EMILIO VAVARELLA

Part of the Polifonie Italiane programme

Curated by Camilla Salvaneschi and Angela Vettese

Developed in collaboration with the Dipartimento di Culture del Progetto, Polifonie italiane is curated by Camilla Salvaneschi and Angela Vettese. The series brings together exhibitions featuring works by artists trained at the Università Iuav di Venezia. Previous exhibitions have highlighted the work of Caterina Erica Shanta, Diego Tonus, Elena Mazzi, Diego Marcon, Giuseppe Di Liberto and Valentina Furian. The series continues with Notes for a Vertical Cinema (2026), a video work by visual artist Emilio Vavarella.
The event is part of the Salotto Longhena project, which brings together all the initiatives organised by MUVE in collaboration with IUAV University of Venice since 2016.

Notes for a Vertical Cinema is a film composed of fragments of vertical videos. All materials were generated within the constraints of a smartphone screen, using its technical limitations to reveal a media feed in which commodified attention and algorithmic aesthetics are rendered as moving images. The film is conceived as a set of notes, screen recordings, swipes, notifications, selfies, and scrolls, reorganized as a constant unfolding of vertical modes of seeing, thinking, and being.

Image: Notes for a Vertical Cinema (2026)
Video in HD, 00:12:12, aspect ratio 9:16, colors, sound.

Emilio Vavarella (PhD, Harvard University) is an artist and researcher working at the intersection of interdisciplinary art practice, theoretical inquiry, and media experimentation. His work has been shown at the 18th Venice Biennale – International Architecture Exhibition (Italian Pavilion), MAXXI Museum (Rome), Museo Reina Sofia (Madrid), Hermitage Museum (St. Petersburg), The Photographers’ Gallery (London), KANAL – Centre Pompidou (Brussels), MAMbo – Modern Art Museum (Bologna), Madre – Museum of Contemporary Art (Napoli), Museum of Contemporary Art (Zagreb), Museu de Ciències Naturals (Barcelona), National Museum of Fine Arts (Santiago), Museum of Contemporary Art Vojvodina (Novi Sad), MBAL Museum (Switzerland), National Art Center (Tokyo), Eyebeam Art + Technology Center (New York), Off – Biennale (Cairo), BJCEM – Mediterranean Biennale, and Kyiv Biennial, among others. His films have screened at Toronto’s Images Festival; Torino Film Festival, Jeu de Paume (Paris), HKW – Haus der Kulturen der Welt (Berlin), and at various media art festivals including EMAF – European Media Art Festival (Osnabrück), JMAF – Japan Media Arts Festival (Tokyo), Filmwinter – Festival for Expanded Media (Stuttgart), and NYEAF – New York Electronic Arts Festival. Vavarella is the recipient of numerous fellowships, art prizes and grants, including a prestigious Italian Council award (2019). His work is regularly discussed in art magazines and academic publications. Vavarella is Assistant Professor of Media and Film Studies at Skidmore College. He holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University, an MA from Iuav University and a BA from the University of Bologna.