Born and raised in Italy, I am a visual artist, philosopher and cognitive scientist who now lives and works in Wassenaar, The Netherlands. In 2006 I obtained a PhD in Cognitive Science from the University of Birmingham (UK) and in 2019 I graduated from the Hoogeschool voor de Kunst Utrecht (NL) with a Master in Fine Arts. Building on my previous experience as a researcher, my artistic practice is research-based and addresses the human/nature/food system by making art games using drawings, short stories and ceramic objects.

Interested in the significant otherness of non-human living organisms, I often work through the ethical implications of believing that humans and non-humans share an equal moral status, questioning the relationship, often abusive, that our species engages with other species. The human / animal / food construct names the entanglement of nature and culture via a conceptualization of the animal as essentially “livestock”. The notion of animal as livestock is widely accepted and seems to be neutral, but actually it is not: it implies a certain way of looking at the animal and, as the reverse of the coin, a certain way of determining us, as humans. Even though the concept of animal as livestock may seem natural, the truth is that there is no “natural concept of animal”, or there are many concepts of animal, each of which appears to be natural if taken in isolation from the others, but whenever we look at them at the same time the overall picture becomes very controversial, and claims of “naturality” must be dropped, because the different views on animals are often contradictory. This means that the concept of animal is polysemic, it takes on different meanings depending on how it is opposed to human, so actually it shades light on what it means to be human. Analyzing it may provide insights to overcome a concept of human that is too narrow or too anthropocentric. There are many possibilities for looking at animals: the concept of animal as livestock is very dominant in Western culture, but paradoxically it is coupled with the concept of animal as pet. By showing all the possibilities we have for looking at animals, the idea is to present a vast space which may contain also the possibility of the animal as the relevant other. Also, every possible choice for definition of animal entails a definition of ourselves and sheds light on what we take ourselves to be. How do we - as humans - want to define ourselves?

I am currently exploring how the combination of art and gaming techniques can enhance awareness and responsibility, and help the development of values such as sustainability and resilience but also openness, tolerance and empathy, which are needed for inclusive and sustainable multispecies societies to emerge. Usually games are distinguished from open play because they have clearly defined rules and ending points; for me, art games are defined as games that are much closer to play, in the sense that their rules are loosely defined, new elements — and sometimes also new rules — can be introduced by the players themselves, and the playful element becomes predominant and may even overcome the rules.) My art-game Promise Me has been played during Alienated, 38CC, Delft, NL (2021) and at the Technische Universiteit Delft as a test-case to investigate how to increase players’ responsibility towards a game topic (in collaboration with game researcher Annebeth Erdbrink).

Besides my artistic research work, I also explore various ceramic building techniques and use them to make ceramic jewelry. My ceramic jewelry is inspired by 17th and 18th century porcelain, such as Capodimonte, Vincennes and Sèvres.

My work has been presented in group exhibitions including Swap City, SKAR, Rotterdam (2024), IF IT IS A GARDEN, Toni Areal ZHdK, Kunstraum, Zurich, Switzerland (2022), W139 HOSTS …, W139, Amsterdam, NL (2022); ART. 1, AG Ruimte voor nieuwe kunst en media, Utrecht, NL (2022); Futures Without, BAK, Utrecht, NL (2019); Ginkgo routes - The ways of the Ginkgo, Oude Hortus, Utrecht, NL (2018).