Biography
Luan Bajraktari
Lives and works between Vienna and Prishtina. Bajraktari's practice explores the fragile line between the visible and the invisible — between the weight of daily life and the tensions hidden within it. Working with bronze, fences, pliers, wire and everyday materials, he reconfigures ordinary objects into sculptural installations that question how identity is shaped, confined, and continually transformed. Objects are never neutral. They carry the memory of labour, division, protection and desire. Once displaced into new contexts they become at once familiar and strange — open yet inaccessible, inviting yet unsettling. At the core of his work lies the conviction that identity is never fixed but always in flux, reshaped by environments, relationships and shared spaces.
Education
- 2008–2011MFA, Academy of Fine Arts, Perugia, Italy
- 2007–2008Master in Sculpture, Academy of Fine Arts, Prishtina
- 2001–2005Degree in Sculpture, Academy of Fine Arts, Prishtina
Selected Solo Exhibitions
- 2026Rigo Gallery, Museo Lapidarium, Novigrad–Cittanova, Croatia
- 2023Space for Memories Unmade — curated by Hana Halilaj, Gallery of the Ministry of Culture, Prishtina
- 2022Skulpturgarten Margareten — curated by Albert Allgaier, Vienna
- 2018Nën braza të kohës — curated by Lulzim Zeqiri, Strellc, Kosovo; Büro X, Embassy of Kosovo, Vienna
- 2016Identità in Mutazione, Future II, Vienna
- 2015Parallel Vienna, Vienna
- 2014Accident of Emotions, Macedonian Cultural Center, Skopje
- 2013Backpack, ArtPoint Gallery, KulturKontakt, Vienna
- 2012La Borsa — curated by Saverio Verini, Fremocco's House Gallery, Deruta, Italy
Selected Group Exhibitions
- 2026Krinzinger / AiR Kuberton: 10 Years — curated by Jerica Ziherl
- 2026This is Mine Too — curated by AWCP, Zeta Center for Contemporary Art
- 2026Krinzinger Residency Exhibition, Galerie Krinzinger, Vienna
- 2025Silent Threads — curated by Sislej Xhafa, Galleria Continua, Paris
- 2022Economy of Means — 25th Gabrovo Biennale, Jury: Diana Campbell Betancourt, Luca Lo Pinto, Yung Ma
- 2021OPAK — curated by Stella Reinhold-Rudas, Leerstand Gallery, Vienna
- 2021Art During the Pandemic, National Gallery of Kosovo
- 2020Opfer Ihrer Zeit, Leerstand Gallery, Vienna
- 2019Fog — curated by Avi Lubin, Mala Stanica, Skopje
- 2019Neofyten, Kras Gallery, Vienna
- 2018Fog — curated by Avi Lubin, National Gallery of Kosovo
- 2017Young Kosovo Artists, National Gallery of Macedonia
- 2016Young Artists Prize, National Gallery of Kosovo
- 2016Balkanization, Human Wanted, Friday Exit, Vienna
- 2016KosovArt — curated by Penesa Dika, Lukas Feichtner Gallery, Vienna
- 2013Artists in Residence, KulturKontakt, ArtPoint Gallery, Vienna
- 2013Artist of Tomorrow Prize — curated by Erzen Shkololli, National Gallery of Kosovo
- 2012Muslim Mulliqi Prize; Artist of Tomorrow Prize, National Gallery of Kosovo
- 2011Ariane de Rothschild Prize — curated by Laura Barreca and Marcello Smarrelli, Palazzo Reale, Milan
- 2011Natività — curated by Andrea Baffoni, Regional Museum of Ceramics, Deruta, Italy
- 2008Art is a Hammer is not a Mirror — curated by Shkelzen Maliqi, Rizoma Gallery
Residencies
- 2025Artist in Residence, Krinzinger Gallery, Kuberton, Croatia
- 2013KulturKontakt Austria, Vienna
- 2013MAMA Collection, Berlin
- 2009AreaOdeon, Italy
- 2007Ceramica Biagioli, Gubbio, Italy
Awards, Recognitions & Public Sculpture
- 2016Shortlisted, Young Artists of Kosovo
- 2014Shortlisted, Pavilion of Kosovo, Venice Biennale
- 2013Artist of Tomorrow Award, National Gallery of Kosovo
- 2013Backpack — public sculpture for Italian military base, Prishtina, Kosovo
- 2011Shortlisted, Ariane de Rothschild Prize, Palazzo Reale, Milan
- 2010Edgardo Mannucci Sculpture Prize, Arcevia, Italy