About

Manuela Pacella (Rome, 1977) iis an art historian and critic. As a freelance curator, she works on cultural exchange between Italy and several countries in Central and Northern Europe. In particular, she is an expert on the art scene in Northern Ireland, where she has been working since 2011 and where she also took part in the ICI-Independent Curators International Curatorial Intensive at the CCA in Derry and the International Residency at the Flax Art Studios in Belfast (both in 2013). As guest curator she realised in 2017 the exhibition “Lost in Narration. Riccardo Giacconi, Invernomuto, Luca Trevisani” at the MAC in Belfast and led the second Curatorial Directions, which explored the importance of text, narrative and storytelling in the context of exhibition making with workshops and lectures in Belfast and Milan. In 2015 and 2016 she was Editorial Researcher and Coordinator at NERO (Rome). She writes regularly for exhibition catalogues and books as well as for art magazines such as “Flash Art” (Italian and international editions), “The Visual Artists’ News Sheet” (Dublin) and NERO Editions (Rome). Her monographic essay on the young French artist Bertille Bak, The Fairy Tale of the Real, was published in 2018 by postmedia books (Milan). She is the editor of the online column  Tell me stories! on “Flash Art Italia” published as a book in 2024 (Politi Seganfreddo edizioni) and of the website ruth.onl dedicated to writing.

She currently teaches at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome (BA in Graphic Design), at the American University of Rome (BA in Art History), at IED Rome (BA in Interior and Product Design) and at NABA Rome (MA in Visual Arts and Curatorial Studies).

The content of this website consists of a selection of exhibitions and/or publishing projects. The texts – essays, articles, interviews and reviews – have been selected from those translated and/or published in English.

Download PDF for the full list of publications.