Oltre le Forme
Università della Valle d'Aosta
Beyond Shape
Beyond Shape
Riccardo Mantelli
Artist
Creative Technologist
Creative Technologist
Selected Work
Cosmic
Interplay
My practice moves between ancient forms of knowledge and contemporary technologies, searching for new ways of perceiving and interpreting reality.
Through installation, generative systems, mathematics and geometry, I explore what connects human presence, place, memory and the invisible.
Selected Works
Eternal Cycles
Grand Egyptian Museum, Cairo
Installation proposal · Placing Shadows· 2026
Installation proposal · Placing Shadows· 2026
PhAI
Castello Gamba
Museum collection
Museum collection
KHEM
Immersive installation
Generative audiovisual environment
Generative audiovisual environment
Strativivi
Castello La Mothe
Site-specific installation
Site-specific installation
Echoes Beneath the Veil
A Hijab Between Source Code,
Packet Loss, and Heatmaps
Packet Loss, and Heatmaps
A speculative work exploring the encounter between cultural tradition and digital systems through the reimagining of the hijab as an interface between identity, memory and computation.
Drawing on the visual languages of heatmaps, packet loss and digital fragmentation, the work reflects on what happens to cultural and human presence when identity is increasingly interpreted through algorithmic systems.
Current Research
I am interested in what happens when different ways of knowing meet.
My research moves across ancient systems of thought and contemporary technologies, bringing into proximity geometry and computation, symbol and data, intuition and measurement.
I explore these relationships through installations, generative processes and site-specific works — creating situations in which technology becomes a means of questioning how we perceive, interpret and inhabit reality.
At the centre of this research is human presence: what can be measured and what escapes measurement, what can be made visible and what remains invisible, what can be transmitted and what must be experienced.
visible
↔
invisible
measure
↔
imagination
system
↔
presence
tradition
↔
transformation
Research / Publication
2022
Pushing divergence and promoting convergence in a speculative design process
Research focus
Considerations on the role of AI as a co-creation partner.
Selected contexts
Castello Gamba ·
CRIF Innovation Hub ·
Università della Valle d'Aosta ·
Castello La Mothe ·
DRS2022 Bilbao ·
Grand Egyptian Museum, Cairo
Teaching / Research
NABA Milano · Domus Academy
Enter the
conversation.
Riccardo Mantelli
Artist
Creative Technologist
Creative Technologist
Selected Work
Cosmic
Interplay
My practice moves between ancient forms of knowledge and contemporary technologies, searching for new ways of perceiving and interpreting reality.
Through installation, generative systems, mathematics and geometry, I explore what connects human presence, place, memory and the invisible.
Selected Works
Oltre le Forme
Università della Valle d'Aosta
Beyond Shape
Beyond Shape
Eternal Cycles
Grand Egyptian Museum, Cairo
Installation proposal · Placing Shadows · 2026
Installation proposal · Placing Shadows · 2026
PhAI
Castello Gamba
Museum collection
Museum collection
KHEM
Immersive installation
Generative audiovisual environment
Generative audiovisual environment
Strativivi
Castello La Mothe
Site-specific installation
Site-specific installation
Echoes Beneath the Veil
A Hijab Between Source Code,
Packet Loss, and Heatmaps
Packet Loss, and Heatmaps
A speculative work exploring the encounter between cultural tradition and digital systems through the reimagining of the hijab as an interface between identity, memory and computation.
Drawing on the visual languages of heatmaps, packet loss and digital fragmentation, the work reflects on what happens to cultural and human presence when identity is increasingly interpreted through algorithmic systems.
Current Research
I am interested in what happens when different ways of knowing meet.
My research moves across ancient systems of thought and contemporary technologies, bringing into proximity geometry and computation, symbol and data, intuition and measurement.
I explore these relationships through installations, generative processes and site-specific works — creating situations in which technology becomes a means of questioning how we perceive, interpret and inhabit reality.
At the centre of this research is human presence: what can be measured and what escapes measurement, what can be made visible and what remains invisible, what can be transmitted and what must be experienced.
visible
↔
invisible
measure
↔
imagination
system
↔
presence
tradition
↔
transformation
Research / Publication
2022
Pushing divergence and promoting convergence in a speculative design process
Research focus
Considerations on the role of AI as a co-creation partner.
Selected contexts
Castello Gamba ·
CRIF Innovation Hub ·
Università della Valle d'Aosta ·
Castello La Mothe ·
DRS2022 Bilbao ·
Grand Egyptian Museum, Cairo
Teaching / Research
NABA Milano · Domus Academy
Enter the
conversation.
ART / TECHNOLOGY / RESEARCH
Artistic
Research
for Organizations.
Bring me a question your organization cannot answer with data alone.
Portatemi una domanda a cui la vostra organizzazione non può rispondere soltanto con i dati.
SCROLL ↓01 / THE PROPOSITION01 / LA PROPOSTA
What if an artist could change what an organization is capable of noticing?
E se un artista potesse cambiare ciò che un'organizzazione è capace di notare?
I work at the intersection of artistic practice, computation and human experience. I propose artistic research as a temporary, independent form of inquiry within organizations: not to decorate innovation, but to encounter questions that established methods struggle to frame.
Lavoro all'incrocio tra pratica artistica, sistemi computazionali ed esperienza umana. Propongo la ricerca artistica come forma temporanea e autonoma di indagine nelle organizzazioni: non per decorare l'innovazione, ma per incontrare domande che i metodi consolidati faticano a formulare.
02 / BEYOND MEASUREMENT02 / OLTRE LA MISURAZIONE
Every model makes something visible.
And leaves something out.
Ogni modello rende visibile qualcosa.
E lascia fuori qualcos'altro.
As AI makes more of the world measurable and predictable, other forms of knowledge risk becoming harder to recognize: tacit skills, situated judgment, memory, contradiction, intuition. Artistic research gives these dimensions a space to be experienced and questioned rather than prematurely reduced to metrics.
Mentre l'AI rende porzioni sempre più ampie del mondo misurabili e prevedibili, altre forme di conoscenza rischiano di diventare meno riconoscibili: competenze tacite, giudizi situati, memoria, contraddizioni, intuizioni. La ricerca artistica offre a queste dimensioni uno spazio in cui essere esperite e interrogate, senza ridurle prematuramente a metriche.
What becomes invisible when everything becomes measurable?
Che cosa diventa invisibile quando tutto diventa misurabile?
03 / WAYS OF WORKING03 / MODALITÀ DI COLLABORAZIONE
Different forms.
One practice.
Forme differenti.
Una sola pratica.
01
Embedded Artistic R&D
A time-limited research presence within an organization, starting from a genuine open question. No predetermined solution; an investigation through people, processes, materials and technologies.
Una presenza di ricerca temporanea nell'organizzazione, a partire da una domanda autenticamente aperta. Nessuna soluzione prestabilita: un'indagine attraverso persone, processi, materiali e tecnologie.
02
Art–Technology Collaboration
Shared experiments with researchers, engineers and teams. Code, AI, sensing and physical interfaces become instruments for exploring complex systems and alternative representations.
Esperimenti condivisi con ricercatori, ingegneri e gruppi di lavoro. Codice, AI, sensori e interfacce fisiche diventano strumenti per esplorare sistemi complessi e rappresentazioni alternative.
03
Corporate Art Commission
An autonomous artwork commissioned for a specific context. Rather than illustrating a corporate message, the work creates a tangible encounter with ideas, systems and questions.
Un'opera autonoma commissionata per un contesto specifico. Invece di illustrare un messaggio aziendale, il lavoro crea un incontro tangibile con idee, sistemi e domande.
04 / SELECTED COLLABORATIONS04 / COLLABORAZIONI SELEZIONATE
IMAGE / TO BE ADDEDENI Data Lab
A distinct experience in a data-focused environment. It informs my interest in the distance between what computational systems can represent and what people understand through experience. Specific project details can be added here.
Un'esperienza distinta in un contesto centrato sui dati. Alimenta il mio interesse per la distanza tra ciò che i sistemi computazionali possono rappresentare e ciò che le persone comprendono attraverso l'esperienza. Qui potranno essere aggiunti i dettagli del progetto.
Cosmic Interplay
Commissioned for BOOM, CRIF's innovation hub, this interactive installation turns otherwise intangible flows of data into an environment of light, sound and movement. Lorenz attractors, cosmic data and visitors' gestures meet in a generative experience. Created in collaboration with Universe Everywhere. Explore the work ↗
Commissionata e realizzata per BO.OM, l'innovation hub di CRIF, questa installazione interattiva trasforma flussi di dati altrimenti intangibili in un ambiente di luce, suono e movimento. Attrattori di Lorenz, dati cosmici e gesti dei visitatori si incontrano in un'esperienza generativa. Realizzata in collaborazione con Universe Everywhere. Esplora l'opera ↗
IMAGE / TO BE ADDEDAnalemma — Miraggio Eliocentrico
Developed for Riverview House, Bucharest, Analemma imagines architecture as an instrument for perceiving time. A network of sun-responsive moving mirrors produces ephemeral reflections between buildings, transforming steel, glass and prisms into a shifting cathedral of light. An algorithmic, solar and cyclical mandala that follows the sky rather than imposing a fixed form upon it.
Concepito per Riverview House a Bucarest, Analemma immagina l'architettura come uno strumento per percepire il tempo. Una rete di specchi mobili, sensibile al sole, genera riflessi effimeri tra gli edifici, trasformando acciaio, vetro e prismi in una cattedrale di luce mutevole. Un mandala algoritmico, solare e ciclico, che segue il cielo anziché imporre una forma fissa.
IMAGE / TO BE ADDEDLinkalab
An experience working alongside a technology-oriented organization. A starting point for thinking about how artistic and computational practices can enter into dialogue within a shared research environment.
Un'esperienza di lavoro accanto a un'organizzazione orientata alla tecnologia.
Un punto di partenza per riflettere su come pratiche artistiche e computazionali possano dialogare in un ambiente di ricerca condiviso.
05 / FROM QUESTION TO EXPERIENCE05 / DALLA DOMANDA ALL'ESPERIENZA
A process that begins with listening, not with a solution.
Un processo che comincia dall'ascolto, non da una soluzione.
01
Question — What is genuinely unresolved?
Domanda — Che cosa è realmente irrisolto?
02
Immersion — Enter the context, its people and practices.
Immersione — Entrare nel contesto, nelle persone e nelle pratiche.
03
Inquiry — Notice assumptions, absences and tacit knowledge.
Indagine — Riconoscere assunzioni, assenze e conoscenze tacite.
04
Experiment — Make the question material, sensory or computational.
Esperimento — Rendere la domanda materiale, sensoriale o computazionale.
05
Encounter — Let people experience the research.
Incontro — Permettere alle persone di vivere la ricerca.
06
Reflection — Discover what has changed, including the question itself.
Riflessione — Scoprire che cosa è cambiato, anche nella domanda stessa.
06 / WHAT CAN EMERGE06 / CHE COSA PUÒ EMERGERE
Not every valuable outcome is a product.
Non ogni risultato di valore è un prodotto.
New ways to frame a problem
Nuovi modi di formulare un problema
Experiential prototypes
Prototipi esperienziali
Interactive installations
Installazioni interattive
Alternative representations
Rappresentazioni alternative
Spaces for safe experimentation
Spazi di sperimentazione senza esiti prestabiliti
Questions worth asking next
Domande da cui ripartire
07 / AN INVITATION07 / UN INVITO
Bring me
a question.
Portatemi
una domanda.
Not a brief for a predetermined answer. A question worth exploring together.
Non un brief per una risposta già decisa. Una domanda che valga la pena esplorare insieme.