Mariana Kostandini (b. 1985, Pogradec, Albania) lives and works in Paris, France. She studied art history at the École du Louvre and Sorbonne University, specializing in social documentary photography. Mariana has a sensitive and minimalist approach; her work explores themes of individual and collective memory as well as the relationship with public space, through architecture, urban and documentary photography. Her book 13e Ciel (2023) traces the metamorphosis of Paris’s 13th district. In her most recent projects, The One We Lost (2024) and Mall (2025, Le Nouveau Printemps Toulouse, France), she uses family archive images, focusing on the notions of trace and fiction. As a curator, she co-founded the Projektor gallery in Paris, aiming to highlight emerging artists, and is a member of Saloon, a women-in-arts network.


Shows

"Performative Exhibition #5" - Lyhnida The Lake of Light", Tirana Art Lab, Gallery of Arts Pogradec, July 27 -August 5, 2025

Le Nouveau Printemps - Kiddy Smile - Toulouse 2025, "Faire Famille", curator Yandé Diouf, May 23 - September 21, 2025

"Vazhdë" - Curating with Care, group exhibition in Bazament Art Space, Tirana Art Lab, November - December 2023

La Chambre Verte, festival d'art contemporain, group exhibition, Saint-Sulpice d'Auteuil France, September 2022

Community Issue #120, group exhibition, F-Stop Magazine, August 2023

Tirana Photo Festival, participation, September 2022

Perchance to Dream - Onufri Prize XIX, Finalist, curated by Daniele Capra, National Gallery of Arts, Tirana, December 2012


Publications - Books

Desired Landscape issue #08, City without postcard - Tirana, Desired Landscapes editions, Athens, May 2025

The Ones We Lost, Artist book, Paris, March 2024 (re-edition January 2025)

13e Ciel - Artist book, book launch, Paris France, 30 September 2023

Revue-sur-mesure, article on 13e Ciel book, November 2023

Albania/Germany - A Diary in Photos, preface text of exhibition's catalogue, Tirana Art Lab, 2011


Curation - Art Projects

Member of Saloon Paris, 2022

Projektor - Art Association Paris France, co-founded with Ines Henzler, promoting emerging artists from 2014 to 2020

Les Balkannes, jury member for the photo festival organised by Contempl'art Paris, together with Milomir Kovacevic and Andrea Vamos, 2022

"Tell me about Europe" - Archive of Voices Project, curated by Arbeit an Europa, interview with artist Maks Velo, 2019

"From Their Hands" with Matali Crasset and Endri Dani, space curated by Mariana Kostandini in the frame of  "Musem On/Off" - curated by Alicia Knock, Centre Pompidou, Paris France, 2016

Mikropolis - Solo show Anastas Kostandini, curated by Mariana Kostandini, Fab Gallery, Tirana Albania, 2012


Education

2012 Master's Degree in Social Photography (on Mary Ellen Mark, under the supervision of Michel Poivert), Panthéon-Sorbonne, Paris France

2011 Master's Degree in Visual Arts and Music (on Pendulum Music of Steve Reich, under the supervision of Patrick de Haas), Panthéon-Sorbonne, Paris France

2010 Degree "Premier cycle" of Ecole du Louvre (Contemporary Art profile), Paris France

2010 Licence in Art History (Contemporary Art profile), Panthéon-Sorbonne, Paris France

2007 Licence in Musicology, La Sorbonne, Paris France

2004 Artistic Bachelor Degree, Artistic Lyceum Jordan Misja (violin), Tirana Albania

Using Format