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