The RIVELAZIONI international conference invites contributions that engage critically with spaces of marginalization, confinement, and invisibility – places that are physically or symbolically denied within contemporary society. These may include prisons, detention centers, informal settlements, or other spaces overlooked by dominant spatial narratives.
The conference seeks to bring together scholars, designers, and practitioners from multiple disciplines to share methods, tools, and narratives that reveal, interpret, and potentially transform these spaces. Whether through mapping, storytelling, participatory design, or theoretical inquiry, we aim to highlight practices that not only expose exclusion but also imagine alternatives.
The initiative is part of the research project RiSP – Right to space, Space of Rights, funded by a 2022 FRA Grant from the University of Naples Federico II. RiSP investigates how spatial design can support or undermine the exercise of fundamental rights in contexts of personal liberty deprivation, with a particular focus on how environments – often designed for surveillance and control – can instead foster dignity, care, and social reintegration.
Proposals may be submitted in Italian and English, and should address one of the following thematic areas:
Visions // Perspectives
Tools // Methods
Experiences // Narratives
Key dates:
– 13 July: proposal submission deadline
– 23 July: notification of acceptance
– 9–10 October: in-person conference in Naples
– 3 November: full paper submission deadline
Proposals must be submitted by 13 July 2025 via the Link of Google form.
Each author may submit a maximum of two proposals, each fitting within a different thematic axis. Each proposal must include:
- an abstract, in either Italian or English, with a maximum length of 2,000 characters including spaces;
- one high-resolution image (300 dpi), in .jpeg format, with a base width of 14.8 cm.
Selected proposals will be allocated to one of two distinct modes of participation in the conference:
- Thematic Sessions
A selection of contributions deemed to be of particular scientific relevance will be included in thethematic sessions, which will be coordinated by members of the RiSP research group.
Relevance will be assessed based on the quality of the proposal and the proven academic expertiseof the author in relation to the topics addressed or closely related subjects.
To this end, within the application form, applicants will be asked to indicate up to three significant scientific publications relevant to the themes of the conference.
Following evaluation by the scientific committee, selected authors will be required to submit a full paper with a length of between 15,000 and 20,000 characters. These papers will be published in open access as part of the Confinamenti series, published by Cratera. The volume will be made available online on the website after the conclusion of the conference.
- “Research Postcards” Session/Exhibition
Additional selected contributions will be presented within the experimental exhibition section entitled Research Postcards, aimed in particular at researchers, doctoral students, artists, performers and activists.
The exhibition will feature “postcards” linked to the visual and conceptual content presented. These postcards will serve as concise communicative devices to showcase fragments of research, as well as design and performative experiences.