In this section, explore the profiles of Stefano Arienti, Chiara Bettazzi, Giuseppe Calliari, Francesca Cristellotti, Stefano Giovanazzi, Alessio Kogoj, Carlo La Manna, Giuseppe Marcadent, Isa Nebl, Morena Quardi, Stefano Riba, Luca Salvagno, Francesca Verga e Denis Viva, exceptional guests and main speakers at the conferences and side events scheduled for Cianfrusaglie 2025, as well as the activities of the cultural organizations involved in the programming: AAC Archivio Arte Contemporanea Rovereto, AR/GE KUNST Bolzano, ACS Associazione Creatori di Suoni Rome, Federazione Provinciale Scuole Materne Trento, Foto Forum Bolzano, Numero Civico Rovereto.
People
Discover the biographies of the curators and guests of Cianfrusaglie 2025: meet the protagonists of the conferences, workshops, and exhibitions, and get involved in their unique experiences
Stefano Arienti
Stefano Arienti was born in 1961 in Asola, in the Mantovano region, into a family of peasant origins. He spent his childhood in an old farmhouse in the Po Valley countryside. As a young boy, he developed an interest in scientific studies, and in the late 1970s, he moved to Milan to attend the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, where he graduated in 1986. During his studies, he met some young artists of the Milanese avant-garde, including Corrado Levi, who would become his first mentor. He made his artistic debut without any formal academic training: his creativity was sparked by reflections that ranged from biology to art history, from an attraction to Eastern culture to a love for nature, along with a passion for collecting, which he developed from childhood.
In 1985, he participated in his first group exhibition with “Muffe,” intervening with colored chalks on the cracked and damp walls of the former electric motor factory Brown Boveri in the Isola district of Milan. From the outset, it is evident that a constant in the artist’s methodology will be: intervening on existing images, objects, or surfaces to give them a new appearance and meaning. Subsequently, he exhibited in Ferrara and Milan; in 1986, he held his first solo show at Corrado Levi’s Studio, and in 1989, he organized an exhibition at Studio Guenzani. There, he presented to the public the series “Alghe” (Algae), long and light strips of colored plastic hanging from above, and “Turbine,” sculptures made from folding magazine pages and industrial paper volumes. In both cases, the processual aspect of creating the work—as well as the choice of materials, derived from everyday reality—is central.
Chiara Bettazzi
Chiara Bettazzi, lives and works in Prato. She is an artist and founder of the Ex Industrial space on Via Genova; for years she has been exploring contemporary languages within the industrial landscape of the Prato territory. Always interested in initiating processes of awareness and reappropriation of abandoned spaces, she constantly dedicates herself to her artistic research, promoting contemporary art and creating numerous connections with artists, musicians, and independent spaces in the area. In 2005, she opened her studio SC17 (www.sc17.it), revitalizing the area of the former Bini wool mill. Her entire work, constantly in contact with industrial archaeology buildings, is deeply connected to a reflection on everyday objects. Her approach moves along the fine line of pathology typical of contemporary society—on one side oriented towards disposability and on the other towards compulsive accumulation of objects of dubious utility. For years, she has been dedicated to the artistic direction of various contemporary culture projects, transforming SC17 into a territorial research project with which she creates collaborations with different professionals. In 2015, she launched the TAI – Tuscan Art Industry project (www.tuscanartindustry.com), a contemporary workshop reimagining a new concept of productive reconversion within the former Tuscan industries. Since 2016, she has coordinated the continuously active Industrial Heritage Map laboratory, which maps and archives the industrial heritage of the city of Prato and the Val di Bisenzio area. Her works are included in public and private collections, including: Castello di Ama Siena, Museo di Santa Maria della Scala Siena, Farnesina Collection in Rome, Casa Masaccio Centro per l’arte contemporanea in San Giovanni Valdarno.
Giuseppe Calliari
Author of monographs – Ferruccio Busoni (2011), Laurence Feininger (2022) – and contributions on Mozart, Zandonai, Dionisi. Curator of the writings on music by Andrea Mascagni (1998) and critical biographies of Trentino musicians. Texts for composers – lyric poetry for chamber music, choral pages, theatrical scenes in music – and projects that intertwine music and literature.
Francesca Cristellotti
[Evelina Tigliz pseudonym of Francesca Cristellotti] She studied at the Bologna Accademia of Fine Arts and took Jazz singing lessons at Il Paese degli Specchi school in Bologna. She is a singer, composer, and curator, working on sound-visual installations and soundtracks for artist videos. From 1993 to 1995 in Bologna, she gained experience as a singer in the experimental rock band Sissy Jupe. In 1995, she participated in Merano in “L’ordine regna soprano” with Gas, for solo voice. In Rovereto, at Teatro Zandonai, at the “Concerto Grosso Città Sonore 1,” she presented Trains, for voice, trumpet, piano, percussion, and keyboard. In Trento, at Auditorium S. Chiara, for “Concerto Grosso Città Sonore 2,” she performed Song for Two Elements, for voice and live electronics. In Pergine Valsugana TN, at Castel Pergine, on the occasion of “ONDINE – modes of being of sound” with Luciano Olzer, she presented the piece Voice in Toasted Paper, for voice and live electronics. In 1996, at FABRIKA in Rovereto, she presented the performance Soundtrack as part of artist Maria Salvati’s installation “Itinerario.” In Prato, at the Pecci Museum, she participated in “Performance” with Luca Quartana and Francesco Dal Bosco. In 1997, she presented Old Ocean Water (Vecchio Oceano) at Falck 44 in Sesto San Giovanni, at Molto Spazio Multimedia in Milan, and at Discoteca Plastic. That same year, she composed the soundtrack for the video La Quête by director Daniela Luzzini. In 1998, she performed NON visual/audio event at Sala Espositiva Malpaga, Trento. In 1999, in Bologna, at “Mission Impossible,” she re-presented Old Ocean Water (Vecchio Oceano), in a multimedia event. In 2000, in Rovereto and at Drake Bookstore in Trento, she presented What other life would you want? (Che vita altrimenti vorresti?)—a poetic-sound installation of small herbivores. In 2001, at Teatro Luigi Bon in Colugna, she participated in Bismillah Fedele d’Amore. Dante and Rumi, a video installation. In 2006, at Castello Colonna in Genazzano, she presented Day, a sound installation. In 2008, in Lana, she curated I’m so free, a sound performance with the audience.
Stefano Giovanazzi
Founder and curator of AAC Contemporary Art Archive of Rovereto. Graduated from the Rovereto State High School (TN) and subsequently from the State Art Institute in Trento. In the early 1980s, he attended the Venice Academy of Fine Arts, where he graduated in Painting with artist Emilio Vedova. Since 1994, he has been the president of the cultural association Numero Civico. Over more than thirty years of activity, he has curated events related to contemporary art and thought, and his collaborations with artists, musicians, writers, museums, and cultural institutions are noteworthy. These include partnerships with the Italian Senate, the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities, the Canadian Embassy, the Basque Government (Spain), the Cervantes Institute (Spain), The British Council (United Kingdom), the French Ministry of Culture, the French Institute, and the Goethe-Institut (Germany).
Alessio Kogoj
Alessio Kogoj is an author, director, and actor; he is the creator of numerous contemporary theater performances, youth theater productions, and art performances. In 1996, he founded ‘I Teatri Soffiati,’ a company active across the national scene and beyond. Since then, he has been consistently involved in live performance theater. He creates and produces works of contemporary theater and research, theater for children, theatrical storytelling, theater training, and arts event organization. In 1998, he received the Meritorious Artist Award from the Trentino-Alto Adige Region. In 2001, he earned a degree in Sociology with a thesis in Theatrical Anthropology and Theater. He served as the artistic director of the Centro Teatro del Comune di Trento – Youth Policies from 2010 to 2013. He continues his personal research in the fields of theatrical anthropology and contemporary theater.
Carlo La Manna
Contrabassist, narrator, and composer from Trentino, intertwining jazz, contemporary music, and sound research. Collaborations with Arvo Pärt, Philip Glass, Antonella Ruggiero, Giovanni Sollima, Marco Ambrosini, and Daniele Di Bonaventura. Over twenty recordings, including Te Audire (2025), a project that combines music, vision, and spirituality.
Giuseppe Marcadent
Ceramist. Initially graduated from a technical industrial institute, he later had the opportunity to start working in the creation of ceramics. Thus, his path changed radically. He obtained a diploma in “Ceramics Art” from the State Art Institute of Este (PD) and the qualification of “Professional Master and Qualified Artisan” in Bolzano. Artisan and artist, he creates ceramics for an audience that looks to the Eastern world, both refined and attentive to artifacts that require great technical and scientific skill for their realization. As a master artisan and restorer, he is one of the leading experts in the restoration of maiolica stoves from the Renaissance to the present day, skilled in creating and producing contemporary stoves—some particularly innovative—as well as a creative designer of new furniture objects. From an educational perspective, he is particularly active: he organizes manipulation, discovery, and play itineraries with clay for preschool children, ceramic workshops for primary school children, innovative ceramic courses using Paper clay for secondary school students, and thematic monographic courses such as the one on the ancient construction of “olle” stoves and the art of ceramics in Trentino, held at the Museum of Customs and Traditions of the Trentino People in San Michele all’Adige (TN).
Isa Nebl
She lives and works in Cles, where she alternates her activity as a painter and illustrator with that of an atelierist at the La Coccinella cooperative. Graduated in applied arts and specialized at the International School of Engraving and Lithography “Il Bisonte” in Florence, she loves inventing dreamlike and enigmatic characters, which she creates using screen printing and a mixed technique of acrylic painting and collage.
Morena Quardi
She taught for 42 years at the San Martino Preschool in Trento. She is the President of the Grazie alla Vita Cooperative in Mezzolombardo (TN); Vice President of the San Martino Institute of Trento (founded on October 11, 1898, and the original ‘nursery’ San Martino). She has promoted training courses organized by Diesse (Didactics and School Innovation). Always attentive to a creative approach in the educational relationship with children, she has never missed an opportunity to introduce them to the world of art. Museums such as the Museo Provinciale d’Arte “Palazzo delle Albere” (later Mart), the Civic Gallery, the S. Chiara Center, and the Diocesan Museum were the usual destinations related to educational activities. Together with Lorenza Nardelli and Maria Teresa Fiorillo, she co-authored the book “Maestra, non sono capace” (Teacher, I’m not capable), published by the Preschool Education Service of the Autonomous Province of Trento. She also curated, in collaboration with Francesca Cristellotti and Stefano Giovanazzi, the monograph “Cianfrusaglie. L’Asilo San Martino di Trento e il metodo delle sorelle Agazzi” (Junk. The San Martino Nursery in Trento and the method of the Sister Agazzi) published by the San Martino Institute.
Stefano Riba
Stefano Riba began working with art in 2002 as a technician and installer. At the time, while physically setting up and dismantling exhibitions in galleries and museums, Riba was also engaged in research for his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Aesthetics. This mental and physical attitude towards artistic practice has never left me. Today, Stefano Riba is a curator, but also a professional installer; he is a writer as well as an artist’s assistant; Riba is a gallery owner but also a craftsman. Over the past decade, he has worked with/at: Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Museum Ludwig Köln, Fondazione Merz, Castello di Rivoli, Museion, Ar/Ge Kunst, Hangar Bicocca, Manifesta 9 Genk, Venice Biennale, Galleria Giorgio Persano, Galleria Michela Rizzo, Galeria Marso. I have written articles and reviews for Flash Art, Alias, Il Manifesto, Artribune. In 2012, Stefano Riba co-founded PrintAboutMe Micro-Press, an independent publishing house, and in the same year, he founded VAN DER, a sort of commercial gallery. Since 2014, he has curated Passi Erratici, an annual exhibition on art and mountain that takes place every July at the National Mountain Museum in Turin. Stefano Riba lives between Turin and Bolzano. Since October 2016, Stefano Riba has been a contract professor for Exhibit Design and an studio assistant for the STUDIO EXHIBIT within the Bachelor’s Degree in Art at the Faculty of Design and Arts of the Free University of Bozen.
Luca Salvagno
After graduating from the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice, he made his debut in 1988 in “Messaggero dei Ragazzi”; in the 1990s, Benito Jacovitti took him on in 1996 as an assistant for coloring the Cocco Bill series published in “Giornalino,” and upon Jacovitti’s death in 1997, he took over the series, continuing it. He has also created book illustrations for the “Mondadori Junior” series and for the new edition of Enzo Biagi’s “History of Italy in Comics” and “History of the World in Comics” by Mondadori. Among his original series are “Asinus,” published in “Messaggero dei Ragazzi,” and “Cacio Galilla.” In 2005, some episodes of the “Fioretti di San Francesco” were collected into a volume. He is also a teacher at the Art High School in Este.
Francesca Verga
Francesca Verga is co-artistic director of Ar/Ge Kunst, the Kunstverein in Bolzano, and is involved in curation, writing, management, and research in contemporary arts. She was assistant curator of the Italian Pavilion at the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia (2024). She holds a PhD from the Department of Art and Culture at the University of Amsterdam (2022). She was the curatorial coordinator of Manifesta 13 (Marseille, 2020) and the general coordinator of Manifesta 12 (Palermo, 2018).
Denis Viva
Associate Professor, Department of Humanities, University of Trento
Member of the PhD School in European Cultures, Department of Humanities, University of Trento
Member of the Open Science Committee, University of Trento
Director of Palinsesti, an online journal of Italian contemporary art, published by TESEO – University of Trento
https://teseo.unitn.it/palinsesti Member of the International Network for Research Training in Art History (Réseau International pour la Formation à la Recherche en Histoire de l’Art) https://www.proartibus.org/membres
Member of the Kuratorium Foundation – VAF-Stiftung
Projects: October 2023 – October 2025 Border Art(E)scapes. Coordinator of the Research Unit leading the University of Trento’s team. Principal Investigator: Prof. Giorgio Bacci (University of Florence); other units include Prof. Chiara Brambilla (University of Bergamo), Prof. Valentina Porcellana (University of Aosta), Prof. Caterina Toschi (University for Foreigners of Siena). June 2023 XXI Spring School – RIFHA Organization of the XXI Spring School “Art and Science. Materiality and Mediality,” University of Trento. Curated by Denis Ribouillault, Eva Struhal, and Denis Viva. October 2022 – December 2024 Exhibition Office (Officina Espositiva). Main research project supported within the three-year plan of the Department of Humanities, University of Trento. April 2020 – August 2022 The History of Art in Secondary Schools. Main research project supported by CeASUM, University of Trento.
Seminars and workshops on teaching art history in high schools. 2018-2019
VARIA: Collaborator for the Trentino-Alto Adige Region. Census of video archives in Italy for the web database https://varia.cultura.gov.it/ April 19, 2013 – April 18, 2016 CAPTI. Researcher of the Research Unit supported by the “FIRB 2012” grant from the Ministry of Education, University, and Research. “Disseminating Visual Culture: Contemporary Art through Periodicals, Archives, and Illustrations”: The project focused on the history and development of Italian art magazines from 1945 to 1980 through publications, conferences, and the digitization of these magazines into a web database www.capti.it.
Istitutions and associations
Discover the host institutions of Cianfrusaglie 2025.
AAC Archivio Arte Contemporanea
The materials of the exhibition come from the Contemporary Art Archive, a repository of objects and ideas that condenses some of the most expressive experiences of contemporary thought. Conceived by Stefano Giovanazzi in 1980, over the years the archive has collected and preserved 180,000 documents — artworks, artist books, monographs and periodicals, sound recordings, videos, ephemera, posters, and photographs — testimonies of encounters with the protagonists of contemporary art and some of the most important figures in contemporary philosophical and literary reflection. From its beginnings in Venice, acquisitions have undergone various accelerations. Today, the archive promotes the most innovative experiences of contemporary art through loans and by curating projects in collaboration with academies, museums, foundations, and other institutions. The research for documents particularly focuses on ‘movements’: Futurism, Dadaism, Informal, Neodada, Pop Art, Optical Art and Kinetic Art, Conceptual Art and Minimalism, Arte Povera, Transavanguardia, New New; Situationism and the Student Movement (’68, ’77), Utopianism and Science Fiction, Feminism.
AR/GE KUNST
Ar/Ge Kunst, Kunstverein of Bolzano, was founded in 1985 in the premises of Via Museo 29. The name Ar/Ge Kunst derives from the abbreviation of Arbeitsgemeinschaft (working group), indicating the aim of promoting the idea of collective work and also referring to something uncomfortable and unexpected (from the German word arge). The goal is to consider the kunstverein as a hub for research and production in contemporary arts, where each new creation is shaped within a work group coming from different sectors, to reflect on social, legal, and artistic issues.
ACS Associazione Creatori di Suoni
The Creators of Sounds Association was founded in Rome in 1998 under the name ARI Italian Rumorists Association. Today, it represents nearly all Italian sound effect creators. Few people know that, typically in cinema, the sound events recorded live are mainly the voices of the actors on set. All other sounds, including sound effects and the film’s soundtrack, are produced at a different time from the filming. Sound effects are composed of ‘ambiences’ — traffic, rain, wind, etc. — which characterize a scene throughout; ‘special’ effects — cars, planes, gunshots, fires, etc. — synchronized with specific scene events; and ‘production sounds’ or ‘Foley’ — footsteps, fabric rustling, object movements, etc. — which reproduce the sounds and noises produced by the actors on set.
In particular, Foley artists use everyday objects, often simple ‘knick-knacks,’ arranged on a work surface in a specially equipped recording studio. The Foley artist’s task is to record the sounds and noises that give ‘spatiality’ to the scene imagined by the director and screenwriter, transforming a ‘working copy’—with image sequences lacking sound—into the film we enjoy in cinemas.
The Provincial Federation of Nursery Schools of Trento
The Provincial Federation of Nursery Schools of Trento is an association of autonomous preschools. Founded in 1950, it currently comprises 130 affiliated schools, divided into 20 coordination circles. The Federation provides numerous services to the schools, including institutional, management, organizational, legal, and union-related support, as well as more specifically educational, pedagogical-didactic, scientific, cultural, and social services.
Foto Forum
Foto Forum is a platform dedicated to photography that hosts exhibitions, events, talks, workshops, laboratories, and photographic books. Founded in 1994 in Bolzano, the gallery’s exhibition program features works by both national and international photographers, ranging from emerging talents to established artists across various genres: artistic, documentary, and conceptual photography. In recent years, the association’s activities have expanded to include an educational and experiential section to promote photography on new levels, aimed at a broader audience. We believe it is particularly important to support the new generations. We consider photography as part of society, through which photographers engage and interpret the complexity of reality using different languages. The gallery is an open space, a place of encounter, information, and exchange for people interested in photography and visual culture. The artistic directorate is composed of Sabine Gamper, Quirin Prünster, Stefano Riba, Anni Seligman, Martino Stelzer, and Gunther Waibl.
Numero Civico
The cultural association Numero Civico promotes contemporary arts and thought through a series of everyday practices aimed at fostering sharing, production, management, and preservation; it facilitates relationships among artists, existing cultural institutions, collectors, and the public; and it participates in the conception, planning, and management of cultural and exhibition events.
Founded in Rovereto in 1994, since the beginning of its activity, Numero Civico has collaborated with numerous important national and international institutions.
Museums and Centers: Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea “L. Pecci”, Prato; MART – Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto, Trento and Rovereto (TN); La Biennale di Venezia, Venice; Galleria Civica d’Arte Contemporanea, Trento; ICA – Institute of Contemporary Art, London; Museo Tridentino di Scienze Naturali, Trento; MUSE – Museum of Science, Trento; Castello del Buonconsiglio Museum, Trento.
Foundations: La Biennale di Venezia, Archivio Boetti Foundation, Fiumara d’Arte Foundation, Daniel Spoerri Garden Foundation, Accorsi Foundation, Achille Marazza Foundation, Antonio Ratti Foundation, Arnaldo Pomodoro Foundation, Tito Balestra Foundation, Bandera Foundation for Art, Baruchello Foundation, Bevilacqua La Masa Foundation, Cargaleiro Foundation, Order of Architects Foundation, Stelline Foundation, Orestiadi High Culture Foundation, Roberto Longhi Foundation, Italian Foundation for Photography, Lanfranco Baldi Foundation, Luciana Matalon Foundation, Lucio Fontana Foundation, Magnani Rocca Foundation, Mazzullo Foundation, Mudima Foundation, Morra Foundation, Nicola Trussardi Foundation, Palazzo Albizzini-Burri Foundation, Palazzo Bricherasio Foundation, Pistoletto Foundation, Prada Foundation, Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Foundation, Querini Stampalia Scientific Foundation, Southeritage Foundation, Teseco Foundation, Zappettini Foundation, Kunst Merano Arte, FAI Italian Environment Fund, Palazzo della Permanente, La Casabianca Malo, Celli Farm-Collezione Gori.
Galleries and Cultural Associations: CRAM, Mezzocorona (TN), Galleria Mazzoli, Modena, Galleria Massimo Minini, Brescia, Studio Guenzani, Milan, Galleria Continua, San Gimignano (SI), Antonio Colombo Gallery, Milan, Molto Multimedia Gallery, Milan, C/O, Milan, Kunstforum, Merano (BZ), Artforum, Merano (BZ), Arge-Kunst, Bolzano, Foto Forum, Bolzano, Galleria Marabini, Bologna, Galerie Thoman, Innsbruck [A], Galleria Il Castello, Trento, Galleria Improvvisazione Prima, Trento, Interzona, Verona, Galleria Neon, Bologna, Galleria Fabbrica Eos, Milan, Mairania857, Merano (BZ), Veragouth Arte Contemporanea, Lugano [CH], VIAINDUSTRIAE association, Foligno, Werkbank, Lana (BZ), Ziggurat, Trento. Government and governmental institutions: Senate of the Italian Republic, Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities, Canadian Embassy, Basque Government (Spain), Cervantes Institute of Culture (Spain), The British Council (United Kingdom), French Ministry of Culture, Institut Français (France), Goethe Institut (Germany).
Enti ed altre istituzioni: University of Trento, Bezirksamt Treptow von Berlin, City of Berlin, “Antonio Stradivari” School of Luthiery in Cremona, “F. Depero” Art Institute in Rovereto TN, Rovereto and Vallagarina Tourist Promotion Agency (APT), Trento Tourist Promotion Agency (APT), Vallagarina District, Adige Intermunicipal Business Consortium (BIM), Artisans and Small Businesses Association of the Province of Trento.
Regions and Provinces: Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol Region, Autonomous Province of Trento, Autonomous Province of Bolzano.
Municipal administrations: Municipality of Ala TN, Municipality of Besenello TN, Municipality of Bolzano, Municipality of Borgo Valsugana TN, Municipality of Brentonico TN, Municipality of Calliano TN, Municipality of Foligno PG, Municipality of Isera TN, Municipality of Mori TN, Municipality of Merano BZ, Municipality of Venice, Municipality of Trento, Municipality of Rovereto TN, Municipality of Ronzo-Chienis TN, Municipality of Ruffrè TN, Municipality of Villa Lagarina TN, Municipality of Volano TN.
