Welcome.
My name is Matteo Bittanti and I am an artist, writer, curator, publisher, translator, and scholar.
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 a series of projects as COLL.EO. As a curator, I have organized solo and group art exhibitions in various European countries including Italy (MILAN MACHINIMA FESTIVAL, 2019, 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, Switzerland, and Belgium. Additionally, I have been curating the website GameScenes since 2006, an unofficial companion to the eponymous book.
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 Game Art. My approach is interdisciplinary, connecting media studies, game studies, visual studies, and art history.
I am an Assistant Professor at IULM University where I teach a Media Studies course at undergraduate level and a course in Digital Art (graduate). I am also the Program Manager of the M.A. program in Game Design (2017-). Since 2019, I have been on the Scientific Board of the Ph.D program in Visual & Media Studies at IULM University. Between 2007 and 2014, I was an Adjunct Professor at 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 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. In the United States, I also worked as an Associate Researcher at both Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley. I am on the Scientific and Review Board of several academic journals and institutions, including the Triennale Museum of Design in Milan (2016-2018).
My areas of active investigation are contemporary art, game studies, digital humanities, visual studies, cultural studies, art criticism, media studies, and philosophy. Additional interests, passions, and obsessions are listed here. My work 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, Radio Popolare, Courier International, Arte Magazine and TAR.
Among my recent books are Phenomenology of Grand Theft Auto (2019), Travelogue (2019), Game videos. Performance, Spectacle, Streaming (2018), Machinima. From videogame to videoart (2017), Machinima. 32 Conversations on the Art of Videogames (2017), Boring Postcards from Italy (2016), Extra Miles (2016), Arthur Rimbaud in Liberty City (2015), Grand Theft Samo (2015), A New American Dream (2014), Smaller Than Life (2013) and experimental projects like Flight Cancelled (2016), a collection of complaints written by incensed travellers who flew Alitalia and How to get rid of homeless (2015), which examines the notion of homelessness in and out SimCity. Among my editorial projects are LUDOLOGICA, GameScenes and CONCRETE PRESS. In the last twenty years, my articles and essays have appeared on several publications including Rolling Stone, Flash Art, EDGE, LINK, Duellanti, PLAYERS, Cineforum, 8 1/2, WIRED, ZZAP!, Game Power, ZETA, KAPPA, PC Gamer, and other outlets, both academic and journalistic. I currently write about media, art, and culture for LINK magazine.
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, David Bordwell, Neil Gaiman, William Gibson, Richard Grusin, Mark J.P. Wolf, Barry Atkins, Dave Myers, Bernard Perron, Gianni Canova and many more for publishers such as Mondadori, Mimesis Edizioni, Condé Nast, costa & nolan, and Edizioni Unicopli.
I live in San Francisco and Milan.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE (ACADEMIC)
2018-: International University of Languages and Media (IULM), Milan, Italy
Assistant Professor, B.A. in Media, Communication, 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, Visual and Critical Studies Program
Adjunct Professor, 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