Ermir Zhinipotoku (born in 1997) is a visual artist from Prishtina, Kosovo. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Prishtina in 2019. He approaches painting as a process of intuitive sensitivity, exploring absurdity, depth, and human existence. Each work serves as a visual diary, an abstract and figurative expression that reflects an intimate silence. His creative process is rooted in the poetics of stillness, where existence is embodied. Through a language that intertwines satire and tragedy, Zhinipotoku conveys a delicate sensibility, where understanding and loss are equally interconnected. His creativity represents an inner journey, a confrontation with spiritual narratives and visual layers that stretch reality beyond ordinary boundaries. In form, it emerges as a dialogue between abstraction and figuration, where the constant tension between reality and dreams creates spaces of silence. His solo and group exhibitions include Ephemeral Echoes (Lambdalambdalambda, Prishtina), Prej studios (National Historical Museum, Tirana), I Sing the Body Electric, the Armies of Those I Love (Barabar Center, Prishtina), Here Today, Gone Tomorrow (Room Five Studio, Prishtina), Internal (Room Five Studio, Prishtina), New Grand (Manifesta 14, Prishtina), Nothing Like Home (Lambdalambdalambda, Prishtina), and External (National Gallery, HAP Collective, Prishtina). His other artistic projects include scenography and artworks for Short Poems and Other Tales, a play by Valdrin Thaqi (6th Floor of the Grand Hotel, Prishtina), and scenography for the film Our World (Bota Jonë, Kosovo). He is also a co-founder of HAP – The Contemporary Art Collective.
Ermir is a beneficiary of the three-week residency program in Knislinge, in southern Sweden, a collaboration between Shtatëmbëdhjetë and the Milvus Artistic Research Center (MARC).
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The collaboration between MARC and Shtatëmbëdhjetë is supported by a Seed Funding grant from the Swedish Institute (SI) through the 2024 Creative Partnerships Programme.
