Hello and welcome.
My name is Matteo Bittanti and I am a scholar, artist, writer, curator, publisher, and translator.
My academic research focuses on the cultural, social, and theoretical aspects of emerging technologies, with an emphasis on their effects on communication, visual culture, and the arts. I am particularly interested in new media art, especially video game based art. My approach is interdisciplinary, connecting media studies, game studies, visual studies, and art history.
Currently, I am an Associate Professor at IULM University where I teach courses on media studies and game studies. I am also the Program Manager of the M.A. program in Game Design (2017-). Since 2019, I have been on the Board of the Doctorate program in Visual & Media Studies at IULM University. Between 2007 and 2014, I was an Adjunct Professor at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco and Oakland, California where I taught graduate and undergraduate courses in the Visual Studies and Visual and Critical Studies programs. Previously, I was an Associate Researcher at Stanford University and a PostDoc Researcher at the University of California, Berkeley. Before moving to the United States, I worked as a Lecturer in New Media, Media Studies, Cultural Studies, Film Studies and Games Studies at various Milanese institutions including the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, European Institute of Design (IED), New Academy of Art (NABA), and IULM University.
My areas of active investigation are contemporary art, game studies, digital humanities, visual studies, cultural studies, art criticism, media studies, and philosophy. Additional interests are listed here. My work/research has been featured in The Guardian, The New York Times, Harper's Magazine, Fast Company, Motherboard/Vice, BBC, The Bold Italic, Polygon, The San Francisco Chronicle, The San Francisco Examiner, Flash Art, KQED, Hyperallergic, The Atlantic, BusinessWeek, Il Sole 24 Ore, La Repubblica, Il Corriere della Sera, L'Espresso, Rivista Studio, LINK, Business Insider, Artribune, Radio Popolare, Courier International, Arte Magazine, DDAY.it, Swiss Radio Two and TAR.
Among my recent publications are VRAL. Season One (2021), Game Over. Critique of video game rationality (2020), Phenomenology of Grand Theft Auto (2019), Travelogue (2019), Game videos. Performance, Spectacle, Streaming (2018), Machinima. From video game to video art (2017), Machinima. 32 Conversations on the Art of Video games (2017), and How to get rid of homeless (2015), which examines the notion of homelessness in (and beyond) SimCity. Some of my editorial projects include LUDOLOGICA, GameScenes, and Concrete Press (with Random Parts, in "beautiful downtown Oakland, California", as Roman Mars would say). My non-academic contributions include articles and essays for Rolling Stone, Flash Art, EDGE, LINK, Duellanti, PLAYERS, Cineforum, 8 1/2, WIRED, ZZAP!, Game Power, ZETA, KAPPA, PC Gamer, and other outlets.
My artistic practice lies at the intersection of video games, toys, cinema, and the web. My work has been exhibited in the United States, Canada, Argentina, Great Britain, Ireland, Australia, France, Cuba, Switzerland, Japan, Spain, and Italy. Since 2012, I have been collaborating with fellow artist Colleen Flaherty. Together we have developed several projects under the aegis of COLL.EO. As a curator, I have organized solo and group art exhibitions in various European countries including Switzerland (How to Win at Photography, 2021, with Marco De Mutiis), Italy (MILAN MACHINIMA FESTIVAL 2018-; RE/PLAY and Hype, 2017; Travelogue, 2016; GAME VIDEO/ART. A SURVEY with Vincenzo Trione, 2016; Teh Italians Do It Better!! at the 52nd Venice Biennale, with Domenico Quaranta, 2011), the United States, and Belgium. Additionally, I have been curating the website GameScenes since 2006, an unofficial companion to the eponymous book. In 2020, I launched VRAL, an online curated platform for avant-garde machinima, with Gemma Fantacci.
I have translated into Italian several academic and non-academic books, essays, and articles by Jeffrey T. Schnapp, Johanna Drucker, Todd Presner, Peter Lunenfeld, Slavoj Žižek, J.G. Ballard, Paul Krugman, Alfie Bown, David Bordwell, Neil Gaiman, William Gibson, Richard Grusin, Mark J.P. Wolf, Barry Atkins, Dave Myers, Bernard Perron, Peter Frase, and Gianni Canova for publishers such as Mondadori, Mimesis Edizioni, NERO, Condé Nast, costa & nolan, and Edizioni Unicopli.
I live in San Francisco and Milan.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE (ACADEMIC)
2020-: International University of Languages and Media (IULM), Milan, Italy
Associate Professor, B.A. in Communication, Media, and Advertising
Associate Professor, B.A. in Corporate Communication and Public Relations
Associate Professor, M.A in Television, Cinema, and New Media
Program Manager, Master of Arts in Game Design
Member of the Board, Doctorate Program in Visual and Media Studies
2019: International University of Languages and Media (IULM), Milan, Italy
Associate Professor, B.A. in Communication, Media, and Advertising
Associate Professor, M.A in Television, Cinema, and New Media
Program Manager, Master of Arts in Game Design
Member of the Board, Doctorate Program in Visual and Media Studies
2018: International University of Languages and Media (IULM), Milan, Italy
Assistant Professor, B.A. in Communication, Media, and Advertising
Assistant Professor, M.A in Television, Cinema, and New Media
Program Manager, Master of Arts in Game Design
2017: International University of Languages and Media (IULM), Milan, Italy
Assistant Professor, B.A. in Media, Communication, and Advertising
Program Manager, Master of Arts in Game Design
2014-2016: International University of Languages and Media (IULM), Milan, Italy
Adjunct Professor, Media Studies, B.A. in Media, Communication, and Advertising
2007-2014: California College of the Arts (CCA), San Francisco & Oakland, California
Adjunct Professor, M.A. in Visual and Critical Studies Program
Adjunct Professor, B.A. Visual Studies Program
2011-2012: International University of Languages and Media (IULM), Milan, Italy
Visiting Professor, Master in Digital Entertainment & Start-up Design
2008-2011: Stanford University, Stanford, California
Social Science Research Associate
2006-2008: University of California at Berkeley, School of Information
Postdoctoral Researcher
2005-2006: Stanford University, Stanford, California
Visiting Scholar
2005-2001: European Institute of Design (IED), Milan, Italy
Instructor, Film Studies
2004-2003: European Institute of Design (IED), Milan, Italy
Program Director, Game Design & Culture Program
2005-2004: Arti Grafiche Rizzoli, Milan, Italy
Lecturer, New Media Studies
2002-2004: International University of Languages and Media (IULM), Milan, Italy
Lecturer, Film Studies
2001-2002: University of the Sacred Heart, Milan
Lecturer, Social Communication
2001-2002: New Academy of Arts (NABA), Milan, Italy
Lecturer, Film Studies
EDUCATION
Ph.D., New Technologies of Communication, 2007
International University of Languages and Media, Milan, Italy
M.S., Mass Communications, 2001
San Jose State University, San Jose, California
B.A., Philosophy, 1999
Minor in Media Studies
University of the Sacred Heart, Milan, Italy