Francesco Urbano Ragazzi is a curatorial duo composed of Francesco Ragazzi (International Ph.D. in Philosophy of Art,  professor of Aesthetics) and Francesco Urbano (Ph.D. in Film & Media Studies, professor of Semiotics). Combining a poetic and managerial approach, their practice creates short circuits between art and reality while exploring a broader understanding of public space.

The duo has curated projects for leading international institutions, including ISCP, School of Visual Arts, and e-flux Cinema (New York); MMCA (Seoul); Kunstnernes Hus (Oslo); Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève, CERN (Geneva); Maraya Art Centre (Sharjah), Centro Ricerca Castello di Rivoli (Turin); Reykjavik International Film Festival; La Loge (Brussels), La Casa Encendida (Madrid), Institut Français (Paris), Ikon (Birmingham), Ruya Foundation (Baghdad), Emirates Foundation (Abu Dhabi)

Their practice also extends beyond artistic institutions, based on the conviction that “art is the institution of itself and can thus institute itself everywhere, no place excluded”. Emblematic in this respect is a series of exhibitions presented in Venice: The Internet Saga by Jonas Mekas, presented inside a fast-food restaurant at Palazzo Foscari Contarini (2015); Hillary: The Hillary Clinton Emails by Kenneth Goldsmith at Cinema Teatro Italia, a former theater operating as a functioning supermarket (2019); Adoration by Pauline Curnier Jardin at the Giudecca Women’s Prison, in collaboration with its inmates (2022); and Stitched Cosmos by Jennifer West at the headquarters of Ca’ Foscari University (2026).

In 2012 they curated Io Tu Lui Lei, the first institutional exhibition about the cultural legacy of LGBTQ+ movements in Italy, with the support of the National Ministry of Equal Opportunities. From 2017 to 2022 Francesco Urbano Ragazzi directed the archive of feminist artist Chiara Fumai, also organizing the main retrospective exhibition of her work and monographic publication. In 2021, they co- edited FUORI!!! 1971-1974 (Nero Editions), an award-winning anthology dedicated to the first LGBTQ+ magazine in Italian history. Between 2021 and 2022 they served as artistic directors of the 17th LIAF Biennial in Norway. From 2023 to 2024, they curated the international centenary program Jonas Mekas 100! in Italy, building on a decade-long collaboration with the artist that resulted in more than twenty exhibitions, publications, and film programs (2014-2024). In 2025, Francesco Urbano Ragazzi was appointed the Inaugural Curatorial Fellow at the American Academy in Rome; in 2026, they joined the Artworks Curatorial Residency in Athens, supported by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation.

The duo held lectures and seminars in academic contexts such as Collège International de Philosophie, Yale School of Architecture, UC Davis Humanities Institute, USC Roski School of Art and Design, Nordland School of Arts and Film, Hong Kong University, Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, ZHdK Zurich, Universiteit Antwerpen. Their words have been published in magazines such as Flash Art, Purple, NERO, South as a State of Mind, Mousse, CURA, King Kong and Spike.