Born in Durrës, Albania in 1970 but lives and works between Milan and Dubai.

“The puzzle of deterministic chaos is just one example from twentieth-century science that shows how the limitations of human understanding make nature appear noisy, complicated and unpredictable ...Behind the veil of apparent randomness, many processes in nature are highly ordered, following simple rules.” Helidon Xhixha

Helidon Xhixha spent his childhood in the studio of his father from whom he inherited a strong passion for fine arts, particularly sculpture. In 1998 he won a scholarship at the Kingston University of London and in February 1999 he graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts of Brera in Milan, Italy.

Xhixha is a sculptor who creates three-dimensional and often large-scale works that refract and reflect the environments in which the are placed, most famously through carefully engineered works of polished steel. Although he has extensively worked with glass, steel has remained his primary Muse and material for over 15 years.

His art has a very contemporary identity due to the diversity of his creative processes resulting from his artistic exigencies; an emphasis is placed upon the aesthetic tension derived from the relationship between the physical expressiveness of the materials used and the effects of light.

“Iceberg“, a powerful mass of steel emerging from the water, is Xhixha’s most famous work that addresses the issue of climate change; it was the first installation ever to obtain permission to float on the Grand Canal, during the Venice Biennale in 2015. The work also draws the attention of international media as The New York Times, The Guardian and the CNN. To mark the opening of the London Design Biennale in 2016, Xhixha was commissioned to design the layout of the central courtyard in Somerset House and he won the Public Medal Award for the best installation with “Bliss”, a series of concentric yet dramatically split blocks designed as a visual metaphor for the migration of peoples, inspired by Plato’s Ideal City.

Xhixha’s sculptures are part of important Museums and collections, Art Fairs and public buildings across the Globe. The artist has also contributed to the National 9/11 Memorial in New York and he was recently commissioned to design works for luxury residences.