Lucia Farinati is an independent curator and researcher currently residing in London, with roots in both Italy and the UK. She completed her studies in the Curatorial Programme at Goldsmiths College in 2004, and pursued Public Art and European Cultural Planning at De Montfort University, Leicester in 2000. Her academic foundation in the History of Art and Aesthetics was established at the Faculty of Humanities, University of Trento, Italy, where she graduated in 1997. Farinati's work adopts an interdisciplinary approach, emphasizing collaboration with artists and a production-oriented framework for contemporary art and curatorial practices. Her research primarily explores the connections between contemporary art and the public sphere, particularly at the intersection of sonic art and activism.
Among her current projects is "Come una possibilità di incontro," a series of collective readings of art historian and feminist Carla Lonzi's book, "Autoritratto." This project, produced for bip bop—a collaboration between Rita Correddu and Elena Biserna—was featured on Radio Fujiko in June 2013. Additionally, she is involved in "Ascoltando Camminando," a sound walk workshop conducted in partnership with Brave New Alps for the Festival Futuro Presente in Rovereto, also in June 2013.
In 2012, Farinati curated "Nuovi Paesaggi - Sound Stories from Tuscany," which included five radio works that narrate the cultural geography of Tuscany. These were produced by artists Viv Corringham, Mikhail Karikis, Laura Malacart, Davide Tidoni, and Allen S. Weiss in collaboration with Radio Papesse and Villa Romana in Florence during the summer of that year.
Between 2002 and 2007, she curated numerous exhibitions in both Italy and the UK. Notable exhibitions include "Framing Devices" (featuring Paola di Bello, Margherita Morgantin, and Camila Sposati) at The Agency in London; "Tales of The City," co-curated with Abigail Reynolds, Carey Young, Nils Norman, Zineb Sedira, and others, at Arte Fiera in Bologna; "Beating About the Bush," co-curated with Peter Coffin, Gabriel Kuri, and others at South London Gallery; "Rip it up and start again" at Villa delle Rose in Bologna; "Ursula Mayer" at Monitor in Rome; and "Institution of Rot," where she curated events featuring 16 Beaver and the Bohman Brothers, among others.
With funding from Arts Council England, Farinati initiated and co-produced two significant long-term cross-disciplinary projects focused on the social and urban regeneration of East London. The first, "We Sell Boxes, We Buy Gold" (2007), involved urban walks and field recordings in collaboration with Jude Rosen, Alberto Duman, Louise Garrett, and Richard Crow, and was later presented at Sound Proof 5 in London in August 2012. The second project, "Found Wanting" (2003), featured a night bus tour in partnership with the collective e-Xplo, including Rene Gabri, Heimo Lattner, and Erin McGonigle.
Since 2005, she has collaborated with artist William Furlong, starting as an interviewer for Audio Arts magazine, where she conducted interviews with artists such as Tino Sehgal, Iain Forsyth, Jane Pollard, Carl von Hausswolff, Leif Elggren, and Manuela Ribadeneira. This collaboration evolved into curatorial projects focused on Audio Arts as an active archive, resulting in exhibitions such as "Speaking to Others: Who Speaks to Who" at Villa Romana in Florence (2013), "Not Speaking the Language" at Flat Time House in London (2010), "Hearing Me Hearing You" at Plymouth Arts Centre (2007), and "Extraction/Construction/Abstraction" at Sound Art Museum/Radio Arte Mobile in Rome (2006). In 2006, she organized and chaired the symposium "Active Archive" at the British School at Rome, alongside Furlong, art critic Mel Gooding, music journalist Daniela Cascella, and curator Lorenzo Benedetti. The outcomes of this research were later presented at the symposium "Off the Record: The History and Legacy of Audio Arts Magazine on Contemporary Art" at Tate Britain on October 13, 2012.
Currently, Farinati serves as an Associate Lecturer at Kingston School of Art and Chelsea School of Art (UAL), where she leads seminars focused on public art, curatorial practice, and cultural activism, with an emphasis on sound, immaterial labor, and feminist practices. Her teaching engagements have included lectures at institutions such as Glasgow School of Art, London College of Fashion, Royal College of Art, London College of Communications, Wimbledon College of Art, Bergamo Fine Arts Academy, Milan University Il Politecnico, and Tate Britain, among others.
In 2010, she co-edited "Transmission," a book created in collaboration with writer Daniela Cascella, commissioned by the Cut & Splice Festival in London and produced by Sound and Music and BBC Radio 3. Farinati also published "The Force of Listening" with Errant Bodies Press in 2017, a work examining the role of listening in the contemporary intersections of art and activism, which was launched at Housmans Radical Bookshop in London in July 2017.
In June 2016, she presented at the conference "Giving Life to Politics: The Work of Adriana Cavarero" at CAPPE, University of Brighton. Her recent conference engagements include "Immurement" at the Mountain of Art Research, the Art Research Seminar, and "Flashpoint 1" at Goldsmiths University of London on October 5, 2017, as well as "Incommon: Performing Arts in Italy 1959 to 1970" at IUAV, Venice on October 19-20, 2017.
