Those Sweet Murky Waters

Synopsis

"Evolution is in the nature of things"

This sentence was enunciated by the first woman scientist in Albania, Sabiha Kasimati, according to the testimony of her cell mate. She was arrested by the communist regime on 20 February 1951 and a few days later was executed without trial and thrown into a common pit together with 21 other intellectuals.

Her scientific monograph "Fishes of Albania" was the first of its kind in Albania. Shortly before her execution its publication immediately disappeared; after the fall of communism the original diploma was found in the Faculty of Biological Sciences in Turin, where she studied from 1936-41, but the book is still lost.

Director Biography

Driant Zeneli (1983, Shkoder, Albania), lives in Turin. In 2019 and 2011 he represented Albanian Pavilion at the 58th (solo show) and 54th (group show) International Art Exhibition – Venice Biennale. In 2017 he won the MOROSO Prize and in 2009 the Young European Artist Award Trieste Contemporanea. In 2008 he won the Onufri International Contemporary Art Prize, Tirana. He was the artistic director of Mediterranea 18, the Young Artists Biennale from Europe and the Mediterranean, taking place for the first time in 2017 between Tirana and Durres. He is co-founder of Harabel Contemporary Art Platform, Tirana.