Virginia Marano

Virginia Marano is an art historian and curator currently serving as an associate scholar in the Lise Meitner Group "Coded Objects" at the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz – Max-Planck-Institut. She also holds significant affiliations with the University of Zurich, where she co-directs the research project "Rethinking Art History through Disability," and has been appointed Junior Research Fellow at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) starting in January 2026. Her academic journey includes a PhD in art history from the University of Zurich, supported by an ESKAS doctoral scholarship (2018-2021) and a FAN Grant (2021), followed by a SNSF Doc.Mobility fellowship at Hunter College/CUNY in 2022. She has also served as a Research Fellow at the Fondazione Giorgio Cini in Venice working on the PNRR-PEBA project for the Removal of Physical, Cognitive, and Sensory Barriers in Cultural Sites, funded by the NextGenerationEU program.

Marano's research interests span multiple interdisciplinary areas:

• Gender and feminist theories in contemporary art
• Exile studies
• Critical disability studies and crip theory
• Disability aesthetics and access intimacy
• Decentralized exhibition making
• Sensory studies and embodied knowledge

Her scholarly work examines how access functions as a critical space for rethinking relationships between art, science, and technology. Rather than approaching accessibility as a fixed or technical matter, she investigates it as an open process marked by uncertainty, experimentation, and care that exposes ableist structures in cultural and technological systems. Her research-based curatorial practice, grounded in intersectional feminist theory, develops methods of decentralization and shared inquiry, seeking to build connections between humanities and design practice. Her recent publications explore disability representation in art history, the intersection of medical humanities and artistic practice, and the reevaluation of artistic norms through feminist and disability perspectives.

Among her notable achievements:

• ESKAS doctoral scholarship (2018-2021)
• FAN Grant (2021)
• SNSF Doc.Mobility fellowship (2022)
• Research Fellow at Fondazione Giorgio Cini (2023)
• Appointment as Junior Research Fellow at KIT (2025)

As a curator and educator, Marano has organized numerous conferences, workshops, and symposia focused on disability, art, and access. She has taught courses at the University of Zurich on topics including exiled women artists and the intersection of care, disability, and art. Her current curatorial projects include "David Weiss. Il Sogno di Casa Aprile. Carona 1968–1978" at MASI Lugano and "Ear to the Ground" at Fondazione Centro Giacometti, demonstrating her commitment to making art accessible and inclusive.