Emilio Vavarella

{{Infobox artist

| name = Emilio Vavarella

| image = File:Emilio Vavarella.jpg

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| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1989}}

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| nationality = Italian

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| notable_works = The Google Trilogy (2012)

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| website = {{URL|http://emiliovavarella.com/}}

| education = University of Bologna, Iuav University of Venice, Harvard University

}}

Emilio Vavarella (born 1989){{cite web|last=Bright|first=Richard|url=https://www.interaliamag.org/interviews/emilio-vavarella/|title=On TRANSIC ONMORPHOSIS: an interview with Emilio Vavarella and Fito Segrera (interview)|publisher=INTERALIA MAGAZINE|date=June 2015|accessdate=2023-02-28}} is an Italian artist and researcher based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Vavarella is best known for his 2012 work The Google Trilogy, which received attention for its early contribution to new media art and post internet art.{{cite web|last=Vanhemert|first=Kyle|title=These Glitches From Google Maps Are Worthy of an Art Gallery|url=https://www.wired.com/2013/12/incredible-glitches-from-google-street-view/|publisher=Wired|date=December 2013|access-date=2023-02-28}}{{cite news|last=Mcmullan|first=Thomas|url=https://www.wired.co.uk/article/photographers-gallery-internet-photography |title=These photos capture the invisible workers of the internet|publisher=Wired|date=October 2018 |access-date=2023-02-28}}

Education

Emilio Vavarella received a BA in Fine Art, Visual, Cultural and Media Studies from the University of Bologna in Italy in 2011. He received an MFA in Visual Arts from Iuav University of Venice.{{cite web|last=Totaro |first=Giada |url=http://digicult.it/articles/thought-is-my-main-medium-interview-with-emilio-vavarella/|title=Thought is My Main Medium. Interview With Emilio Vavarella |publisher=igicult.it|date=July 2020|access-date=2023-02-28}}

Career

Emilio Vavarella's first major work came to prominence in 2013 with The Google Trilogy, a three-part series documenting artistic errors in Google Maps.{{cite news|last=Kleinman|first=Alexis|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/google-street-view-art_n_4507822|title=Google Street View Glitches Become Beautiful Art|publisher=Huffington Post|date=December 2013|access-date=2023-03-21}}

From 2013 to 2016, Vavarella worked on the Harvestworks TEAM Lab in Digital Media Production in New York City. He served as an expert advisor to the MAXXI Museum in Rome and for Sony Computer Science Laboratory in Paris in 2021, both as part of a European Commission-led initiative to support work at the intersection of science, technology, and art.{{cite web|title=About S+T+ARTS: Innovation at the nexus of science, technology, and the arts|publisher=S+T+ARTS|url=https://starts.eu/about/|accessdate=2023-02-28}} In 2021, Vavarella was artist-in-residence at University of Milan as part of a project funded by the European Research Council.{{cite web|url=https://an-icon.unimi.it/calendars/an-icon-residency-12-atelier-emilio-vavarella-the-italian-job-job-n-3-lazy-sunday/|title=AN-ICON RESIDENCY – 12° Atelier "Emilio Vavarella: THE ITALIAN JOB – Job n. 3, Lazy Sunday"|accessdate=2023-03-21}}

In 2023, Emilio Vavarella served as advisor of the Italian pavilion of the Venice Biennale in the 18th International Architecture Exhibition, curated by Lesley Lokko.{{cite news|url=https://www.labiennale.org/en/news/biennale-architettura-2023-laboratory-future-0|title=BIENNALE ARCHITETTURA 2023: THE LABORATORY OF THE FUTURE|date=February 2023|accessdate=2023-03-21}}

Vavarella has been an artist-in-residence at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard{{cite web|title=Artist-in-residence: Emilio Vavarella|url=https://www.broadinstitute.org/bios/emilio-vavarella|publisher=Broad Institute|accessdate=2023-02-28}} in Cambridge, Massachusetts and a 2023 Harvard Horizons Scholar.{{cite news|title=Announcing the 2023 Harvard Horizons Scholars|url=https://gsas.harvard.edu/news/stories/announcing-2023-harvard-horizons-scholars|publisher=Harvard University|date=December 2022|accessdate=2023-02-28}}

Vavarella is currently Assistant Professor of Media and Film Studies at Skidmore College.{{Cite web |title=Emilio Vavarella |url=https://www.skidmore.edu/media-film/faculty/EmilioVavarella.php |access-date=2025-04-16 |website=www.skidmore.edu}}

Exhibitions

In 2022, Emilio Vavarella was selected by the Zegna Foundation to create a series of works based on Zegna's history in luxury textile production and the reforestation work of Oasi Zegna in the Biellese Alps, Piedmont, Italy.{{cite news|last=Romagnoli|first=Simona|url=https://www.lastampa.it/biella/2022/05/29/news/l_altra_forma_delle_cose_nell_arte_di_emilio_vavarella_le_due_anime_della_famiglia_zegna-5065503/|title="The other form of things": the two souls of the Zegna family in the art of Emilio Vavarella (translated from Italian)|publisher=La Stampa|date=May 2022}}{{cite news|last=De Angelis|first=Piermario|url=https://www.juliet-artmagazine.com/en/emilio-vavarella-at-casa-zegna-the-breathing-of-a-code-the-other-shape-of-things-aas47692-picea-abies/|title=Emilio Vavarella at Casa Zegna. The breathing of a code: the other shape of things (AAS47692 / Picea Abies)|publisher=Juliet Art Magazine|date=June 2022}} Vavarella's exhibition, titled The Other Shape of Things, used the DNA sequence of a Norwegian spruce tree to create objects using natural materials, weaving, data analysis, and digital elaboration.

Art from The Other Shape of Things series has also been hosted in exhibitions at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, and in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art of Bologna, Italy.{{cite news|title=CYFEST at ITMO's AIR Space: Who Are You, and Who Am I?|url=https://news.itmo.ru/en/news/12227/|publisher=iTMO News|date=November 2021}}{{cite web|title=Learning at CYFEST|url=https://www.cyfest.art/learning-13|accessdate=2023-02-28}}

Literature

In addition to his artistic work, Vavarella has presented his ideas in the form of interdisciplinary books and essays, usually focusing on topics like philosophy and technology. Mousse Publishing, Italy, published his latest book titled rs548049170_1_69869_TT, which contains thoughts and visuals based on his series The Other Shapes of Me, where his mother produced a tapestry using his genetic code and a jacquard loom.{{cite web|title=Emilio Vavarella: Re/presentation|date=January 2023|url=https://zero.eu/en/eventi/271772-emilio-vavarella-re-presentation,bologna/|accessdate=2023-02-28}}{{cite web|url=https://www.artforum.com/picks/emilio-vavarella-86407|title=BOLOGNA: Emilio Vavarella, GALLLERIAPIÙ|last=Santi|first=Veronica|publisher=Artforum|accessdate=2023-03-27}}