independent
curator

My curatorial practice is deeply informed by radical imagination—a curatorial commitment to envisioning and facilitating alternative ways of thinking, creating, and existing.
My work is rooted in the Mediterranean, a region marked by its layered histories and ongoing migrations. Here, I see the frontier not as a place of division but as a laboratory of coexistence, proposing new political and social structure models. It invites a rethinking of borders, both physical and conceptual, as fertile grounds for utopian experiments.

The place where art projects take shape is essential for me.
I believe in the value of public spaces, I repudiate cultural heritage as a postcard to be sold to tourists, and I believe in the fundamental relationship that the community of citizens must have with its cultural heritage. Public space is to be investigated in the conflicting nature of the planning of underlying memories in the political contingencies that have traversed the EuroMediterranean geographic and social territory, marking and marching militarized borders and territories.
I believe in a curatorial practice that always continues beyond the pure exhibition dimension but actively works at engaging the public.

For this reason, my projects are always accompanied by a public program to unpack the artists' research and bring it closer to the public—In fact, I consistently devise, together with the artists a series of workshops, talks, lectures, and experiences that I like to target for different audiences: children, adolescents, adults, adolescents, adults, families, older people, and specific micro-communities. This modality is essential to ensuring that the work of art is not only the ultimate goal of the creative process but also an activating device of social engagement practices. In this sense, curatorial practice intersects with pedagogy, as the creative process aims to raise awareness and foster critical thinking through the experience of the artwork.

curriculum
vitae

ONGOING
PROJECTS:

2024 / Ongoing – PhD candidate, New Media and Critical-Curatorial Practices of Contemporary Creation, at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Island as poltical Utopia, supervisor: Irene Biolchini

2023 / Ongoing - Curator of Una Boccata d'Arte - Emilia Romagna, a contemporary art project spread throughout Italy promoted by Fondazione Elpis in collaboration with Galleria Continua, with the participation of Threes Productions.

2024 / Ongoing – Artistic Director for Particle, in the UNESCO-listed area of the Natural Reserve of Rock Engravings, in Val Camonica.

2020 / Ongoing - Curator, part of Art Workers Italia, the first autonomous and non-partisan association to give voice to contemporary art workers in Italy
Art Workers Italia

2020 / Ongoing - Curator, part of IKT is the International Association of Curators of Contemporary Art. IKT was founded in 1973 and included prominent curators such as Harald Szeemann. It is a members organization that brings together curators from across the world, to meet, share knowledge, exchange ideas and broaden their professional networks.
IKT website

MEMBER AND CONTRIBUTOR OF:

2020 - ongoing / Curator of the artistic didactics collective between psychology and performance PSICO.LOBO

2020 - ongoing / Curator, part of IKT, International Association of Curators of Contemporary Art

2020 - ongoing / Curator, part of Art Workers Italia

2024 - ongoing / part of the British Art Network

2020 - ongoing / Contributor for Made in Mind Magazine, Acre Magazine, Ǒpěra, Exibart, NERO, Times Malta, Modern Times Review

ARTISTIC
RESIDENCIES:

2025 - Residency for curators with Leonardo Caffo organized by Vidnova placement, Kyiv (Ucraine)

2025 - International Network of Curators, CONGRESS 2025: Qatar / UAE, in collaboration with the Media Majlis Museum at Northwestern University and New York University Abu Dhabi — the first-ever edition to be held in the Gulf region.

2025 - Residency and Exhibition Concierto de Ranas - preludio para seres del umbral, with the artist Vica Pacheco, on the occasion of Una Boccata d’Arte 2025, Emilia-Romagna, at Bagnara di Romagna (Italy)

2025 – Head Curator of Re-thinking the Elsewhere – residency Culture Moves Europe, together with artist Melanie Garland, promoted by Goethe-Institut Malta and funded by the European Union.

2025 – PhD research mission in Barcelona (Spain), Interviews and meetings with the Open Arms team as part of doctoral research. Conversations held with Laura Lanunza (Head of Communication), Ángeles Schjaer (Pedagogical Coordinator and Cultural Mediator), Valentina Brinis (Advocacy Officer), Silvia Bellucci (Head of Press Office), Esther Camps (Head of Mission)

2025 – PhD research mission on the Island of Jersey (Channel Islands), Participation in the International Conference of Advanced Studies in Island Studies 2025, with the presentation of a paper in collaboration with JICAS – Jersey International Centre of Advanced Studies, Jersey Heritage, Shima Journal, and SICRI – Small Island Cultures Research Initiative.

CURATORIAL
EXPERIENCES:

2025 - Curator of the 6th edition of Una Boccata d’Arte 2025 - Emilia Romagna with the artist Vica Pacheco, a contemporary art project spread throughout Italy promoted by Fondazione Elpis in collaboration with Galleria Continua, with the participation of Threes Productions.

2024 - Artistic Director and Head Curator of Malta Biennale 2024, Insulaphilia, promoted by Heritage Malta, MUZA and Arts Council Malta under the patronage of UNESCO.

2024 - Head Curator of Malta Biennale 2024, The Mediterranean as a Political Body, co-curated with Emma Mattei and Elisa Carollo. Includes work by Tania Bruguera, Laure Prouvost, Zineb Sedira, Rosa Barba, Agnes Questionmark, Simon Benjamin, Adrian Paci, Buhlebezwe Siwani.

2024 - Head Curator of Malta Biennale 2024, The CounterPower of Piracy, co-curated with Emma Mattei and Elisa Carollo. Includes work by Mel Chin, Pedro Reyes (Artists Against the Bomb), Post Disaster, Franziska Von Stenglin, Goldschmidt & Chiari, the Republic of the Suez Canal.

2024 - Head Curator of Malta Biennale 2024, The Matriarchive of the Mediterranean, co-curated with Emma Mattei and Elisa Carollo. Includes work by Cecilia Vicuna, Adama Delphine Fawundu, Jean Marie Appriou, Anna Calleja, Anna Anderegg, Ana Shametaj and Giuditta Vendrame, Teresa Antignani.

2024 - Head Curator of Malta Biennale 2024, Decolonzing Malta: Poliphony is Us, co-curated with Emma Mattei and Elisa Carollo. Includes work by Guadalupe Maravilla, Ibrahim Mahama, Austin Camilleri, Monica de Miranda, Gaia de Megni, Zehra Dohgan, Dew Kim, Andrea Ferrero, Zazzarotto.

2024 - Curator of The Spell of Monsters, by artist Camilla Alberti, at MOKA- Hyundai Museum of Kids’ Books & Art Seoul, Republic of Korea

PUBLIC
LECTURES:

2025 - International Network of Curator, SYMPOSIUM 2025, DISRUPTURE: Perspectives from the Arabian Peninsula, in collaboration with mm:museum at Northwestern Qatar, Qatar Museums, University of Jeddah Faculty, Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Project, NYU Abu Dhabi Arts Center.

2025 – Public Lecture, Che cosa resta dell’Europa alle sue frontiere? – La storia della IUVENTA, Villa della Regina, in collaboration with the Royal Residences of Savoy and the Royal Albertina Academy, Turin

2025 - Discussant: Transizione ecologica e pratiche di resistenza artistica with Zehra Dogan and Regina José Galindo, discussant Sofia Baldi Pighi; Alessia Riva; Natalia Moncada Valeria , Albertina Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Turin

2025 – Public Lecture, Art Against Over Tourism, Scienze del Turismo e Comunità Locale, with Francesca Guerisoli, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan

2025 - Critical talk on the occasion of the inauguration of the Anthropocene Collection, together with Stefano Cagol, at MUSE - Museum of Science, Trento.

2025 - Public Lecture, È ora di uscire allo scoperto con Matteo Vettorello, Accademia di Belle Arti, Venezia

INSTITUTIONAL
EDUCATION:

2024 / Ongoing – PhD candidate, New Media and Critical-Curatorial Practices of Contemporary Creation, at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Island as poltical Utopia, supervisor: Irene Biolchini

2022 / MA in ESG and Sustainable Finance for the Arts, Bologna Business School

2018 - 2020 / MA in Visual Art and Curatorial Studies (Distinction 110 cum laude) NABA - Milan. Thesis: Plan B for Cultural Institutions - Museum Beyond Its Wall; Supervisor: Professor C. Altay

2019 / Internship: Assistant curator to Director Simone Verde at Complesso Monumentale della Pilotta in Parma

2014 - 2017 / BA in Communication and Art Didactics (Distinction 110 cum laude) Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera, Thesis: Il Sacro Come Antidoto al Sonno dello Spirito - La funzione liturgica dell'arte contemporanea; Supervisor: Professor G. Agosti

2013 / Summer School at Yale University, CT, USA. Academic Coaching Workshop: A; Academic Listening & Speaking: A-; Academic Reading & Writing: A; Critical & Creative Linking: A-

independent curator

curriculum vitae

Contact me hereDownload the CVDownload the Portfolio

independent
curator

curriculum
vitae

Contact me here
Download the CV
Download the Portfolio

to reach out to me

SBP STUDIO Sofia Baldi Pighi sofia.baldi.it@gmail.com Instagram / LinkedIn WeChat: SofiaBaldiPighi

About Statement Projects Malta Biennale

Contact

to reach out
to me

SBP STUDIO

Sofia Baldi Pighi
sofia.baldi.it@gmail.com
Instagram / LinkedIn
WeChat: SofiaBaldiPighi