Albania

In her exhibition project, the painter Iva Lulashi evokes the “glass of water theory”, dating back to the Russian pre-revolutionary period and linked to the feminist thinker Alexandra Kollontai (1872–1952). The theory is based on the idea of a sexual revolution, in which impulses are perceived as a need to be satisfied with the carefreeness that a glass of water is drunk with. Love, sex and desire can make or break our lives. Iva Lulashi’s work revolves around these eternally revolutionary universal subjects, capable of transcending differences and overcoming borders, not just geographical ones. The images of her paintings are taken from film and video stills, they suggest situations linked to the erotic act, and are mainly populated by female bodies. Her style mixes the Albanian pictorial tradition with the Italian and Venetian one. The spaces of the pavilion are created following the stylized and simplified architectural plan of the artist’s home/ studio. Visitors can admire her works among the spaces in which they are born and live, between intimacy, voyeurism and institutional critique. Born in Albania, Iva Lulashi trained as a painter in Venice by attending the local Academy of Fine Arts.