Historian of photography and visual culture, Cosimo Chiarelli holds a PhD in History and Civilization from the European University Institute in Florence (2012) and is currently a researcher at the University of Pisa. Until 2022, he was a researcher at the University of Lisbon, Centre for Theatre Studies (CET/FLUL) where he coordinated the Theatre and Image Research Group, and led as a co-P.I., along with Filipe Figueiredo (P.I), the project “PERPHOTO — Performing the Gaze: Crossings Between Photography and Theatre in Portuguese and International Context” (PTDC/ART-PER/31693/2017). His main field of academic research addresses the relationship between Photography and Performing Arts, from the 19th century onwards. Research fellow at the University of Florence from 1999 to 2002, and lecturer on History of Photography at the University of Pisa until 2011, he later moved to France, invited by the Bibliothèque Nationale for a research project on “Photography and Mime” ("Bourse Louis Roederer pour la photographie" 2008). In 2013 he has been a visiting fellow of the University of Austin - Texas (Harry Ransom Research Center Fellowship in the Humanities) for a research project on "Edward Gordon Craig and photography". From 2014 to 2016 he was a post-doc researcher at the University of Lyon 2, where among other results he organized the international conference on “Théâtre et Photographie. Croisements, échanges, écarts autour de la performance”. Since 2016, Cosimo is also an associate researcher at the AIAC Laboratoire (Arts des images et art contemporain) of the University of Paris VIII. In parallel with the research activity, he is an independent curator and cultural project manager. As an independent curator, he organized exhibitions for Italian and foreign institutions, including the Uffizi Museum and the Alinari Museum for Photography in Florence, the National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome, the Tokyo Museum of Photography, the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, and more recently the Museu Nacional de Teatro e Dança in Lisbon. With Massimo Agus, he co-founded the “Centro per la Fotografia dello Spettacolo di San Miniato” and created the International Festival on Stage photography "Occhi di Scena" (2004-2010). He is a founding member of the “Società Italiana per lo studio della Fotografia” (SISF) and a member of the Editorial Board of “RSF” (Rivista di Studi di Fotografia) and of the “Sinais de Cena” Journal (CET / APCT).