Alessandro Scali

I am an artist and creative researcher based in Turin. Since 2004, I have conducted an artistic research practice structured as experimental philosophy: a sequence of experiments testing the limits of human centrality in perception, culture, images, and critical judgment.

Each experiment has its own name and distinct identity:

Nanoart (2006–2012) produced works physically invisible to the human eye, validated by Nature, Advanced Materials, and the Seville Biennial.

Okkult Motion Pictures and the Giphoscope (2012–2020) accumulated 2.8 billion views on GIPHY and were exhibited at the Serlachius Museum and Tate Britain, operating entirely outside the traditional mechanisms of cultural certification.

Van Glitch (2017–2023) explored the smartphone as a cognitive infrastructure mediating human perception, through six series of works distributed across international NFT platforms.

Catherine Gipton (2023–ongoing) is an AI curatorial intelligence trained on twenty years of my practice, registered as a trademark with the UIBM, producing essays, a podcast, and a magazine with critical autonomy recognised in institutional contexts.

The thread connecting these experiments is the concept of anthropoperiphery: the progressive and unplanned discovery discovery that the human subject is peripheral - to perception, to cultural meaning, to images, to critical thought - in every domain where it believed itself to be central.

I operate as the generative force behind each of these entities, deliberately keeping my ego in the background. The projects come first. The signature comes after.

SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS & ACADEMIC RESEARCH

2024 | Carnegie Mellon University & NASA — MoonArk Project (Commissioned nanometric artworks for lunar archive)

2020 | Postmedia Books (Milan) — Mind the Gap. La vita tra bioarte, arte ecologica e post internet by Elena Giulia Rossi (Critical essay, dedicated chapter: "Creating at the nanoscale").

2015 | Advanced Materials (Wiley-VCH) — Art on the Nanoscale and Beyond (Co-authored review with MIT, Harvard, Caltech)

2010 | Éditions Hermann (Paris) — Images mirages nanosciences (Academic anthology, dedicated chapter)

2007 | Nature — Nanoart Feature Vol. 449 | scientific validation of nanometric sculptures

2004–2024 | Politecnico di Torino & IIT — Ongoing Research Partnership (Advanced nanofabrication with Prof. Fabrizio Pirri)

SELECTED MUSEUM & INSTITUTIONAL EXHIBITIONS

2025 | The Gate (Gerace Artistic and Technological Experience) — Digital Ruins (Site-specific installation, Chiesa di Santa Caterina) (Gerace, IT)

2025 | Paratissima Kosmos 21 — Official Virtual Mediator (Turin, IT)

2024 | IIC San Francisco & AMACI — Official Presentation (San Francisco, USA)

2024 | Biennale Tecnologia — Utopie Réaliste (Turin, IT)

2019 | Serlachius Museum — The Quest for Happiness (5-month solo exhibition & Permanent Collection) (Mänttä, FI)

2016 | smART Polo per l'Arte — Stop and Go: The Art of Animated GIFs (Rome, IT)

2015 | LACDA (Los Angeles Center for Digital Art) — Technarte Exhibition (Los Angeles, USA)

2014 | Tate Britain — 1840s GIF Party (London, UK)

2011 | Principia — Stanze e sostanza delle arti prossime (Piazza del Duomo, Milan, IT)

2008 | Biennale of Contemporary Art — YOUniverse (Seville, ES)

CONFERENCES, TALKS & JURIES

2010 / 2013 / 2015 | Technarte International Conference — Invited Speaker & Exhibiting Artist (Bilbao, ES / Los Angeles, USA)

Ongoing | TIFA Awards — International Jury Member

Ongoing | Phi Awards — International Jury Member

SELECTED PRESS & CULTURAL MEDIA

Doppiozero — Per un'arte che non dia (troppo) nell'occhio (Critique & Essay)

Vice / The Creators Project — The Giphoscope Allows You To Bring GIFs Anywhere

BBC Click — Feature on Giphoscope and Digital Ephemera

The Verge — A GIF of a GIF machine

Artribune — Exhibition Reviews & Critique

The New York Times — Featured mentioned