Installation view, Petrit Halilaj & Álvaro Urbano: What Comes First, SALTS, Basel, 2015. Photo: Álvaro Urbano.
In What Comes First (2015), Álvaro Urbano and Petrit Halilaj built a sophisticated henhouse (with atomic shelter) in the shape of a giant egg. Reflecting on the chicken and egg question (“which came first?”), the project combines specific aspects of each artist’s current research – Urbano’s habitable structures, on the one hand, with strong sociological investigation of the past, on the other; a continuation of the biographical and site-specific emphasis that is so present in Halilaj and Urbano’s work.
Installation view, Petrit Halilaj & Álvaro Urbano: What Comes First, SALTS, Basel, 2015. Photo: Álvaro Urbano.
Installation view, Petrit Halilaj & Álvaro Urbano: What Comes First, SALTS, Basel, 2015. Photo: Álvaro Urbano.
Installation view, Petrit Halilaj & Álvaro Urbano: What Comes First, SALTS, Basel, 2015. Photo: Álvaro Urbano.
Installation view, Petrit Halilaj & Álvaro Urbano: What Comes First, SALTS, Basel, 2015. Photo: Álvaro Urbano.
Installation view, Petrit Halilaj & Álvaro Urbano: What Comes First, SALTS, Basel, 2015. Photo: Álvaro Urbano.
Installation view, Petrit Halilaj & Álvaro Urbano: What Comes First, SALTS, Basel, 2015. Photo: Álvaro Urbano.
Installation view, Petrit Halilaj & Álvaro Urbano: What Comes First, SALTS, Basel, 2015. Photo: Álvaro Urbano.
Installation view, Petrit Halilaj & Álvaro Urbano: What Comes First, SALTS, Basel, 2015. Photo: Álvaro Urbano.
Installation view, Petrit Halilaj & Álvaro Urbano: What Comes First, SALTS, Basel, 2015. Photo: Álvaro Urbano.
Installation view, Petrit Halilaj & Álvaro Urbano: What Comes First, SALTS, Basel, 2015. Photo: Álvaro Urbano.