Draft:Federica Matelli

Federica Matelli
Federica Matelli
	Mayo 2025
Born	Pietrasanta, Italia
Alma mater	Universidad de Pisa, Universidad Ramon Llull, Universidad de Barcelona
Occupation(s)	Researcher, Art curator, Professor
Employer(s)	BAU Centro Universitario de Arte y Diseño, Universitat Internacional de Catalunya (UIC)

Federica Matelli is an Italian researcher, lecturer, and independent curator specializing in contemporary art, philosophy, and cultural studies. Her work focuses on the intersection between artistic practice and everyday life from an interdisciplinary perspective that encompasses aesthetics, sociology, posthumanist thought, and philosophical materialisms. She is a member of the curatorial team of the Panoràmic Festival, directed by Joan Fontcuberta, Laia Casanova, and Albert Gusi.

Academic background and professional career

Matelli holds a degree in Philosophy from the University of Pisa. She completed a Master’s in Curating and Cultural Practices in Art and New Media at ESDI – Ramon Llull University, coordinated by MECAD. She earned a PhD in Society and Culture (specializing in Theory and History of Contemporary Art) from the University of Barcelona, with the dissertation New Perspectives on the Everyday in Contemporary Art. From the Textual Framework to the Speculative Framework. 1980–2014, supervised by Anna Maria Guasch.

She is currently a professor in the Master’s program in Artistic and Cultural Management at the Universitat Internacional de Catalunya (UIC), where she teaches the course Society and Culture in the 21st Century. She also teaches Modern Thought and Artistic Practices in the Fine Arts degree program at BAU, Centro Universitario de Artes y Diseño de Barcelona.

Matelli is a member of the Art Globalization Interculturality (AGI) research group at the University of Barcelona. As a curator, she has collaborated with institutions such as Hangar, CCCB (Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona), the Barcelona City Council, Espai Souvenir, Galería Isabel Hurley, Festival Loop, among others.

Selected exhibitions

7642. I Will Always Be There for You (2025): Part of the TEMPORALS cycle in Barcelona. A reflection on adolescent digital identity.
Love Collapse (2023): Presented at Espai Souvenir, Barcelona. Installations exploring emotional relationships in the digital age.
Ciutat. El futur no té data (2021): Held at Sala Moncunill, Terrassa. Recognized with a Laus ADG-FAD award in 2022 (catalogue).

Selected publications

City. The Future Has No Date (2021): Book for the Terrassa Comissariat cycle, published by Terrassa Ars Visuals, Sala Moncunill, EspaiDos, and the City Council of Terrassa, Spain. The book won the prestigious 2022 ADG Laus Award (bronze) in Graphic Design and Visual Communication, awarded by FAD (Fomento de las Artes y el Diseño), and also received a bronze in the ADC*E Europe International Design and Advertising Awards.
Speculations on Anonymous Materials (2017): Scientific article published in Artnodes. Journal on Art, Science and Technology, Special Issue: Art & Speculative Futures. The article discusses the materiality of artistic capitalism as a critical response to the aestheticization of everyday life. Indexed scientific journal of the Open University of Catalonia.
The Everyday in Contemporary Artistic Practices: Towards the Poetic-Speculative Regime. The Case of Nicolás Lamas (2016): Scientific article published in Artnodes. Journal on Art, Science and Technology, Art Matters II. Indexed scientific journal of the Open University of Catalonia.
Anxiety of the Temporal Complex (2023): Translation published in Xenomórfica Magazine.
Julia Calvo: The Aesthetics of Ephemeral Materialism (2023): Published in La Colección de textos de Hangar.
Everyday Intervals: The Cycle, the House, and the Routine. Time, Privacy, and Habit in the Vision of Rita Felsky (2022): Published in Revista Dobra, Lisbon.

Participation in conferences and symposia

Alien Times (2023): Conference at La Virreina Centre de la Imatge, Barcelona, alongside Armen Avanessian.
Post-human translation in the fourth phase of global capitalism: digital technologies, sensorial languages and Big Data (2019): Presentation at the UnConference, University of Nicosia, Cyprus.
Speculations on Anonymous Materials (2016): Presentation at the ART AND SPECULATIVE FUTURE conference, Open University of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain.

Awards

ADG Laus Award, Graphic Design category – Bronze (2022).
University of Plymouth Scholarship for international conference participation (2019).
MECAD Scholarship for residency at ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe (2006).

Personal life

Matelli maintains a reserved private life. Her work reflects a commitment to contemporary critical thought and art as a tool for social transformation.