

ISABEL PINIELLA
bio

I am cultural analyst and postdoctoral researcher at the Institut d'Histoire du Temps Présent of the Centre Nationale de Recherche Scientifique in Paris. Previously I conducted my doctoral research at the Institute of History of the University of Bern as a member of the Global Studies Program. I obtained both my master and bachelor degrees in Barcelona, where I already focused on history, philosophy, and aesthetics. I have been awarded with scholarships from the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst for pursuing research at the Iberoamerikanisches Institut in Berlin, and from the Dr. Joséphine de Karman Foundation. I am currently enrolled in the Master Cultural Critique, Curatorial Studies at the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste, following my interest in re-readings of history through art practices and the format of the essay-exhibition. My research foci follow my interest in historiographic practices, especially objects crossed by transculturation processes, deterioration, memory and affect.
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Besides my scientific research, I have been involved in several cultural projects. Between 2007 and 2014 I was a student at the Conservatorio Municipal de Música de Barcelona majoring in saxophone with Víctor Béjar and Miquell Bofill. I attended masterclasses by Rodrigo Pérez Vila, Rupert Stelzer, Barbara Schickbichler, Michael Krenn, and Sascha Ambruster, among others. In addition, I participated in the Academy of Contemporary Music at the HSLU and performed as guest saxophonist at festivals such as Wege der Wahrnehmung and New Music Days. As a result of my interest in interdisciplinary art, I developed various projects as artist in residence or guest at performance series, as well as curator of concert staging. Since 2020 I have been closely collaborating with SoundTrieb, a collective I support as cultural manager. I am also co-founder of the network Ko-Operator!, an interdisciplinary artistic platform active since 2019.
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agenda
BOOST! – MA Theatre Festival
Co-curator
June 3rd-6th, 2026
Theater der Künste, Bühne A, Gessnerallee 9, Zurich
5th International Colloquium - Hacer historia ante las últimas catástrofes
Responsabilidad, ética, memorias en conflicto y anti-democracia
Panel 1 - L'histoire empêchée, sous contraintes / La historia obstaculizada
May 26, 2026 / 16h
CNRS-IHTP, IRN Histemal, Casa de Velázquez
Paul Guinard 3, Madrid
latest publications

"Ruinas del presente", Trópico Absoluto, Dec. 2024.

"Weighing history: material rhetoric and commemoration in Cuba," Sculpture Journal, vol. 33, 2, 2024.

​"Becerros de oro: Pensar la desmonumentalización en América Latina," Revista de filosofía Diánoia, vol. 69, n. 93, 2024.

"Héroes de culto: Usos y abusos de la memoria colectiva en Cuba y Venezuela" in Itinerarios y desafíos de la historia del tiempo presente. Un diálogo transatlántico, Frédérique Langue (Ed.), Rosario: Prohistoria, 2024.

"The Act of Looking at, the Art of Staring at," Sousveillance: Staring at the Bin, Meriel Price. Lucerne: Verein SoundTrieb, 2023.



