FRAN TRENTO

(EN) Fran Trento (they/them) is a Brazilian artist-researcher and currently a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Helsinki, within the Academy of Finland-funded research project “Enchantment in young people's technoscientific urban landscape: Encounters of difference and the opening of politics in the post-social city’’. Fran develops multimodal art in diverse media, such as photography, text, video, and performances, having exhibited their work at Galleria Loisti, Myymällä2, Örö Fortress Island ORES Summer Exhibition, Stoa, and other places. Fran also worked as a postdoctoral researcher at UniArts Helsinki and Concordia University of Montreal, where they led projects that investigated academic ableism and neuroqueer intimacies and taught critical disability studies to art educators. Fran is interested in neurodiversity, non-dyadic modalities of togetherness, photography and performance art. Photo: Nikola Luvdová. 

(PT-BR) Fran Trento (elu/delu) é artista-pesquisadore brasileiroe e atualmente pesquisadore de pós-doutorado na Universidade de Helsinki, no projeto de pesquisa “Enchantment in young people's technoscientific urban landscape: Encounters of difference and the opening of politics in the post-social city’’. Fran desenvolve arte multimodal em diversas mídias, como fotografia, texto, vídeo e performances, tendo exibido seu trabalho na Galleria Loisti, Myymälä2, Örö Fortress Island ORES Summer Exhibition, Stoa, entre outros locais. Fran também trabalhou como pesquisadore de pós-doutorado na UniArts Helsinki e na Concordia University de Montreal, onde liderou projetos que investigaram o capacitismo acadêmico e as intimidades neuroqueer, além de lecionar estudos críticos de deficiência para arte-educadores. Fran tem interesse em neurodiversidade, modalidades não-diádicas de estar-junto, não-monogamias, fotografia e performance. 

complete CV with teaching  
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EXHIBITIONS


2023. Outo Olo Space, Helsinki
           ACAT Zine Vol. 1
Catalysti’ ́s Art Lottery Exhibition
Curated by Paola Nieto and Katie Lenanton.

2023. STOA Cultural Centre, Helsinki
          2030°+
Participatory installation with Lauri Jäntti and Annina Lius

2023. Galleria Loisti, Helsinki
         A place that lingers and yet dissolves.
Group exhibition

2022. Öres Summer Exhibition 2022.
          Letters from past-futurity
ÖRES Residency Program



EXHIBITIONS IN PREPARATION


2025 GAP Window (Globe Art Point), Helsinki.

2025. Myymällä2, Helsinki. 
          Yet untitled group exhibition


PERFORMANCES

Anti-institutional(?) Coat Making. Neurodiversity in The Arts Symposium. UniArts Helsinki. November, 2024.

Roving (an)archive. Rupture/Rapture Performance Festival. The Other Side of Vantaa. November 2024.

ACAT –Anarchival Conspirations Against Typicality. Myymällä 2 Relational Art Week (RAW). September 2023.

Walking Together on Questions on Higher Art Education. LAPSODY Festival; UniArts Helsinki. In collaboration with Jana Unmussig. October 2020


RESIDENCIES

3Ecologies Project. North Quebéc. September 2024. 

La Selva: International Ecological Arts and Eco-Somatic Residency. Natural Reserve of the Roman Coast, Italy. October 2023.

UrbanAPA Home Mini - Residency. Helsinki, Finland. November 2022.

Örö Fortress Island (ÖRES Residency Program). Örö, Finland. March - April 2020



EDUCATION

2017. PhD. Communications and Semotics
          PUC-SP, Brazil

2013. Masters’ degree in Image and Sound
          Ufscar, Brazil

2010. Bachelor degree in Social Communications
          Unesp, Brazil


Translation:  Erin Manning. Sempre Mais Que Um.  Glad Ediçōes, Brazil, 2024.
LECTURES AND WORKSHOPS


Gestures of reading: Reading Circle with Anouk Hoogendoorn, Satu Herrala and Anastasia (a) Alevtin. 
Titanik Galleria, 2024

A short conversation on vulnerability and ableism within the neoliberal academia.
UniArts Helsinki, 2024

Stoan Tulevaisuuslaboratorio; with Lauri Jäntti.
Stoa Cultural centre, 2023

Neuroqueering the University
Uni2; Titanik Galleria and the University of Turku, 2023.

Panel Clear Expectations: Working with Under-Represented and Marginalized Communities, with Sonya Lindfors, Alexandra Mitiku, and Mira Eskellinen
UrbanAPA #StopHatredNow Festival, 2023

Why Do We Feel So Bad Here?
UrbanAPA #StopHatredNow Festival, 2023

Reinventing space together through anarchiving
A-round Table. Dansit AS; Trondheim, 2023



Neuroqueer Intimacies: Navigating Non-Neurotypical Togetherness.
Temporary Gallery, Cologne, 2022

A neurodiversity studies analysis of Aalto University’s Wellness Program.
University Wide Arts Studies Program, Aalto University, 2021

CERADA Studia Generalia . On absolute hos(ti)pitality: radical difference in arts education environments.
UniArts Helsinki, 2019

check the CV for a full list



Gestures of reading: Reading Circle with Anouk Hoogendoorn, Satu Herrala and Anastasia (a) Alevtin. 2024


Tiny Zine.  Published since 2024.





ACADEMIC PUBLICATIONS
(check CV for full complete publications list)


1. Trento, F.B. (2023a). Neuroqueer Intimaces in Online Dating Apps. Journal of Arts & Humanities, 12 (4), 20-32.

2. Trento, F.B. (2023). Can We Invent Time Together? Tales of Neuroqueer Love. Simulacrum: Re(Kin)dling. Amsterdam: Universiteit van Amsterdam.

3. Trento, F.B. (2021c). An Inquiry on Post-linguistic Subjects in Twin Peaks: The Return. Widerscreen (24), 1–22.

4. Trento, F. B. (2021b). Crip teleportation: the animal that therefore I am—or I am not. TECCOGS, 22 (2020), 91–104.

5. Trento, F.B. (2021a). A Diary on Slowness at Örö Fortress Island. RUUKKU - Studies in Artistic Research, 15 (2021).

6. Trento, F.B. (2021). On Unconditional Hos(ti)pitality: Thinking-doing Strategies for Dis/Abling Arts Education. Matter,  2(1), 1–25.

7. Trento, F.B. (2020a). A Procedural Space for Failure. Research in Arts & Education, 2020 (2), 1–22.  

8. Trento, F. B. (2020). Queering the Ghosts of Typicality: The Disruptive Potential of Fabian Ludueña’s Philosophy. Open Cultural Studies, 4(1), 74–83.  

9. Trento, F.B. (2019). “Anarchival Cinema and the Powers of The False”. Inflexions, (I Nov 2019).

10. Hoogendoorn, A; Trento, F.B; (2019). i’m vrey into you. Inflexions, (I Nov 2019).

11. Hoogendoorn, A., Trento, F.B. (2019) “A spectropoetic love letter”. Simulacrum: Liefde – Love. Amsterdam: Universiteit van Amsterdam.

12. Trento, F.B., Kuipers, H. (2018). “Extraordinary Adventures in Neurodiversity with Dougie Jones” Inflexions, INfLx pOp up 1: Diversity in Diversity.

15. Trento, F.B. (2016) “struggles of an abstract animal”. Inflexions, vol 10, Modes of Exhaustion.



tiny reading proposition at Fermentation Event. 3Ecologies Institute, Canada. 2024
PUBLICATIONS




A Short Manual on Ableism and Neurodiversity for Art Institutions.
Islands of Kinship: A Collective Manual for Sustainable and Inclusive Art Institutions. Milan: Mousse Publishing. 2024.

Thinking Kinship beyond Coupledom and Neurodiversity in Artistic Residencies (and other settings).
Islands of Kinship: A Collective Manual for Sustainable and Inclusive Art Institutions. Milan: Mousse Publishing. 2024

A tiny love letter to the raccoons arriving in Finland. Sala Rakas # 23. Helsinki. 2023

Spaces to be dislodged of.
Space/Tila/Espacio. Nexo. Helsinki. 2022.

Pies Descalzos, Sueños Blancos.
Sala Rakas # 35. Helsinki.  2022.

Seeds of futurity.
Sala Rakas # 32.  Helsinki. 2022

kissing politics.
Sala Rakas #21. Helsinki. 2022

The cup to come.
Sala Rakas # 22. Helsinki. 2022

Kelp Spillages.
The Kelp Congress. (pp. 84–90). Svolvær: NNKS Press. 2020.

To Act But For Nothing? Or I Would Prefer Not To? What Is an Anarchive?
The Go-To, How To, Book of Anarchiving. Montreal: Senselab/Lulu. 2016.

ACAT - Anarchival Conspirations Against Typicality
Performance at Myymällä2, Helsinki. 2023
Photos by Kamilla Śladowska.

















A Spectropoetic Love Letter, by Fran Trento and Anouk Hoogendoorn. Simulacrum Magazine, 2019.

In this episode of the LateMode Podcast (2022), Marta and Fran Trento discuss neurodiversity, time, space, the anarchive and practices of kinship grounded in care. Together, they examine the notion of ‘anarchive’ proposed by Erin Manning and wonder: how can we live together? How do we account for the present unequal distribution of care and time? Published in Sala Rakas. Inflexions Journal 11/11 (2018). Designed by Fran Trento and Matisse APSimons














This exhibition is a new version of a field notes diary of the researcher written during their stay in the Öres residency program in March 2020. The main themes of the exhibition are slowness and silence. The text focuses on experimenting with time and work schedules outside the city. In contrast, it discusses the ableist conditions of academic and artistic spaces.

At Örö, Fran experimented with video, photography, and writing by thinking with slowness and silence with the island’s old and slow-growing structures.





The Spaze was an ongoing collaborative architecture at the Senselab, Concordia University, Montreal. It is a procedural assemblage oriented to non-neurotypicality. It focused on architectures that do not privilege frontal conversations and self-presentation, experimenting with a procedural structure. Anybody who visits the installation may reassemble the materials in the room according to their sensory appetites. The Spaze always starts in the middle, in the sense that there is not a formal call to action that orients what to do with the materials. Located at the main building of Concordia University, it is a statement of institutional critique directed to the ableist constraints of the academic environments.

with  Erin Manning, Matisse APSimons, Anouk Hoogendoorn, Halbe Kuipers, and many other creatures.  


          

FRAN TRENTO