Francesca Zappia is an independent curator and writer based in Glasgow. She graduated in “History of Visual Arts and Conservation of Artistic Heritage” from the University Ca ‘Foscari of Venice and in “Contemporary Art and Its Exhibition” from La Sorbonne-Paris IV. As an exhibitions assistant she has worked with the FRAC Ile-de-France and the François Pinault Foundation.
Since 2014, Francesca works as an independent curator focusing her research around transmission of memory and knowledge production in artistic practices and, widely, in our culture. Her online platform past-forward.net explores new forms of presentation of artistic production in the space of the Internet, while showing the diversity of artistic approaches addressing these questions.
Since 2014, Francesca works as an independent curator focusing her research around transmission of memory and knowledge production in artistic practices and, widely, in our culture. Her online platform past-forward.net explores new forms of presentation of artistic production in the space of the Internet, while showing the diversity of artistic approaches addressing these questions.
Her curatorial programme East End Transmissions (The Pipe Factory, Glasgow, 2014) wished to raise a critical debate about the obliteration of the local history of the East End of Glasgow within its recent gentrification.
The Raoul Reynolds: A Retrospective project (Scotland Street School Museum, Glasgow; La Friche la Belle de Mai, Marseille 2016) was an experimental collaborative writing carried out with Scottish and French artists, which aimed to create the life and work of the fictional artist Raoul Reynolds through each artist’s references, and so widely to echo an art historical narration spanning from the Glasgow Style to Minimalism.
More recently, she has presented the project L’intrigue se cherche dans le déroulement de son nœud (la compagnie, Marseille, May-June 2018): a year-long exchange with
The Raoul Reynolds: A Retrospective project (Scotland Street School Museum, Glasgow; La Friche la Belle de Mai, Marseille 2016) was an experimental collaborative writing carried out with Scottish and French artists, which aimed to create the life and work of the fictional artist Raoul Reynolds through each artist’s references, and so widely to echo an art historical narration spanning from the Glasgow Style to Minimalism.
More recently, she has presented the project L’intrigue se cherche dans le déroulement de son nœud (la compagnie, Marseille, May-June 2018): a year-long exchange with
artists Douglas Morland and Doriane Souilhol in order to write together the scenario and production of an exhibition, exploring questions of language, translation, and misinterpretation.
In 2015-16 Francesca has obtained a grant from the Centre National des Arts Plastiques in Paris for her project “Curatorial research and the reproduction of artworks: a cultural exploration of the Fonds national d’art contemporain”. Within this research she questions the social, sociological, political, cultural and art-historical reasons under the production of manual and technical reproductions of masterpieces within the varied historical and cultural contexts that have occurred since the creation of the CNAP collection in 1791.
In 2015-16 Francesca has obtained a grant from the Centre National des Arts Plastiques in Paris for her project “Curatorial research and the reproduction of artworks: a cultural exploration of the Fonds national d’art contemporain”. Within this research she questions the social, sociological, political, cultural and art-historical reasons under the production of manual and technical reproductions of masterpieces within the varied historical and cultural contexts that have occurred since the creation of the CNAP collection in 1791.