Uncollective 2026
Curators list

We present the list of the 5 curators who will take part in the selection of the 5 artists. Each curator brings expertise, critical sensitivity and a unique vision that will enrich the process of choosing and showcasing the works, thus contributing to a thorough and qualified evaluation and selection process.

The curatorial practice of Nicoletta Castellaneta is based on the idea of the exhibition as a critical tool, a relational space in which languages, temporalities, and materials interact to generate new meanings. She conceives curating as the construction of a dynamic field between artists, contexts, and audiences.

As Director of Fondazione Rivoli2 in Milan, she coordinated the entire exhibition program and oversaw the production of its catalogues, developing a platform dedicated to experimentation and critical dialogue. Projects such as IM – Inside the Matter (2015) explored the dialogue between art and design through material processes, while Mario Sironi. L’Annunciazione (2014, Palazzo Cusani, Milan) created a temporal tension between a twentieth-century preparatory cartoon and contemporary video installations, questioning the persistence and transformation of the image over time.

In Homo Faber – Il ritorno del fare nell’arte contemporanea (Castello Sforzesco, Milan), she investigated the renewed relevance of craftsmanship as both resistance and innovation within contemporary practice. Drawing as a cognitive and perceptual tool was central to Sul Disegno, where the act of drawing emerged as a threshold between visibility and memory.

She also curated and coordinated a three-year exhibition cycle for Banca Akros (BPM Group), including projects such as EX Novo and Quarta Dimensione, redefining exhibition formats within corporate environments and expanding the relationship between contemporary art and non-traditional spaces.

Across museum, institutional, and site-specific contexts — including Fortezza di Exilles, Museo Messina, and Catucci Gallery in Berlin — her work engages with the tension between memory and transformation, permanence and transience.

She conceives exhibitions as architectures of thought: structured yet open systems capable of activating questions and inviting audiences to become active participants in the interpretative process.

Leila Topić is a museum advisor and curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb. Her practice examines the destiny of the image — from photography and film to expanded cinema and exhibition environments — in a time of relentless visual acceleration. She is interested in how images circulate, exhaust themselves, mutate, and occasionally recover meaning within conditions of digital excess and institutional framing.

Through monographic and thematic exhibitions, including the long-term platform Cinematographies of Resistance, she approaches curating as a form of critical inquiry. For her, the exhibition is a space where spectatorship is negotiated rather than assumed, and where the moving image can become a site of ethical tension, political imagination, and embodied perception.

Her research engages time-based art, collective practices, and art’s emancipatory potential within contemporary society. Even in an era shaped by algorithms and overexposure, she continues to believe that art can still interrupt habit, reorganize perception, and open space for thought — though she considers a measure of doubt an essential curatorial tool. 

Sveva Manfredi Zavaglia is a Senior Art Director and Project Manager specialising in International institutional Cultural initiatives, as well as a Curator of Contemporary Art, Cultural Marketing Specialist, Advisor and Author.

Her work focuses on internationalisation and cultural affairs, with institutional recognition in Italy and across Europe. She has conceived and developed more than 130 multidisciplinary projects connecting institutions and cultural organisations across Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

Through the promotion of cultural diplomacy between public and private institutions, she develops creative frameworks spanning visual arts, design, transmedia practices and cultural heritage, fostering meaningful and sustainable international cultural exchange.

In work and professional experience of Giorgio Drasler, design is not an exercise in style: it is a method for interpreting the world. A designer, engineer, independent curator, art director, and analyst of the language of objects, Drasler navigates the fluid landscape between art and design with the ease of someone who considers form an extension of thought.
His research spans product design, art direction, interior design, graphics, and visual communication, but what sets him apart is his ability to transform each project into a reflection on the relationship between material, function, objects, and identity. The objects he designs—or interprets—are not simply aesthetic solutions: they are micro-narratives, symbolic systems that speak of use, memory, space, and culture.
His practice is nourished by collaborations with artists, businesses, and creative entities, where Drasler often takes on the role of visual director, orchestrating materials, surfaces, colors, and signs in a balance that combines technical rigor and poetic sensibility. His gaze is that of an engineer who has chosen the path of imagination: analytical, yet capable of capturing the emotional vibration of forms.

Sarah Palermo is an esteemed Italian art historian, curator, and scholar whose multifaceted work elegantly bridges visual arts, sociology, anthropology, and cultural studies. From the outset of her academic journey, she immersed herself in exploring the intricate intersections of art with sociological and photographic contexts, analyzing how visual media capture the pulse of human experience. Her research goes beyond aesthetic forms, uncovering how artistic expressions reflect, critique, and shape broader societal dynamics—from urban alienation to collective memory—often leveraging photography as a powerful medium for documentation, personal narrative, and subtle subversion. This foundational approach positions her as a leading voice in understanding art’s role in documenting social histories.
She currently holds a senior position at prestigious historical research institutions affiliated with the Italian Ministry of Culture. There, she spearheads ambitious projects to preserve, digitize, and interpret Italy’s vast artistic heritage, from medieval frescoes to 20th-century photography archives. Her hands-on involvement includes curating thematic exhibitions, leading meticulous archival research initiatives, and facilitating interdisciplinary dialogues among historians, practicing artists, and communities to recontextualize Italy’s visual legacy for modern audiences.
Sarah’s global footprint extends beyond Europe, reflecting her commitment to cross-continental perspectives. She worked extensively in Hong Kong for several years, immersing herself in the city’s explosive contemporary art scene amid skyscrapers and bustling markets. There, she explored cross-cultural exchanges in photography and site-specific installations, investigating how Eastern philosophies intersect with Western modernism in works addressing globalization, identity crises, and urban transformation. Her Hong Kong projects involved collaborations with local galleries and biennales, highlighting artists who blend traditional ink techniques with digital photography.
Complementing her art history expertise, Sarah pursued advanced anthropology studies at the University of Turin, delving into the anthropological dimensions of visual culture—scrutinizing rituals, identities, migrations, and power structures in historical photographs and contemporary practices, such as colonial images alongside modern migrant portraits to reveal shifting narratives of belonging. This fusion of art theory and ethnography hallmarks her scholarship, producing incisive analyses that resonate across academic conferences, university curricula, and public discourse.