Laura Callegaro (1994, IT) is a contemporary art curator based between London and Venice. Her research investigates the use and contextualisation of language, its aesthetic and performative aspects as well as its potential forms of resistance in nowadays social and neoliberal scenario.
In September 2018, she received a MA in Curating and Collections at Chelsea College of Arts (UAL). In London, she worked as Curator Assistant to Gareth Bell-Jones at Flat Time House and to Gustavo Grandal Montero at Chelsea Space. Additionally, she worked as archivist for Art360Foundation and DACS. Previously, she graduated in Visual Arts and Theatre at IUAV University of Venice, while doing an internship as Assistant Curator to Aurora Fonda, Director of A plus A Gallery. Callegaro is currently working within Aya Ben Ron’s ​Field Hospital X ​ project, which is part of the 58th International Art Exhibition - Venice Biennale 2019.
In December 2018, she co-founded ​trans ​ curatorial collective with the Spanish curator Carla Gimeno Jaria. ​Trans- is here conceived as a state which encloses our contemporary condition, while unhinging and re-thinking established patterns of behaviour. By acting as a catalyst and shaping intangible cultural gaps in nowadays’ digital and real panorama, this state triggers fluid dynamics which are being mediated through a social lens on our perception of the reality.​ ​Essentially, ​trans- establishes a framework for critical thinking, research and exhibition-making by working with artists whose practice questions the impact of the globalisation and semio-capitalism on the social body in different scenarios.
In January 2019, trans- was invited by Panicattack Duo within ​Nothing Really Mattress ​ durational performance at South London Gallery, where a conversation centred on bodies’ encounter, definition and questioning of cultural identity led to the conceivement of the sound performance and in-conversation event ​Roar Vol. I ​ at Flat Time House (London). This was the first of a series of events curated by trans-, which explored the political implications of language, sound and voice within our visual-saturated daily life. ​Roar Vol I. ​ featured the sound artist Giulio Dal Lago, the researcher Marta Melià and artist-curator Naz Balkaya (Panicattack Duo).

Other recent curatorial projects include: “deconstructing my crush” at The Morgue (Chelsea College of Arts), a collaborative project ​with the Italian artist Flavia Banchi; “Stanley Kubrick: the analogy and dichotomy of adaptations” in the Chelsea Library, co-curated with Carla Gimeno and supported by the Stanley Kubrick Archive (London); “Did you get that?” an exhibition with archival material, which offered an overview of the dynamics within the underground practice of publishing, exhibiting art magazines which were circulating from the late 1950s to the 1970s.

As regards her previous working experience, throughout the Venice Biennale 2017, Callegaro assisted the artist Gal Weinsten in the restoration and maintenance of artworks within the exhibition Sun Stand Still ​ (Israeli Pavilion) - in which she worked also as a guide. Furthermore, she assisted the English curator Aly Grimes during the Venice and Copenhagen shows of ​Short Circuit Project ​ . Finally, in December 2016 she worked as Artists’ Assistant during the third edition “Fragile Body - Material Body” of the ​Venice International Performance Art Week

1. Detail of ​Roar Vol. I ​ , curated by trans-. Sound Performance and In-conversation Event featuring Naz Balkaya (Panicattack Duo), Giulio Dal Lago and Marta Melià. Flat Time House, London, 26 February 2019

2. Marta Melià for ​Roar Vol. I ​ , curated by trans-. Sound Performance and In-conversation Event featuring Naz Balkaya (Panicattack Duo), Giulio Dal Lago and Marta Melià. Flat Time House, London, 26 Feb 2019

3. Laura Callegaro, Emily Demetriou, Carla Gimeno and Lynton Talbot in conversation within Nothing Really Mattress ​ - Panicattack Duo’s durational performance within Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2018. South London Gallery, 30 Jan 2019

4. Installation view of ​deconstructing my crush ​ , curated by Laura Callegaro. Detail of Flavia Banchi's perfomance ​Involucro ​ and her video projection ​Object II ​ (2018). Perfomer: Clara Lasàgna. The Morgue, Chelsea College of Arts, London, 10 July 2018

5. Details of the installation view ​Stanley Kubrick: the analogy and dichotomy of adaptations ​ : SK/13/1/15, “A Clockwork Orange”, American edition of the novel, 1969, book. SK/13/9/1, Photographs, Production of the film, 1970-1971, photographs. All material was from the Stanley Kubrick Archive. Chelsea Library, London, April 2018