.

Adrian McBride (b. 1982 in St.Louis. Missouri, USA) is a musician and sound artist based in Portland, Oregon USA.Selma Selman (b.1991) comes from Bosnia and Herzegovina and is of Romani origin. Her work embodies the struggles of her own life as well as those of her community, employing a plethora of media such as performance, painting, photography, and video installations.

This project is made possible by a grant from CEC ArtsLink as part of ArtsLink Award Program.