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Tell us about your academic path.
I come from an interdisciplinary background, with studies in modern languages and literature (Russian and German) at Ca' Foscari and an interest in contemporary and socialist Central and Eastern European art and visual culture. My studies have always been accompanied by professional experience and study trips, especially to Moscow and Berlin. After completing my PhD with a thesis on the Russian pavilion at the Venice Biennale, I started working with the Centre for Studies in Russian Art in our Department. For the past three years I have been on a Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant entitled "A cultural history of comparative art practices and receptions in Cold War Europe (1945-1991)", which took me to California and Germany.

Let’s talk about you: what is your background, what do you teach, and what are your research interests?
Since school I have been interested in foreign languages, art history and geography. My passion for teaching came later, from my experiences abroad as a teacher of Italian and my first contract courses at Ca' Foscari in Russian and Eastern European art history. My teaching activity as associate professor began less than three months ago, and currently only remotely. I teach contemporary art and curatorship for the English curriculum of the Master's degree programme in Economics and Management of Arts and Cultural Activities. Among my most recent research interests, the cultural, artistic and exhibition history of the Cold War deserves a special place.

The area you have always wanted to be involved in but have not yet had the opportunity to explore?
I would like to explore the route of visual imagology. Imagology originated in the field of comparative studies in order to study the representation of literary images through stereotypes directed both towards oneself (self-stereotypes) and towards the outside world (hetero-stereotypes). For years I have dreamed of applying this methodology to study the artistic construction of national character and its reception. The University of Amsterdam has a centre that focuses on imagology: I would like to make contact sooner or later and explore possible insights into figurative art and exhibitions.

What are you most passionate about in your research?
I would say I am passionate about many things, but they all stem from the combination of skills and knowledge from different disciplinary, cultural and geographical fields. Like being able to read (written and visual) texts from other cultures, in other languages, or to combine the study of exhibition history with actual exhibitions. Or having the chance to visit exhibitions and talk about them in the classroom or - when it will be possible again - to have classes right here, close to the works and the people involved in setting them up. I also like to dive into art archives and consult first-hand sources. It's also a good excuse to disconnect for a few hours and work analogue: a real luxury, which is why I meticulously schedule my visits.

What do teaching and researching mean to you?
I think the two activities complement each other. In my own, admittedly short, teaching experience, I have found that being able to formulate and communicate key concepts verbally - and with the support of images - is an excellent way of clarifying ideas and overcoming deadlocks in your research. That said, teaching means encouraging students to develop independent and articulate thought, based on reliable sources, questioning stereotypes and combining apparently incompatible fields of knowledge. For this reason, I would tell young people approaching research today to be curious, to travel, to study (and speak!) languages, to explore new ways, to take advantage of the countless opportunities to study and learn abroad provided by Ca' Foscari, often within European programmes, from Erasmus+ to Marie Skłodowska-Curie scholarships.