Eriola Pira is a New York based curator and writer. She is currently the Program Director of the Young Visual Artists Awards- a network of artist awards in Central and Eastern Europe and residency program in New York. Eriola holds a B.A. in Communication and Mass Media and Art History and an M.A. in Visual Culture Theory from New York University. Her thesis “Portraits of Place: Representations of the City and the Urban Experience in Contemporary Albanian Art,” examined the Albanian capital city, Tirana, not simply as a space constructed through built structures, but also as an idea constructed through the pervasive repetition of specific visual imagery in contemporary visual culture and artistic production. Having researched contemporary Albanian art as a Fulbright fellow, she is committed to supporting and working with young Albanian artists and showing international contemporary art in the country. Most recently, she organized a two-part screening of ICI’s Project 35 and is currently working on commissioning artists’ books and publications. Eriola’s main areas of research and curatorial interest are contemporary art practices, avant-garde history and legacy, critical theory and post-socialist culture.