Gabriel Agostini smiling, with Scotty the black-and-white cat perched on one shoulder
CV

Gabriel Agostini

PhD student in Information Science

Cornell Tech, Cornell University

Fun

Film

BADWIZARD

Short film with Tianyi Sun · Backslash at Cornell Tech · 2026

Teaser · Backslash at Cornell Tech Watch on YouTube

What happens when data is returned to the real world via art? I am currently producing a short film about urban data in collaboration with New York based multimedia artist Tianyi Sun through Cornell Tech's Backslash Fellowship—which pairs PhD students with artists engaged with new technologies. We are working on BADWIZARD, an experimental piece about how an urban dataset of complaints and requests fabricates a shared civic memory among citizens and data scientists.

Urban+

I have written a lot about cities and geography during my undergrad. Here is some of that work:

Click on the titles to read.

Brazilian urban planning

  1. Naturally Artificial: Continuity and Change in the Street Network of Rio de Janeiro

    I use street network analysis on historical maps to study the change in the street layout of Rio de Janeiro during the colonial period.

  2. Confluences of the Past in Brasília: Another Plano Piloto for Brazilian Modernist Urbanism

    I look at the eurocentric historiography that predominantly constrained Brazilian Modernism and propose alternative, de-colonial avenues for future research rooted within Brazil's own city-planning tradition. Published in the Barnard Columbia Urban Review, Fall 2021.

  3. What Cannibals Eat For Dessert: Aftermaths of Modernism in Latin American Urban Planning

    A review essay on the same topic.

Architecture and urban planning through art and fiction

  1. The Life of Yellowing Papers: Participatory Urban Planning in Archigram's Living City

    Still looking at modernism (and Brasília!), I discuss the dissonances between the British architectural collective Archigram and modernist town planning.

  2. OH, FUCK ALL THIS WALKING! The Metafictional Geography of Movement in Albert Angelo

    Continuing on the theme of British literature and architecture, I use spatial analysis and GIS to study movement in B.S. Johnson's brutalist novel Albert Angelo.

Books

When it comes to books, I am a fierce reviewer #2. Check my Goodreads profile to follow my literary criticism. Here are some recent additions to my shelf—click on a cover to read more!

All my reviews on Goodreads

Taylor Swift

I spend too much time not only listening but analyzing Taylor Swift songs. I also produce academic research on her music. Because I unfortunately have not yet found a reputable journal on Taylor Swift Studies to publish my work, you can read the preprints below:

Click on the titles to read.

  1. Look What You Made Me Redo: Memory and Meaning in Taylor Swift's Rerecordings

    Written for Columbia's Contemporary Civilization class in 2021, this essay investigates Swift's re-recordings and their ontological implications in Aesthetics. I use canonical texts from Western philosophy, such as Marx and Nietzsche, to support my point.

  2. Look What You Made Me Listen To: The Musical Journey of Taylor Swift

    I had been thinking about these ideas much earlier in my Swiftie career: this essay from 2017 focuses on the themes of memory and repetition in Taylor Swift's music as she released reputation.

Mezcal

Mezcal is my adorable yet sometimes grudgy cat.

  • Mezcal sitting in a grey armchair, looking at the camera
  • Mezcal peeking out of a fabric cat cube
  • Mezcal lying upside down on a wooden floor beside a cardboard box

More photos

Cocktails

I'm an amateur mixologist and enjoy creating themed cocktail menus. Follow my cocktail adventures on Instagram. Check out my Pumpkin Party menu (which is a yearly holiday I celebrate) and my Oscars 2025 menu.