Adrian Paci was born into a well-known family in Shkodra, the son of the painter Ferdinand Paci and Brigjilda. He lost his father at an early age, when he was just seven years old. In 1987, he began his studies in fine arts. In 1992, thanks to a scholarship, he attended the “Arte e Liturgia” course at the Beato Angelico Institute in Milan. In 1995, he returned to Albania, where he taught Art History and Aesthetics at the University of Shkodra for some time. In 1997, amid the unrest in Albania, he moved with his family to Milan, where he continues to live and work. In exile, he began exploring another medium as a means of artistic expression: video, while maintaining his connection to painting and photography.
Some of his notable exhibitions include “In the Gorges of the Balkans”, curated by René Block at the Kunsthalle Fridericianum in Kassel, Germany (2003); “New Video, New Europe”, curated by Hamza Walker at Tate Modern in London; and the Seville Biennial in Spain, curated by Harald Szeemann (2004). In 2005, he held solo exhibitions at Moderna Museet in Stockholm and the Contemporary Arts Museum in Houston. In 2006, following his participation in the 51st Venice Biennale, he presented his first solo exhibition in Italy, in Modena. Other notable exhibitions include those held at the Jeu de Paume in Paris and PAC in Milan in 2013, as well as at Röda Sten Konsthall in Gothenburg, Sweden, and the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal (MAC) in Canada. He is represented by the Kaufmann Repetto gallery in Milan and the Peter Kilchmann gallery in Zurich.