360 portrait of the team. Picture taken by Andrea Pinotti. Then, clockwise: Maria Serafini, Giancarlo Grossi, Rossana Galimi, Rosa Cinelli, Giulia Avanza, Roberto Malaspina, Sofia Pirandello, Margherita Fontana, Ilaria Ampollini, Fabrizia Bandi, Federica Cavaletti, Ilaria Terrenghi, Anna Caterina Dalmasso, Neda Zanetti, Alice Peli. University of Milan, November 2nd, 2023.

Andrea Pinotti (PhD in Philosophy 1998) is Full Professor of Aesthetics at the Department of Philosophy “Piero Martinetti” of the State University of Milan, where he teaches Aesthetics and Representation and Image Theories. He is the coordinator of the Doctoral Course in Philosophy and Human Sciences. He has been fellow at the Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America at Columbia University, New York (2003-04 and 2021); Directeur d’études associé at the EHESS in Paris (2008 and 2022); Fritz Saxl Senior fellow at the Warburg Institute, University of London (2010); professeur invité at the Université Jean-Moulin, Lyon 3 (2011); Gastwissenschaftler at the ZfL in Berlin (2012); directeur d’études associé at the FMSH in Paris (2015); Eurias-Marie-Curie Senior fellow at the IEA in Paris (2017-18) . He has been Directeur de Programme at the CIPH (Collège International de Philosophie) in Paris on the programme "Monument Nonument. Politique de l’image mémorielle, esthétique de la mémoire matérielle". In 2018 he has been awarded the Wissenschaftspreis der Aby-Warburg-Stiftung. In 2021 he has been elected president of the Scientific Board of the FMSH (Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’Homme) in Paris.

Alfio Ferrara (PhD in Computer Science 2005) is Full Professor of Computer Science at the Department of Computer Science ‘Giovanni Degli Antoni’ of the University of Milan, where he teaches database, information retrieval and text mining. He is the coordinator of the Data Science Research Center of the University of Milan. He participates in the activities of the research group “Information Systems and Knowledge Management” (ISLab), with co-direction responsibility since 2011, and coordinates the Instance Matching track in the international research group of OAEI (Ontology Alignment Evaluation Initiative) of which he is member of the steering committee. He has been part of the research team in 10 European and national projects. Alfio Ferrara is also the author of more than 100 publications in international journals, volumes and conference proceedings. At the University of Milan, he was also one of the promoters of the Data Science and Economics Master’s Degree Course and of the II level University Master’s Degree in Data Science for Economics, Business and Finance.

Ilaria Ampollini got her Master degree in Philosophical Sciences (2011) from the University of Bologna and her PhD in Historical Studies (2016) from the University of Trento. Her research interests focus on the history of science and the history of science popularization, with particular reference to the XVIIth and early XIXth century. Her first monograph (Cronaca di una cometa non annunciata. Astronomia e comunicazione della scienza nel Settecento. Rome: Carocci, 2019), focused on a panic episode that occurred in Paris in 1773, generated by a work by the astronomer J. Lalande about the probability of impact between Earth and comets. After working in the field of sociology of science, in 2017 she got a grant (292K) from the Autonomous Province of Trento for a three-year project on the communication of scientific research. In 2020 she obtained a Labex Hastec post-doc scholarship, thanks to which she conducted a research project at the Institut d'Histoire Moderne et Contemporaine / Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, devoted to science-themed board and card games printed between Eighteenth and Nineteenth century. Her works deal with the history of science popularization, the visual and material history of science and, more in general with the multiple aspects linked to the public dimension of science and the circulation of knowledge.

Anna Caterina Dalmasso (Ph.D. Philosophy, University of Lyon/University of Milan, 2015) is assistant professor (ricercatrice a tempo determinato RTD-A) at the Department of Philosophy of University of Milan. Her research combines visual culture, film and media studies with phenomenology and aesthetics. Her current focuses are the aesthetics of virtual environments and immersive media, post-cinema, and media archaeology. She has been Marie Curie COFUND postdoctoral fellow at the Centre Prospéro of Saint-Louis University – Brussels (2017-2019). She devoted her doctoral thesis to Merleau-Ponty’s philosophy of the visual and to its implications for contemporary mediality and technoculture (published in two books: Le corps, c’est l’écran. La philosophie du visuel de Merleau-Ponty, Mimesis, 2018; L’œil et l’histoire. Merleau-Ponty et l’historicité de la perception, Mimesis, 2019). She has coedited several interdisciplinary collective books and journal issues on screens studies and philosophy of cinema. She is also filmmaker and has worked in cinema, television and in audiovisual literacy workshops, collaborating with the director Andrea Caccia.

Fabrizia Bandi, graduated at University of Milano, is a PhD in Philosophical Sciences – Aesthetics and Theory of the Arts (University of Palermo 2016). Her main research topics are phenomenology and aesthetics, with particular regard to the phenomenology of aesthetic experience, aesthetics of architecture and art. She has been postdoctoral fellow at Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio (Università della Svizzera Italiana) thanks to an Excellence fellowship of the FNS (Swiss National Science Foundation) dedicated to the concept of Freespace. She has been adjunct professor of the Aesthetics course at Politecnico of Milan, MSc programme Architectural Design and History (2016-2020). She is a member of the editorial staff of the journal Studi di Estetica as well as of the SIE (Italian Society of Aesthetics). In 2018 she has published the book La percezione armata. Esperienza estetica e immaginazione in Mikel Dufrenne (Mimesis).

Federica Cavaletti’s main research fields are aesthetics and phenomenology, and she combines theoretical and empirical methods of investigation. She obtained her PhD degree in Humanities (curriculum: Communication, media, and performing arts) at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart of Milan. The topic of her dissertation was time perception in audiovisual media, which she explored both theoretically and by means of methods from cognitive psychology and empirical phenomenology (micro-phenomenological interviews). Within the ERC project “AN-ICON”, she is mainly contributing to the “Theory” and “Practices” research axes. More in particular, she is working on the first-person experience of VR environments and on the dynamics of the gazes implied in these environments. She is also addressing these topics in relation to the uses of VR in professional domains such as psychology, psychiatry, and medicine.

Ilaria Terrenghi is Ph.D. in Science of Communication and Education (University of Milano-Bicocca, M-PSI/01 and M-PED/03, 2018/19) and is currently a research fellow at the Department of Philosophy of University of Milan (M-PED/03). Her research topics are mainly linked to the pedagogical area: in particular she deals with the efficacy of teaching and learning processes, the didactic methodologies and technologies, the systematic observation of human interaction, the design and implementation of ad hoc observation instruments. She collaborated with CREMIT (Center of research on Education on Media, Innovation and Technology) at Catholic University in several research projects (2015-2022) and she was also adjunct Professor at eCampus University in Didactic and e-learning (2021-2022 – M-PED/03).

Margherita Fontana is a Ph.D. in Visual and Media Studies (2022, IULM University of Milan). Her doctoral dissertation deals with the problematic issue of primitivism in American contemporary art, as seen from a feminist-engaged point of view. Her main fields of interest are the anthropology of images and the political and social connotations of artistic acts. She worked on the relationship between some relevant moments of contemporary American art history and esthetics. In particular, she studied the philosophical implications of Lucy Lippard’s thought and art criticism. In the ERC project AN-ICON, she examines the American milieu of emersion of VR, as linked to the psychedelic and sci-fi culture and the paleocybernetic trail of virtual fascinations on prehistoric caves

Sofia Pirandello is post-doc researcher in Aesthetics at the Department of Philosophy “Piero Martinetti” of the University of Milan. Her research interests concern contemporary theories of imagination, philosophy of technology, media theories and contemporary art. She obtained her PhD degree in Philosophy and Human Sciences at the University of Milan (2023), working on a PhD thesis about augmented reality (AR) feedback on human imagination. She is author of the book Fantastiche presenze. Note su estetica, arte contemporanea e realtà aumentata (Johan & Levi 2023). In the ERC Project AN-ICON she works on aesthetics and politics of AR considered as a phantasmagoric dispositif, also investigating the link between magic and contemporary technology.

Roberto Paolo Malaspina graduated (BA) in 2016 at the University of Florence in History and Conservation of Cultural Heritages with a thesis on the relationship between museology and New Media. In 2019 he concluded his MA degree in Visual Arts at the University of Bologna, with a dissertation on the theoretical identity of postmodern architecture. During his studies, he worked as curator for Narkissos, an independent gallery based in Bologna, where he further researched on the interrelation between body, technology and feminisms. Between 2019 and 2020 he attended CAMPO, course for curators of the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo. He is currently a PhD student at the University of Milan – Department of Philosophy and Human Science – where he conducts a research on the relationship between embodied perception and New Media in the fruition of pornographic moving images.

Rosa Cinelli graduated from the University of Milano in 2021 with a thesis centered on the uses of digital photography as a means of self-presentation in everyday life. Currently, she is a Ph.D. student adjoint to AN-ICON ERC advanced program, where she conducts her research on the contemporary conjugations of the concept of indexicality within digital and virtual images, as well as on the mutations of the epistemological paradigm of photography as visual proof. She also attended the two-year photography program from CFP Bauer in Milano.

Alessandro Costella graduated (BA) in Engineering of Information in 2017 at the Department of Engineering of Information at the University of Padua. In 2020 he concluded his MA at the University of Milan in Computer Science, developing a videogame making use of physical automata in its implementation. During 2021 he worked as a research fellow within the AN-ICON ERC project, focusing his research on the development of virtual environments and the study of technological tools employed in their creation and fruition. In 2022 he started a PhD project in Philosophy and Human Sciences at the University of Milan. His research now focuses on studying and developing Augmented Reality and IoT technologies as prostheses for users with manipulative disabilities.

Maria Serafini graduated in Philosophy at the University of Rome La Sapienza in 2016. She subsequently obtained a Masters' degree in Cognitive Sciences and a Masters' degree in Philosophical Sciences from Roma Tre University. Since 2018, she has taken interest in phenomena related to digital death and immortality, developing two dissertations proceeding from Ernesto de Martino’s anthropological and philosophical reflections on mourning rituals. She is currently a PhD student within AN-ICON ERC advanced program, researching emerging visual and multimedia mourning practices in the subcultural contexts of virtual environments such as social networks, employing de Martino’s framework.

Irene Magrì is a project manager with a background in communication for cultural organizations and marketing. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Foreign Languages and Literatures from the University of Turin and a Master's degree in Communication Cultures from the University of Milan. As a freelancer, she gained extensive experience in digital communications and marketing, and she actively contributed to the promotion and organization of socio-cultural projects and events, especially in the realm of cinema. She is currently the project manager of the ERC Advanced Grant project AN-ICON and its spin-off TIMELAPSE, where she oversees logistic, administrative and communication activities.