Brilant Milazimi: Hard Teeth (Dhëmbë të Fortë)

Brilant Milazimi will represent the Republic of Kosovo at the 61st International Venice Biennale. Known for painting psychological landscapes that oscillate between menace and dream, Milazimi’s work registers an interior climate populated by figures that dwell between harm and survival, collapse and persistence. In Venice, he will present Hard Teeth (Dhëmbë të Fortë), an immersive painting installation at the newly reopened Chiesa di Santa Maria del Pianto, curated by José Esparza Chong Cuy. 

Featuring a 17-meter-wide landscape painting, Milazimi depicts a line of people standing closely across mountains reminiscent of Kosovo’s rural terrain. Echoing historical and contemporary scenes of displacement, the panoramic composition features frail bodies lingering in the landscape. Presented along a self-standing structure designed by LANZA Atelier, the figures stretch across its full length and do not advance, but persevere—with their teeth tightly clenched. 

Waiting is not abstract in Kosovo. For decades, mobility has been shaped by borders, documents, and the uncertain pace of recognition. The political has often been experienced administratively: through stamps, delays, and provisional acknowledgments. The image of the line has returned globally. People fleeing war. Standing at checkpoints. Waiting for asylum. Waiting to learn whether they will be allowed to stay, whether they will be sent back, whether return is possible. Waiting in spite of the likelihood of harsher conditions ahead. 

Artist
Brilant Milazimi (b. 1994, Gjilan) translates his perception of the world into images that are at once bitter, tender, darkly humorous, and unsettling. Drawing on the logic of the unconscious and fictional imaginaries, his paintings articulate a sinister yet poetic vision of contemporary life. Milazimi studied visual arts at the University of Prishtina. Recent solo exhibitions include Brownie Project Gallery, Shanghai (two-person exhibition, 2025); Storefront Viewing Room, kurimanzutto, New York (2025); Stacion – Center for Contemporary Art, Prishtina (2024; 2020); LambdaLambdaLambda, Prishtina (2023; 2019); Paul Soto, Los Angeles (2023); LA MAISON DE RENDEZ-VOUS, Brussels (2022); and ERMES ERMES, Rome (2021). He has participated in major group exhibitions including the 5th Autostrada Biennale, Prizren (2025); Galleria Continua, Paris (2025); Manifesta 14, Prishtina (2022); and the Ludwig Museum, Budapest (2020). He received the 2020 Artist of Tomorrow Award in Kosovo, and was a resident at the Art Explora Foundation in collaboration with the Cité internationale des arts, Paris in 2024.

Curator
José Esparza Chong Cuy is a curator, writer, and architect from Mexico. Since 2018 he works as Executive Director and Chief Curator at Storefront for Art and Architecture in New York City. 

Venue 
The Chiesa di Santa Maria del Pianto is an octagonal church and former monastery facing Venice’s northern lagoon, designed by architect Francesco Contin and completed in 1658. Dedicated to Saint Mary the Tearful, it was conceived as a civic and devotional testament in the wake of the 1630 plague. From the early 1970s onwards, the church was closed to the public and has remained inaccessible for decades; it has been recently entrusted to the Fondazione Museo della Scuola Grande di San Marco e della Sanità for progressive restoration and renewed religious and cultural accessibility. Hard Teeth is the first cultural initiative presented at the church.

Publication
The exhibition will be accompanied by a publication edited by José Esparza Chong Cuy and Sarah Demeuse, with contributions by Magalí Arriola, Justin Beal, José Esparza Chong Cuy, Valeria Luiselli, Hana Halilaj, Ana Janevski, Migjeni, Brilant Milazimi, Vjosa Musliu, Hans Ulrich Obrist, and Damir Pilić. Designed by Bardhi Haliti and published by Sternberg Press.

Kosovo Pavilion
The Kosovo Pavilion at the Biennale Arte 2026 is commissioned by the National Gallery of Kosovo, represented by Hana Halilaj, and supported by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Kosovo. Previous presentations have featured Petrit Halilaj (2013), Flaka Haliti (2015), Sislej Xhafa (2017), Alban Muja (2019), Jakup Ferri (2022), and Doruntina Kastrati (2024).

Brilant Milazimi: Hard Teeth (Dhëmbë të Fortë)
Pavilion of the Republic of Kosovo
61st International Venice Biennale

Commissioner: Hana Halilaj, National Gallery of Kosovo
Curator: José Esparza Chong Cuy
Exhibitor: Brilant Milazimi 

Exhibition Design: LANZA Atelier
Composer and Sound Designer: Liburn Jupolli
Graphic Design: Bardhi Haliti
Editor: Sarah Demeuse
Exhibition Production: DH Office 

Press inquiries
Zaida Violan, International Press Officer, zaida@zaidaviolan.com
Rina Meta, Regional Press & Digital Communication, metarina@gmail.com