Agenda

Around Stitched Cosmos
On Jennifer West’s Work at Ca’ Foscari

How many ways are there to look at a starry sky? Around Stitched Cosmos, a roundtable taking place on June 29, 2026, in the Berengo Hall at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, attempts to answer this question. The symposium celebrates Los Angeles–based artist Jennifer West, recently named a Guggenheim Fine Art Fellow, who presented Stitched Cosmos, her latest exhibition curated by the duo Francesco Urbano Ragazzi, at the university’s headquarters during the Venice Biennale. Organized by Roberta Dreon, Professor of Aesthetics, the roundtable explores from multiple perspectives the research Jennifer West conducted over the past year at the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

West herself will open the conversation by discussing her engagement with the history of the Harvard Astronomical Computers, a group composed entirely of women who, beginning in the late nineteenth century, profoundly transformed astrophysics while operating from a position of marginality. Approaching the representation of the cosmos through a feminist lens, Jennifer West will reflect on how her works offer a counter-narrative to the colonial and heroic imaginary that continues to shape the renewed race for space.

Following this, the curatorial duo Francesco Urbano Ragazzi will contextualize the work presented by Jennifer West at Ca’ Foscari. Stitched Cosmos constitutes the latest chapter in a series of exhibition projects the duo has organized since 2015 within sites belonging to cultural heritage and now repurposed for the uses of contemporary society. The symposium will therefore provide an opportunity for Francesco Urbano Ragazzi to reflect on the touristification of major art events, the erosion of public space, and curatorial practice as a strategy of insubordination.

Finally, the discussion will involve seven faculty members from the university, each representing excellence in a different field of research. Roberta Dreon, who will also chair the discussion, will emphasize the need to understand aesthetics and sensibility as fundamental dimensions of human cognition. Luigi Perissinotto, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy of Language, will offer a reflection on the role of artists in addressing philosophical questions. Cristina Baldacci will approach Jennifer West’s work from the perspective of the history of photography and image ecology. Miriam De Rosa will reflect on the transition from analog to digital regimes of image production. Matteo Cosci and Craig Edwin Martin will provide an overview of representations of the cosmos from the perspectives of the history of philosophy and the history of science, respectively. Finally, Sofia Alexandratos will connect Jennifer West’s work to contemporary feminist practices.

By presenting some of the infinite ways in which one may look at a starry sky, Around Stitched Cosmos seeks to foreground one of Venice’s most important public institutions, while reclaiming a democratic and plural understanding of knowledge.

Full program in attachment.

The event will be available streamed online at this link