معرفی
Dr Francesca Laura Cavallo serves as an Honorary Research Fellow at the Centre for Indigenous and Settler Colonial Studies within the School of English at the University of Kent. Her multidisciplinary work bridges academic research and curatorial practice to examine how art transforms public perceptions of risk, ecology, health, and sustainability through international exhibitions and community projects across 7 countries.
Her academic foundation includes a 2020 Doctorate in Art History from the University of Kent, an MRes in Cultural Studies from the London Consortium (Birkbeck/TATE/ICA), an MA in Curating Contemporary Art from La Sapienza University Rome, and a Laurea in Cultural Heritage Preservation from the University of Lecce where her thesis analyzed the Ship of Fools iconography across Bosch, Brant and Foucault.
Francesca's research pioneers the Aesthetics of Risk framework, investigating how risk manifests through warnings, data visualizations and pre-enactments in both art and risk management systems. She critically examines how quantitative risk models dominate decision-making while demonstrating art's capacity to create safe spaces for risk-taking and resilience-building. Her curatorial practice materializes these concepts through major projects like the Risk exhibition at Turner Contemporary (91,000+ visitors) featuring Abramović, Richter and Ai Weiwei, and the Rehearsing Disasters project exploring embodied disaster anticipation.
Her publications reveal consistent thematic evolution: the 2020 doctoral thesis establishes risk's aesthetic dimensions through visual analysis of persuasion methods, while the 2019 book chapter develops pre-enactment theory connecting performance art to disaster response protocols. Both works demonstrate interdisciplinary synthesis across art history, sociology and visual culture with emphasis on embodied practices.
Francesca has taught Contemporary Art History, Curating and Aesthetics modules at University of Kent, London College of Communication and Royal College of Art. Her research includes ERC-funded work on Organising Disaster at Goldsmith's and postdoctoral exploration of Brazilian artists' climate justice responses. She co-founded the Cosmicmegabrain art collective (2007-2012) producing projects in Beirut, Lisbon and London, and coordinated community initiatives like Building Local Activism with the Young Foundation.
Her professional ecosystem spans institutional curation (Manifesta 11, ICA London, Serralves Museum Porto), community art (homeless hostel workshops in London), and international collaboration (British Council's Active Citizens program). Key projects include Cuba's Pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennial, Sicily in Black and White exhibition in Uruguay, and the Art Matters symposium at Turner Contemporary which catalyzed her doctoral research.
