Information
< About
Ella Emanuele is an artist, an educator and a researcher. Born in Italy, she lives and works in the UK. She studied sculpture at Chelsea College of Arts (BA, MA 2001-2005) and completed her Ph.D. in Fine Art Practice at the University for the Creative Arts in 2023. Emanuele is an associate member of the Royal British Society of Sculptors.
Approaching dance via fine art her practice-based research investigates dance as a medium for drawing, considering the role of the body and how it can expand our notion of what constitutes a structured space. An interest in how process led work exists in relation to three-dimensional space has been played out in several projects that use performative methodologies to activate environments. Central to the work is the interplay between drawing, sculpture and time-based media. Her most recent projects investigate how the agency of dance moves from the performative to the visual via technological means, using dance and choreography as generative modalities for contemporary drawing. Approaching drawing as a spatial and temporal activity, the act of drawing is interpreted as a choreographic activity where the line acts as a point of departure for bodily gesture and a score to respond to. The work has evolved to include collaborative and participatory practices particularly in relation to performativity.
Earlier work departed from the traditional constraints of sculpture to embrace flexibility, and precariousness expressed in the objects themselves or in the encounter with the space inhabited. Wrestling between the visual and the experiential, it used process as a speculative tool to break down the limits of mediums and privilege the immanence of the act of making over the notion of the permanent object.
Solo and group exhibitions, some of which lead up to publications have taken place in the UK, Italy, USA, France, Germany, Azerbaijan and China. Significant projects include collaborations with artists, dancers, choreographers and data visualisations designers. These include:
Organic Creative Spaces Exhibition for C&C24, University of Chicago at Bridgeport Art Center, USA, Drawing Repetitions – Drawing in Motion for DRN24 at Loughborough University, dAnCing LiNes at the James Hockey Gallery, UCA in Farnham, UK, What is Drawing Research Exhibition with the Drawing Research Group of University of West of England and Birmingham City University, Birmingham, Tenth: Art, Language, Location, at Quip&Curiosity, Cambridge, Gather Town, for C&C23, University of Chicago, Drawing in Relation, Online Exhibition curated by Arno Kramer with the Drawing Research Group at Loughborough University, I4 Residency, Virginia Tech Residency for Improvisation, Inspiration, Incubation, and Immersion at the Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA, Residency at Rotterdam University Willem de Kooning Academy (NL); A History of Drawing at Camberwell Space curated by Kelly Chorpening January 2018, Where is the Body? The body and Materiality, UCA Research cluster launch event, July 2017; Whitenoise bookwork, funded by UCA, published by Marmalade visual theory distributed by Central Books; book launch at RIBA bookshop, London, June 2017; WhiteNoise bookwork with the BookRoom at Arnolfini for BABE – Bristol Artists’ Book Event; Somatic Shifts: the body and beyond in creative and critical research, symposium and exhibition at Zandra Rhodes Gallery, University for the Creative Arts, Rochester Campus; Drawing Outlines no 2, Live Performance at Fabrica Gallery for Draw to Perform 4, Brighton (UK); Formations, Copeland Gallery, commissioned by Peckham Platform for Peckham Festival, Museum of Invisible Art Yale University Radio (USA), Immateriality: Possibilities and Experiences, exhibition and symposium at Herbert Read Gallery UCA, Canterbury (UK); Drawn/Drawing Conversations exhibition and symposium, organized by the Visual Arts Research Group at the School of Art and Design, Coventry University, WhiteNoise at the Centre for Recent Drawing (C4RD), an Arts Council England and UCA funded collaborative residency and exhibition; Redeeming the Everyday residency and master class at YARAT Contemporary Art, Baku, Azerbaijan, ALL-art:language:location Cambridge; Space Interrupted, Electro Project Space, Hastings, Coastal Currents commission curated by Clare Sheppard; ACTS RE-ACTS 1, Wimbledon Space, London; DRAW 2014, Symposium and exhibitions at Carnegie Mellon University, Pennsylvania, USA.
< Upcoming
Publications:
Spacetime Matters book, edited by the Hybrid Mapping Collective of CRC1265, Re-Figuration of Spaces edited by Jamie-Scott Baxter, Anna Juliane Heinrich, Séverine Marguin & Vivien Sommer (2025)
Bloomsbury Handbook of Drawing\Research, What is Drawing Research? (2025)
Aperiodic, in collaboration with scientists, mathematicians at Kit Form Gallery, Drawing Research group University of the West of England (UWE), Bristol, UK, Bristol, (UK) (2025)
Projects:
Future developments of the findings of the Arts Council England research and development project dAnCing LiNes will explore the possibility to extend the scope of drawing and dance, through the use of technological means and the interdisciplinary exchange between drawing and movement. With the intention of producing a participatory and immersive output, which fosters interaction of audiences through the use of technology and explores the choreographic in terms of the dancers’ collective body and the viewer engagement with the artwork, through live and mediated processes.
< Selected exhibitions
SOLO AND TWO PERSON EXHIBITIONS *(indicates catalogue)
2023 dAnCing LiNes, James Hockey Gallery, University for the Creative Arts, Farnham, (UK)
2022 dAnCing LiNes, live performances in collaboration with choreographer Simon Birch, dance and choreography department AMATA, Falmouth University
2017 Drawing Outlines no 2 – Where do I end and you Begin? Live Performance for Draw to Perform 4 at Fabrica Gallery, Brighton (UK)
2016 Formations a participatory performative drawing project Copeland Gallery, commissioned by Peckham Platform for Peckham Festival, (UK)
2015* WhiteNoise, residency and two person exhibition at the Centre for Recent Drawing (C4RD) project funded by ACE, research and development grant Arts Council England and UCA, (UK)
2013 Solo Show at Casole d’Elsa Contemporary Art Centre, Chiostro Collegiata, Siena, (IT)
2010 Articulating Change, Solo Show at Stone Squid, Experimental Art Space, Hastings, East Sussex, curated by Tim Riley & Georgia Elizey (UK)
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS *(indicates catalogue)
2024 Manchester Contemporary Art Fair 2024, representing Creative Kernow Associates, Flamm Cornwall, Auction House Art, UK
2024* Organic Creative Spaces, Creativity and Cognition 2024 Art Exhibition at the Bridgeport Art Centre, Chicago, USA
2024* Aperiodic Exhibition, in collaboration with scientists, mathematicians at Kit Form Gallery, Bristol, UK
2023 TEN:th, Celebrating 10 Years of ALL at Quip & Curiosity, Cambridge, (UK)
2023* What is Drawing Research? Symposium at Birmingham School of Art organized by UWE Drawing Research group University of the West of England (UWE) Bristol, (UK). Coming up Bloomsbury Handbook of Drawing\Research
2023 The order of the drawing, Drawing in Relation exhibition, curated by Arno Kramer organised by the Drawing Research Group (DRG) at Loughborough University (UK) – Link
2023* Organic Spaces, Gather Town, virtual exhibition for 15th Creativity & Cognition conference 2023, (USA). Primary Author Ella Emanuele in Collaboration with David Hunter from Boulder University of Colorado, Zach Duer from Virginia Tech, Simon Birch from Amata Falmouth University
2022 Wanderland, On Walking, Tremenheere Gallery with Royal Society of Sculptors, Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens, Cornwall
2019 Alive in the Universe, co-curated by David Baldry and Caroline Wiseman at Palazzo Pesaro Papafava, collateral events – Venice Biennial 2019 (IT)
2018 Enshrine exhibition curated by Rekha Sameer, The Crypt Gallery, St Pancras Parish Church, London, (UK)
2018 A History of Drawing at Camberwell Space, an exhibition that charts the history of teaching and making of drawing at Camberwell College of Arts curated by Kelly Chorpening (UK)
2017 Whitenoise bookwork featured with the Bookroom at Small Publishers Fair, Conway Hall, London, November 2017
2017 Somatic Shifts: the body and beyond in creative and critical research, symposium and exhibition at Zandra Rhodes Gallery, University for the Creative Arts, Rochester Campus (UK)
2016 Immateriality: Possibilities and Experiences, Herbert Read Gallery UCA, Canterbury, (UK)
2015 Drawing/Drawn Conversations exhibition and symposium, Visual Arts Research Hub, School of Art and Design, Coventry University, (UK)
2014 ALL, art:language:location, Cambridge, (UK)
2014 Space Interrupted, Electro Project Space commission, Hastings, curated by Clare Sheppard, (UK)
2014 ACTS RE-ACTS, exhibition on Fine Art and Performance, Wimbledon Space, London, (UK)
2014 Exhibition and symposium On Drawing, at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, (USA)
2012* W.ART 2012 – AWARD FOR ART, Winner of Photography and New Media section. Exhibition at Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Florence, (IT)
2012 Meliterraneo Festa Arte at Chiostro Collegiata, Casole d’Elsa, Siena, (IT)
2012* Ortographie, Provini fotografici d’autore, Res Nova, Turin, (IT)
2010* W.A.V.E. 2010, Borders and Edges, Wimbledon Space, London, (UK)
2009* Uncharted Stories, The Triangle Space, Chelsea College of Art, UAL, London, (UK)
2009 Buddha Mind, Creative Mind? Symposium and Exhibition, organised by The Institute of Oriental Philosophy, Taplow Court, Berkshire, (UK)
2008 AA2A Final Show, University Campus Suffolk, Ipswich, (UK)
2007 Islington Contemporary Art and Design Fair, October 2007; Sculpture, Painting and Time Based Media, the Candid Arts Trust, London, (UK)
2007 Working Together, Surface Gallery, curated by Claire Sterland, Nottingham, (UK)
2007* Florence Trust 2007, Summer Show. London, (UK)
2007 Arts Unwrapped Open Studios, Florence Trust, 2007. London, (UK)
2007 Florence Trust 07, Winter Exhibition of current artists in residence. London. (UK)
2006 N5 Show, Florence Trust Studios, Rollo Contemporary Art and Estorick Collection of Modern Art. London, (UK)
2005* Big makes me feel good, Chelsea College, curator Clare Goodwin. London, (UK)
2005 36 Craven Street, site-specific work for Benjamin Franklin House. London, (UK)
2004 A little flat in Kensington, curator Maria Walsh. London. (UK)
2002 Trinity Buoy Wharf Gallery. London, (UK)
2003 Trinity Buoy Wharf Gallery. London, (UK)
2002 Sculptors at Millbank, at the former Royal Army Hospital. London, (UK)
2001 Choose Life with the Charity SGI-UK, the Orangerie in Holland Park, London, (UK)
< Residencies & awards
2024 Drawing Repetition Symposium, presentation for Bodies in Motion, Drawing Research Group at Loughborough University
2022 I4 Residency, Virginia Tech University, Blacksburg, USA
2022 Test Space research forum Falmouth and Plymouth University at CAST in Helston, Cornwall
2020 Chair and organiser of the Drawing Symposium at Falmouth School of Art, speakers included writer Martin Holman, Emma Kay, Alyson Loyd, Katrina Brown
2020 Thinking Through Drawing 2B: Drawing Changes Symposium
2018 Time & Space residency at Atina (Rome); final exhibition curated by Rekha Sameer (IT)
2018 Erasmus Staff Residency at Rotterdam University Willem de Kooning Academy, (NL)
2015 UCA research funding, for WhiteNoise publication (UK)
2015 Arts Council England (ACE) Research and Development Grant, for WhiteNoise residency and exhibition at the Centre for Recent Drawing (C4RD), London, (UK)
2014 Scholarship award for practice based PhD at the University for the Creative Arts – UCA, (UK)
2014 art:language:location, residency and exhibition at Mill Lane Library in the Land Economy Department of the University of Cambridge, (UK)
2014 Redeeming the everyday, master-class and research project at YARAT Contemporary Art Organization, Baku, Azerbaijan, (AZ)
2014 ACTS RE-ACTS, Festival of Fine Art and Performance, Wimbledon Space, London (UK)
2012 Artist in residence in the scientific department for conservation and restoration La Venaria Reale, University of Turin, (IT)
2012 Winner W.ART 2012 – AWARD FOR ART – Photography and Media Section, Florence, (IT)
2012 Associate Membership Royal British Society of Sculptors, London, (UK)
2011 Tino Seghal, selected workshop, Tate Modern, London, (UK)
2009 Short-listed for Turin Photo Festival 2009, Turin, (IT)
2008 Residency at Assembly, St Just, Cornwall, artists led space set up by Abigail Reynolds and And Harper, (UK)
2007/08 Artist in Residence at University Campus Suffolk, AA2A program, (UK)
2007/08 Artquest Forum, peers critique group with FT07 artists, funded by University of the Arts London, (UK)
2006/07 Scholarship Award for Art and Design, Institute of Education, London, (UK)
2006/07 Artist in Residence on The Florence Trust Studio Award Scheme, London, (UK)
2003 Short-listed for the Wandle river cycling path, Public Art project with Chelsea College of Art, Sustran Charity, London, (UK)
< Publications
upcoming: Spacetime Matters book, edited by the Hybrid Mapping Collective of CRC1265, Re-Figuration of Spaces edited by Jamie-Scott Baxter, Anna Juliane Heinrich, Séverine
Marguin & Vivien Sommer (2025)
upcoming: Bloomsbury Handbook of Drawing\Research, What is Drawing Research? (2025)
upcoming: Aperiodic, in collaboration with scientists, mathematicians at Kit Form Gallery, Drawing Research group University of the West of England (UWE), Bristol, UK, Bristol, (UK) (2025)
Organic Creative Spaces, Creativity and Cognition 2024 Art Exhibition at the Bridgeport Art Centre, Chicago, USA – Proceedings of the 16th Conference on Creativity & Cognition –
https://doi.org/10.1145/3635636.3660502
Organic Spaces, Gather Town, virtual exhibition for 15th Creativity & Cognition conference 2023, (USA) – link to pdf
WhiteNoise, published by Marmalade Visual Theory, distributed by Central Books, text by Joe Graham
Drawing/Drawn Conversations, digital publication, Coventry University
WhiteNoise review on Drawing Research Theory and Practice Intellect Journal, Ulster University, (UK)
Catalogue W.ART 2012
Ortographie, Provini d’autore, Exhibition Catalogue.
W.A.V.E. 2010, Borders and Edges, Exhibition Catalogue.
Florence Trust, 2007, Catalogue. Texts by Kathy Battista, Director Contemporary Art, Sotheby’s Institute of Art.
Gutter Dreams, 2005, Chelsea College of Art, texts by Lisa Le Feuvre current Head of Sculpture Studies at the Henry Moore Institute, John Cussans and Shelagh Cluett, former MA Course director (Chelsea College of Arts).
< Performances
2019 – 2022 dAnCing LiNes, in collaboration with choreographer Simon Birch, dance and choreography department AMATA, Falmouth University, David Hunter University
of Colorado and Zach Duer Virginia Tech
2017 Drawing Outlines no 2 – Where do I end and you Begin? Live Performance at Draw to Perform 4, Fabrica Gallery, Brighton (UK)
2001/03 Fragments and Monuments, in Di Midsummer Night Party, directed by Anna Birch. For the Clissold Festival at Clissold House, Stoke Newington, London, (UK)
1993/95 Grigio Respiro with the contemporary Dance company Fuori Scena. Turin, (IT)
1992 Scintille, directed by Rossella Emanuele and Anna Redi. Bologna and Turin, (IT)
1988/92 Performed for the artist Vector Pisani, texts by Mimma Bruno. Rome, (IT)
1985/93 Visual theatre and Dance companies:
Le desir pris per la queue by P. Picasso with Falso Movimento, directed by Mario Martone. Winner of Youth Section, Venice Biennale, 1992, Naples, (IT)
Wuthering heights by Emily Bronte with Il Teatro, directed by Laura Angiulli, Naples, (IT)
Circus by Angiulli with Il Teatro. Naples, (IT)
Zar Saltan by Rimskij Korsakov, production directed by Luca Ronconi. Teatro Valli, Reggio Emilia; (IT)
Belle Epoque directed by V. Castagneto. (Radio programme, RAI); (IT)
SELECTED WORKSHOPS
1994/95 Theatre du Soleil directed by Ariane Mouchkine, (FR)
1993 Claudio Morganti, (experimental theatre), (IT)
1993 Leo De Berardinis, (experimental theatre), (IT)
1992 Pina Baush, (contemporary dance), (DE)
1992 Giorgio Barberio Corsetti Company, (visual theatre), (IT)
1991 Sosta Palmizi (dance company) with Raffaella Giordano and Roberto Castello, (Carolyn Carlson and Merce Cunningham training), (IT)
< Talks
2024 Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA), Singapore
2022 Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA
2020 Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia, Italy
2020 Willem de Kooning Academy of Fine Arts, Rotterdam, Netherlands
2019 Falmouth School of Art, Falmouth University, Cornwall, UK
2017 Where is the Body? The body and Materiality, UCA Research cluster launch event, (UK)
2017 Whitenoise bookwork, published by Marmalade visual theory, book launch and panel discussion, (UK)
2016 Museum of Invisible Art, Yale University Radio interview, (USA) online interview (USA) – https://museumofnonvisibleart.com/interviews/rossella-emanuele/
2016 Immateriality: Possibilities and Experiences, UCA – Canterbury, (UK)
2015 School of Film and Media Research Forum, UCA Farnham, (UK)
2012 Accademia di Belle Arti, Turin, (IT)
2010 Stone Squid, Experimental Art Space, Hastings, (UK)
2008 Research symposium at UCS, University Campus Suffolk, Ipswich, Suffolk, Ipswich, AA2A programme, (UK)
2007 The Florence Trust, London, (UK)
2006 Wimbledon College of Art, London, (UK)
RECENT CONFERENCES
2024 Drawing Repetition Symposium, presentation for Bodies in Motion, Drawing Research Group at Loughborough University
2022 I4 Residency, Virginia Tech University, Blacksburg, USA
2022 Test Space research forum Falmouth and Plymouth University at CAST in Helston, Cornwall
2020 Chair and organiser of the Drawing Symposium at Falmouth School of Art, speakers included writer Martin Holman, Emma Kay, Alyson Loyd, Katrina Brown
2020 Thinking Through Drawing 2B: Drawing Changes Symposium
2017 Where is the Body? The body and Materiality, University Creative Arts researchcluster, launch event
2017 Dialogues on Dance, Philosophy, and Performance in the Contemporary Neoliberal Moment, Coventry University
2017 Somatic Shifts: the body and beyond in creative and critical research, symposium and exhibition at Zandra Rhodes Gallery, University for the Creative Arts, Rochester Campus
2017 Gesture, Trace and Performance Conference, University for the Creative Arts (UCA) Canterbury (UK)
2017 Radical reThink, Institute of Contemporary Art ICA and UAL (UK)
2016 Performance and philosophy, Symposium presso il Centro di ricerca dell’ University of Surrey, Guilford, (UK)
2016 Delfina Foundation Performance as Process Stage 2, (UK)
2016 Training the Senses, Tim Ingold’ talk, The Knowing Body ‘The properties of materials are not attributes but histories’, Marres and Van Eyck online access, (NL)
2016 Whitechapel Gallery, Unlimited Action: Limits of Performance, London, (UK)
2016 Performing Feminism, Camberwell College of Art, UAL, Griselda Pollock, Director of Research, Professor of the Social & Critical Histories of Art, University of Leeds, Adrian Rifkin Professor of Art Writing at Goldsmiths and Nina Wakeford artist and reader in Sociology at Goldsmiths, University of London, (UK)
2015 Symposium and exhibition Drawing/Drawn Conversations at Coventry University, Visual Arts Research Hub, School of Art and Design; paper on WhiteNoise, Coventry, (UK)
2014 On Mediated Experience: Transforming Performance, Tate Live, Tate Modern.
2014 Whispers, Ulay on Ulay in conversation with Tate curator Catherine Wood, ICA Culture Now.
2014 Symposium and exhibition DRAW2014, Why Draw now? International Symposium o at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, (USA)
2011 Festival of Blackboards: London Fine Art Course Leader Panel Discussion. Q-Art London.
2011 Reflections on the Art School, Tate Britain, London, (UK)
2011 Capturing Process? Practice Research within the Creative Arts, Kingston University, London.
2009 Artists Making Places Conference, Art on Greenwich peninsula, London, (UK)
2009 Intimacy Symposium, across digital and visceral performance, Goldsmith College of Art, University of London, (UK)
2008 Endurance, Pioneers Series, VIVID, Birmingham, (UK)
2007 Research Symposium at University Campus Suffolk, Ipswich, AA2A programme, (UK)
2005 Neuro-Aesthetics Conference, Goldsmith College of Art, University of London, (UK)
< Teaching
2019 to 2025 Course Leader (0.8) on the BA Drawing at Falmouth School of Art, Falmouth University, UK
2007- 2022 Associate Lecturer (Sculpture and Drawing), CCW Progression Centre, Foundation in Art & Design, Former Camberwell College of Arts, University of the Arts London, (UK).
2017- 2021 Associate Lecturer (Artistic Communication & Professional Practice) English speaking course at Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia, (IT)
2012- 2019 Visiting Practitioner on the BA Drawing at Camberwell College of Art, University of the Arts London. (UK)
2018 Erasmus Staff Residency at Rotterdam University Willem de Kooning Academy, September 2018
2013-2015 Senior Lecturer in Fine Art (0.6) at the University for the Creative Arts (UCA), teaching on the International Pathway Programmes, Graduate Diploma: Art & Design and Foundation in Art & Design, (UK).
2007-15 Associate Lecturer at the University of the Arts London, Summer Schools Program. (UK)
2012-13 DIAL Coordinator (Digital Integration into Arts Learning) at University of The Arts London. (UK)
2011-12 Visiting Lecturer on BTEC Level 3 Photography at Kingston College, School of Art & Design. (UK)
2010-11 Digital Media Technician at Wimbledon College of Art & Design, Foundation Studies, University of the Arts London, (UK).
2009-12 Working Men’s College, Visiting Tutor in Historical and Critical Studies, FdA Professional Practice in Art & Design, (UK).
2008 Artists’ open lecture series and Mentoring for Fine Art at University Campus Suffolk, Ipswich (Undergraduate); AA2A residency programme, (UK).
2007-08 Visiting Lecturer for Foundation Studies, Art & Design Diploma, at Hammersmith & West London College, London, (UK).
2007 Associate Lecturer for Fine Arts at Wimbledon College of Art, School of Foundation, University of the Arts London; IoE Art and Design teacher training, (UK).
2006 Art Teacher at The Phoenix High School, Secondary School, London, IoE Art and Design teacher training, (UK).
2001-03 Lecturer at Hammersmith and Fulham Borough, London, (UK).
EDUCATION
2023 Phd in Fine Art Practice from the University for the Creative Arts, thesis title: Dance as a Medium for Drawing: a practice-based investigation into dance and choreography as generative modalities for contemporary drawing
2006-07 Postgraduate Certificate in Art and Design, (PGCHE – Secondary and Higher Education); Institute of Education, University of London, (UK)
2005 Master of Fine Art, Chelsea College of Art and Design, University of the Arts London, (UK)
2004 Bachelor of Fine Art, Sculpture, Chelsea College of Art and Design, University of the Arts London, (UK)
1999 Foundation of Art and Design, BTEC, London, (UK)
1997 Proficiency in English; UCLES, London, (UK)
1985-94 Dance training and Drama School, Studio Fersen; Rome, (IT), Dance Academies: Loredana Furno and Susanna Egri, Turin, (IT), Mark De Beuys, from Opera de Paris, Turin, (IT)
< Blog
This section is an archive of my practice based research degree working progress; the access is private, contact me to be granted access.
https://generativeprocesses.wordpress.com