Foreword

Barbara Grespi is Full Professor at the Department of Philosophy “Piero Martinetti,” University of Milan, where she teaches Theories of the Moving Image and Media Archaeology and coordinates the XR-Lab in the frame of EXT—Extended Reality Research Center. Her research has explored the non-ocularcentric dimensions of optical media—from photography to extended realities—focusing especially on gestural practices. Among her publications: Il cinema come gesto (Aracne, 2017), Figure del corpo (Meltemi, 2019), and the co-edited volumes Harun Farocki (Mimesis, 2017), Apparizioni (Aracne, 2018), Bodies of Stone in the Media, Visual Culture, and the Arts (Amsterdam University Press, 2020), Mediarcheologia (Raffaello Cortina, 2023), and Il postfotografico (Einaudi, 2024).

Miriam De Rosa researches and teaches Media Archaeology, Visual Cultures and Artists’ Film at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, where she serves as an Associate Professor and leads the MA Economy and Management of Arts and Cultural Activities. She also coordinates the IMACS network and sits on the NECS steering committee. Her last monograph is Camille Henrot: Notes on Desktop Cinema (Mimesis 2024).