A curatorial conversation with Chiara Ianeselli (MAXXI Med, Italy) and Emma Chubb (Smith College Museum of Art, USA), Museum Labels and the Stories We Tell, will take place at the Italian Institute of Culture in New York this month.
On July 23, these two curators of contemporary art will discuss the role of object labels in cultural institutions and their power to shape narratives. Through a selection of case studies, the conversation will consider the relationship between language, power, and authorship in museum labels. How to imagine them as opportunities for transparency and collaboration?
Chiara Ianeselli earned her Ph.D. in Analysis and Management of Cultural Heritage from the IMT School for Advanced Studies in Lucca, Italy. Recognized for her contributions to curatorial projects and exhibition coordination, Ianeselli has been involved in various large-scale initiatives. She has worked on projects such as dOCUMENTA (13), the 14th Istanbul Biennial, and documenta fifteen, where she held the role of Curatorial Coordinator. She has collaborated with a variety of private foundations and public cultural institutions, along with museums and universities.
Specializing in originating and leading research-based creative initiatives, with a focus on multidisciplinary collaborations and trans-historical perspectives, she is interested in socially provocative projects. After being awarded the Frontier Proposal Fellowship in 2021 for her scientific contributions to the field of art history, Dr. Ianeselli was selected for the Falling Walls Female Science Talents Intensive Track in 2023 and the International Studio and Curatorial Program in New York.
Emma Chubb is the inaugural Charlotte Feng Ford ’83 Curator of Contemporary Art at the Smith College Museum of Art (Northampton, MA USA). Her curatorial projects there include Younes Rahmoun: Here, Now (2024-25), Amanda Williams: An Imposing Number of Times (2020-22), and the creation of SCMA’s Artist-in-Residence Program. A scholar of contemporary art in Morocco, she is the author of forthcoming essays in Decolonizing Islamic Art in Africa and Routledge Companion for African Diasporic Art History. She earned her PhD in art history with a certificate in Middle East and North African Studies from Northwestern University (Evanston, IL, USA).
The project is organized and supported by the Institute and also made possible thanks to the support of the Directorate General for Contemporary Creativity of the Italian Ministry of Culture under the Italian Council program (12th edition, 2023), which aims to promote Italian contemporary art worldwide.
