Background
Francesco Agnellini’s research and teaching are grounded in critical theory, with a particular focus on the intersections of philosophy and art in 20th-century and contemporary thought. He has published on authors such as Georges Bataille and Pierre Klossowski, whose work blurred the line between philosophical and artistic practice, as well as Georges Didi-Huberman and Louis Marin, who engage literary theory, philosophy of art and semiology. Building on this intellectual background, his current work extends into the digital domain through critical data studies, where he examines how infrastructures of computation transform meaning and representation.
He has translated seven books from French or English into Italian, ranging from philosophical volumes on figures such as Karl Marx, Simone Weil, Bertolt Brecht and Sergei Eisenstein to works of public history on the Crusades. More recently, he has translated and edited writings by contemporary authors such as Georges Didi-Huberman. Alongside this work, he is an art critic for AW ArtMag, an Italian-based but internationally distributed magazine, where he reviews exhibitions in the United States.
Alongside his scholarship in the humanities, Agnellini has training in data science, machine learning and generative AI, and is proficient in the main programming languages that shape today’s digital landscape, such as Python and JavaScript. In his teaching, he combines theoretical perspectives with practical applications. His current projects draw on critical data theory and computational practice, investigating how digital infrastructures transform concepts of textuality, visuality and meaning across artistic and technological domains.
Publications
Journal Articles:
- “Acéphale,” Cahiers Bataille, 5 (January 2022): 17-28.
- “Dal mare alla fonte (e viceversa): deriva del mito in P. Klossowski," Poli-femo, 9-10 (September 2016): 105-120.
- “La fauna come inferno della psiche. Metamorfosi animali nelle interpretazioni lautréamontiane di Gaston Bachelard e Georges Bataille," Altre Modernità, Special Issue (October 2012), 24-34.
Book Chapters:
- “Parodie de l’ouverture: ékphrasis, solécisme et signe unique dans les œuvres littéraires de Pierre Klossowski,” Leçon d’économie générale: l’expérience-limite chez Bataille, Blanchot, Klossowski, ed. by Alain Millon, Paris: Presses Universitaires de Nanterre, 2019, 131-145.
- “Bataille à la guerre, ou d’une communauté crépuscolaire," Götzendämmerung, Crépuscules des idoles, Fall of the idols: réactions littéraires, artistiques et intellectuelles à la Seconde Guerre Mondiale, ed. by Gislinde Seybert, Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang Verlag, 2017.
- “L'économie à la base de la morale et de la poésie,” La dépense et l'excès: autour de la Part maudite de Georges Bataille, eds. by Jacques Poirier and Christian Limousin, Paris: Classiques Garnier, 2015, 291-305.
Translations and Editions
- Georges Didi-Huberman, La somiglianza informe o il gaio sapere visuale secondo Georges Bataille, trans. and ed. Francesco Agnellini, Milan: Mimesis, 2023.
- Jones Dan, Crociati. L’epica storia delle guerre per la Terra Santa, trans. Francesco Agnellini, Milan: Hoepli, 2022.
- Pascal Combemale, Introduzione a Marx, trans. Francesco Agnellini, Milan: Hoepli, 2020.
- Florence de Lussy, Simone Weil, trans. Francesco Agnellini, Milan: Hoepli, 2019.
- Georges Didi-Huberman, Quando le immagini prendono posizione. L’occhio della storia I, trans. and ed. Francesco Agnellini, Milan: Mimesis, 2018.
- Jones Dan, I templari. La spettacolare ascesa e la drammatica caduta dei cavalieri di Dio, trans. Francesco Agnellini and Emilia Andri, Milan: Hoepli, 2018.
- Louis Marin, Dei poteri dell’immagine. Glosse, trans. and ed. Francesco Agnellini, Brescia: Casa di Marrani, 2017.
Education
- PhD, MA, IULM University, Milan
Research Interests
- Critical Theory
- Critical Data Studies
- Aesthetics
- Machine Learning and Generative AI
Teaching Interests
- Critical Theory
- Critical Data Studies
- Aesthetics
- Data Science
Awards
- Translators Fellowship at the Centre National du Livre, Paris