THE MURKY WATERS
Driant Zeneli

“The Murky Waters” by Driant Zeneli explores the captivating story of the first female biologist in Albania, Sabiha Kasimati (1912-1951). The project begins with the story of the biologist, through references to the figure of Prometheus. Using clay, papier-mâché, and robotics techniques, the story of biologist Sabiha Kasimati takes shape. A friend of fish and progress, like a modern-day Prometheus, she steals the electric light from the Dam to provide it to the fish living beneath the murky waters.

“The Murky Waters” conceived by the artist Driant Zeneli in collaboration with the master of papier-mâché Deni Bianco, is an installation made with an inexpensive but flexible material: papier-mâché. The fish realized with the aforementioned technique come alive through their robotic mechanisms, and were realized and conceived in cooperation with a group of students of the Artistic High School in Tirana and the School of Electronic Engineering in Tirana and of Putignano.

The project is a journey which, through art, memory, ecology and technology, puts in focus the importance of the figure of the researcher Sabiha Kasimati (1912 – 1951), who has chosen to challenge politics, social stereotypes and even death itself, in the name of science and freedom.