Interview with a versatile art curator: Elena Vaninetti

Il Mio Salotto
Aug 26, 2022
4 min read

Today we interview Elena Vaninetti, an art curator, writer, and consultant based in Milan. After studying at the State University of Milan in Science and Conservation of Cultural Heritage, she turned to photography, first as a photographer herself and later as an independent curator.

She was managing editor of YET magazine until 2020 and since 2014 she has been part of the cultural organization Twenty14 and the curatorial duo active in Milan, with whom she still runs the art space Pananti Atelier. Last but not least, she works as a consultant and educator giving workshops, lectures, and portfolio reviews, and also writes for international art magazines and publications.

Hello Elena, welcome to Il Mio Salotto:

Can you tell us how and when your passion for art was born?

I think it has always been there in some way, my studies and the decision to live in Milan certainly strengthened a predisposition that was already there. Being immersed in a culturally stimulating environment has allowed me to continue to know, learn and become passionate.

You started as a photographer, what originally prompted you to take photographs and when did you decide to expand your career to other artistic fields?

I am curious but not an extrovert, photography I think was the perfect medium to explore the world around me while always keeping a safe distance.

When photography turned into work, it opened several unexpected doors for me. I went from shooting to working with images made by others through my experience as managing editor of the independent magazine YET. Here I began to understand what it meant to take care of a project from A to Z, dealing with the selection and management of content, both for the website and for the print media.

What are your favorite subjects when you shoot?

I shoot everything, often with my mobile phone, quite everyday things details at first sight nonsense. For work, I really enjoy photographing interiors and portraits. For example, at the moment I am following a column for "Domusweb" that allows me to enter the private spaces of prominent artistic personalities, I have been to Gianni Berengo Gardin's house, to Arnaldo Pomodoro and Maria Mulas to name a few. Here a double fascination comes into play, both for the precious places I can photograph and for the stories these people have to tell.

Tell us about yourself as an art curator, what are your working style and your approach to this profession?

I don't know if we can talk about style, maybe more approach. I mainly work with emerging or mid-career international artists who explore contemporary social and cultural issues.

I do not set limits on genre or artistic medium (although I very often work with artists who use photography) but I certainly try to propose projects to the public that combine both formal and conceptual research. In recent years, I have focused more specifically on artists who analyze what is happening around us on a political, social, and cultural level.

Since 2016, you have been part of the Milan-based art gallery, Twenty14, would you like to tell us about this project and the choice of name?

The Twenty14 project was founded in 2014 (hence the name), by Matilde Scaramellini as a gallery dedicated to emerging visual arts with a particular focus on contemporary photography. In 2016 I started to collaborate with the gallery as a curator following some projects related to Italian photographic publishing, from there on Matilde and I continued to work together side by side. At the moment Twenty14 is no longer exactly a gallery, but a curatorial and art consulting duo.

Since 2020, we have been curating the Milanese space "Pananti Atelier".

How and where do you choose artists to collaborate with?

We do a lot of research both in Italy and abroad, Instagram is a valuable tool for finding new artists without having to travel halfway across Europe. But art events such as festivals, fairs, biennials, etc are always very important and fundamental places to meet and get to know each other.

At Twenty14, how do you approach the NFT world? I know you recently organized an NFT-themed exhibition? Would you like to talk more about that?

This is completely new ground for us, which we approached on the occasion of the exhibition 'Attraverso' (Through) by Sardinian artist Paolo Pibi, which we curated at Pananti Atelier last June. In addition to a series of paintings, the artist exhibited three videos that were sold on the Reasoned Art platform as NFT. We wanted to collaborate with a young reality, which takes care of its activities fully and seeks (like us) to aim for quality and not speculation for its own sake. It was a positive experience.

exhibition Paolo Pibi

Il Mio Salotto offers the certification of works with non-transferable NFTs to private individuals and art galleries and museums, providing an archive of the work and its owners, and returning to the original function of NFTs: to certify. As a gallery owner and curator, what do you think are the main advantages of a service like ours?

I think it is a very useful service. Authentication and traceability of artwork are two of the cornerstones of the art market, but we often run into grey areas and some information is incomplete or lost. Such a certification system could be the solution to make the information related to a working crystal clear and unalterable.

What are your plans for the future personally and with Twenty14?

In September we will open the end-of-course exhibition of the first edition of the photographic curating masterclass SET UP at Pananti Atelier. The course is part of a larger educational project called SHOW&TELL (@showandtell_milano), which I founded together with fellow curator Benedetta Casagrande in 2020. An aspect of my work that I have been developing a lot in recent years is the consultancy and training dedicated to artists and creatives, through mentoring programs, courses, and workshops that I follow both within Twenty14 and as a freelancer.