The Aesthetics of Risk: A Conversation with Francesca Cavallo and Ksenia Chmutina

Drawing on artistic works, curation, governance, the urban environment, the politics of disasters and more, this wide-ranging conversation explores the ways in which artists have approached, used and reformulated 'risk'. 

It also features an introduction to the works being produced for Radar's Risk Related project by Laura Purseglove, Radar Producer.

Francesca Cavallo is a researcher, curator and art critic. Her research focuses on pre-disaster scenarios, probable futures and the aesthetics of risk in art and visual culture. She just completed her PhD at the University of Kent where she has taught in the department of History and Philosophy of Art over the past three years.  Previously she curated the exhibition Risk at Turner Contemporary, Margate, and worked as a researcher for Organising Disaster, a project at Goldsmiths, University of London. Francesca has curated programs and exhibitions in Italy, Portugal, Lebanon and Uruguay as well as in the UK and the US. Her writings have appeared in various edited collections and catalogues and she regularly contributes to Camera Austria International.

Ksenia Chmutina is Senior Lecturer in Sustainable and Resilient Urbanism at Loughborough University. Her research takes a critical approach to risk and disaster; and explores tensions of resilience and sustainability in the built environment. She is the co-author of Disaster Risk Reduction for the Built Environment and a co-host of the podcast Disasters Deconstructed. She is the lead academic partner for Risk Related.