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Team
Aeropolitics
Aeropolitics examines the political and ethical stakes of flight. It traces how aerial dominance, from early aviation to satellites and drones, redefines sovereignty, conflict, and spatial rights. This approach reveals the transformative reach of governance from above.
Prof. Matteo Vegetti (USI/SUPSI)
Principal investigator, Aeropolitics axis coordinator
Principal investigator, Aeropolitics axis coordinator
Matteo Vegetti is professor of Aesthetics and Philosophy of Space at the Academy of Architecture in Mendrisio and professor at Supsi (DACD) of Theories of Space. He is also a member of the Master in Geopolitics at the Sapienza University of Rome. He is principal investigator of the SNF Synergy research project entitled Aerial Spatial Revolution. The conquest of the air and its impact on city, architecture and territory from the origins of aviation to present time. For many years he was lecturer of Aesthetics at the Politecnico di Milano and from 2019 to 2022 he was visiting professor at the University of Bergamo. Among his works: La fine della storia (Milan 2000), Hegel e i confini dell'Occidente (Naples 2004), Lessico socio-filosofico della città (Varese 2005), Filosofie della metropoli (Ed., Rome, 2009), L'invenzione del globo (Turin 2017), The Global Spatial Revolution (Milan 2022), Earthscapes. Le conseguenze della visione della Terra dal spazio (Ed., with T. Morawsky, Rome, 2023), Corpo, spazio, architettura. Fenomenologia dell’esperienza spaziale (Ed., with F. Bandi, Brescia 2024).
Doc. Tommaso Morawski (SUPSI)
Postdoctoral researcher
Postdoctoral researcher
Tommaso Morawski is currently Tenure Track Researcher in Aesthetics at the Department of Architecture and Design at Sapienza University of Rome. After obtaining his PhD in Philosophy and History of Philosophy (2017), he carried out research at the Bibliotheca Hertziana – Max Planck Institute for Art History (2018-2020; 2023-2024), the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar (2020-2022) and the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland (2024-2025). A Kant scholar, his interests include aesthetics, media theory, visual culture, and in particular the relationship between space, imagination, and maps. Among his publications are Mappe della ragione. Kant e la medialità dell'immaginazione cartografica (2024) and the two co-edited volumes Urban Forms of Life. Per una critica delle forme di vita urbana (D'Ammando, Morawski, Velotti 2023) and Earthscapes. Le conseguenze della visione della Terra dallo spazio (Morawski, Vegetti 2023).
Lucrezia Pozzi (USI/SUPSI)
Ph.D. Student
Ph.D. Student
Lucrezia Pozzi obtained her Master's degree in Philosophical Sciences from the University of Milan with full marks and honors, completing a thesis in aesthetic philosophy under the guidance of Professor Andrea Pinotti. Her expertise in the practice and use of drones, combined with her philosophical background, has allowed her to investigate the aesthetic-political implications of the aerial gaze. Currently, her research focuses on the impact of aerial technologies (drones, satellites, and rovers) in creating new spaces of military and political power at a distance, merging analyses of aesthetic philosophy, philosophy of technology, media theory and media archaeology, along with geopolitical considerations.
Aeroplanning
Aeroplanning investigates how aerial photography and planning tools reshape urban design. By examining large-scale surveys and spatial data, it reveals how flight catalyzes new approaches to structuring architecture, territories, and infrastructural networks for modern living.
Prof. Katrin Albrecht (OST)
Aeroplanning axis coordinator
Aeroplanning axis coordinator
Katrin Albrecht is an architect and professor of History and Theory of Architecture and Urban Design at Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences OST (ArchitekturWerkstatt St Gallen). She studied architecture at ETH Zurich, worked as an architect and completed her PhD at ETH Zurich with a thesis on the work of Italian architect Angiolo Mazzoni. At the Institute for History and Theory of Architecture (gta, ETHZ), she researched on handbooks of urban design 1870-1950 and the Ticinese architect Flora Ruchat-Roncati (SNSF projects). Since 2017, she is teaching and researching at the ArchitekturWerkstatt St Gallen (OST). Her publications include the monograph Angiolo Mazzoni (2017), the edited volume Manuale zum Städtebau (2017) and essays on Italian and Swiss architecture and urban planning history of the 19th and 20th century. Her current research concerns architectural and urban design practices and transformations in a historical and theoretical frame, addressing material as well as social, institutional and political issues related to Aerial Spatial Revolution.
Doc. Jacqueline Maurer (OST)
Postdoctoral researcher
Postdoctoral researcher
Jacqueline Maurer studied art history and German philology in Basel and London. She holds a PhD in film studies from University of Zurich with a thesis on Jean-Luc Godard's filmmaking and its contribution to research in infrastructure, urban planning and architecture (published in 2025). As a postdoc within the Aeroplanning research axis, she is exploring how television mediated, promoted and criticized planning debates and activities in the post-war years via aerial and, more broadly, vertical images.
Lisa Henicz (USI/OST)
Ph.D Student
Ph.D Student
Lisa Henicz studied architecture at the University of Applied Sciences Konstanz, the Technical University Munich, and the University of British Columbia. She worked for architecture firms in Hamburg and Vancouver before completing her MAS in Architectural History and Theory at the ETH in Zurich. Her doctoral thesis investigates the impact of aerial photography on Swiss architecture and urban planning in the inter-war period, using the aviator Walter Mittelholzer as its central figure.
Aerovision
Aerovision explores how flight expands perception, shaping modern views on architecture, city space, and technology. Through philosophical lenses, it analyzes the influence of aerial imagery on collective awareness and the urban environment, unveiling new forms of spatial experience.
Prof. Emmanuel Alloa (UNIFR)
Aerovision axis coordinator
Aerovision axis coordinator
Emmanuel Alloa is Full Professor of Aesthetics and Philosophy of Art at the University of Fribourg since 2019. He studied philosophy, history and art history in Freiburg (D), Padua, Berlin and Paris. In 2009, he received his PhD in philosophy from the University of Paris I-Panthéon and the Free University of Berlin with a binational dissertation. He taught at the Département d'arts plastiques of Paris 8, as well as at the Collège international de Philosophie, held a postdoc position at the NCCR Image Criticism eikones (Basel), and worked as assistant professor of philosophy at the University of St. Gallen. Various visiting professorships and fellowships have taken him to diverse international institutions such as the Italian Academy for Advanced Studies at Columbia University (New York), Universidad San Nicolás de Hidalgo (Mexico), UFMG Belo Horizonte (Brazil), IKKM at Bauhaus University Weimar, University of Vienna, Turin and UC Berkeley. His work has received several awards, including the 2016 Latsis Prize and the 2019 Aby Warburg Wissenschaftspreis. Emmanuel Alloa currently serves as Deputy President of the German Society for Aesthetics.
Lilian Kroth (UNIFR)
Postdoctoral researcher
Postdoctoral researcher
Lilian Kroth is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Fribourg, where she works on conceptual critiques of remote sensing. Her PhD project at the University of Cambridge engaged with Michel Serres’s philosophy of limits. She is an associate researcher at the Centre Marc Bloch (Berlin) and the University of Groningen, and one of the organizers of the CRASSH research network “Remote Sensing. Ice, Instruments, Imagination” in Cambridge. Prior to that, she studied Philosophy at the University of Vienna (BA, MA) and Fine Arts at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna.
Alessandro De Cesaris (UNIFR)
Postdoctoral researcher
Postdoctoral researcher
Alessandro De Cesaris has studied Philosophy in Naples (Federico II), Turin (University of Turin), Freiburg i.Br. (Albert-Ludwigs Universität) and Berlin (Humboldt, Technische Universität). Right now he works as an assistant to the Chair for Aesthetics and Philosophy of Art at the University of Freiburg (Switzerland). He wrote his PhD dissertation on the notion of Singularity in Hegel’s logic, and right now he is working on a media-theoretical interpretation of Hegel’s philosophy. His main research fields are media philosophy and philosophy of technology, with a particular focus on the notion of “medium” and its meaning in the current debate.
Emanuel Tandler (UNIFR)
Ph.D Student
Ph.D Student
Collaborators
Max da Rocha Fonseca (SUPSI)
Scientific collaborator
Scientific collaborator
Max is a visual designer and journalist focused on science communication. At SUPSI, Max contributes to the conception and implementation of applied research projects, promoting dialogue between science and society.
Partners
Prof. Christoph Frank (USI)
Prof. Caren Kaplan (Univ. of California, Davis)
Prof. Antonio Somaini (Paris III-Sorbonne Nouvelle)
Prof. Jennifer K. Lavasseur
(Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Washington, D.C.)
Prof. Lisa Parks (MIT, Cambridge MA)