Michele Cremaschi

Researcher and practitioner at the intersection of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), critical AI studies, and participatory design. Holds a PhD in Computer Science (Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, 2026) with an award- winning publishing record at top-tier venues and journals. Combines rigorous academic research - including an international track as a visiting scholar at IDEAI-UPC Barcelona - with hands-on engineering of LLM-based applications, complex RAG architectures, and tangible AI interfaces.

Proven ability to bridge the gap between heavy software architecture and human-centered interactive experiences, drawing from a rich, transdisciplinary background spanning computer science, interactive arts, and critical technology practice.

 Sineglossa – Several, Italy

Applied AI Architect & Researcher

[ 01/11/2022 – Current ]

• Chatbot Governance CoDesign: I worked with stakeholders at Museo del Cinema (Turin) to articulate the normative principles that should govern an autonomous chatbot, translating these into concrete design requirements and evaluating their implementation.
• LLM Engineering & RAG Architectures: Design and develop end-to-end custom AI-based applications in Python, implementing production-ready Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) systems and conversational agents.
• Participatory Model Optimisation: Elaborate reports and evaluative frameworks to engage the stakeholders in the evaluation of the requirements.
• Conduct Large Language Model customisation through advanced prompt engineering and custom fine- tuning pipelines to mitigate bias and explore computational limits.
• Prototyping: Conceptualise and craft tangible LLM interfaces integrating physical computing components to create embodied human-AI interaction experiences.
• AI Literacy: Design, implement, and deliver advanced educational AI frameworks and workshops tailored to cultural practitioners, academic institutions, and tech sectors.

 Smart soc coop – WorldWide

Creative Technologist & Interaction Designer

[ 01/01/2008 – Current ]

• Interactive Systems Architecture: Lead the ideation, technical design, and full-stack development of complex digital interactive systems for international performing arts events and large-scale immersive installations.
• Computer Vision & Spatial Computing: Implement advanced motion tracking techniques, real-time computer vision workflows, and custom video/body mapping algorithms to bridge physical environments with digital assets.
• XR & Novel Displays: Pioneer the technical architecture for AR/VR staging and custom interactive holographic projection systems from concept to real-time deployment.
• Real-time Software Engineering: Program advanced audio-reactive visuals and synchronous audience interaction nodes using visual programming environments and multimedia scheduling systems (QLab).
• Show Control & Protocols: Design and maintain multi-layered digital show control systems utilising low- latency communication protocols (OSC, MIDI) to synchronise hardware and software inputs.
• Location-Based Experiences: Architect and deploy geotagged audio walk performances, managing spatialised audio delivery and mobile location-tracking frameworks.
• International Tech Literacy: Delivered technical speech and workshop at high-profile, EU-funded technology and culture programs (e.g., ViSet - Brescia 2015; Creative Europe fund - Budapest 2016).

 Smart Soc. Coop - Retroscena Associazione - Mediaset - Alicante - Elsinor Cooperativa - others – World Wide

Performing artist - Digital Artist - Theatre Dramaturg - Theatre Director

[ 01/01/1997 – 31/12/2020 ]

Author and actor for >1000 staging in theaters and festivals all over Europe, USA, Africa, Russia. Show directions. Festival artistic directions. Author and actor for >30 TV appearances (RAI and Mediaset Italian TV; RTBF Belgian TV).

Several festival’s “best show” awards. Artistic direction of "Teatro e nuove tecnologie" theatre program @ Teatro Donizetti and Teatro Sociale di Bergamo. I secured the grant and production support form L-EST/European Performing Arts and Transmedia Lab in Le Granit - Belfort (FR) supported by L-EST European Centre for Artistic Creation.

Le Granit - Belfort (FR). Showcase of the interactive digital installation "Isotta" at Ars Electronica Festival in Linz (AT)

 Register.it - ARCA assicurazioni - Italcementi - Webnet SRL - others – Bergamo, Italy

System Automation Engineer

[ 01/01/1998 – 31/12/2005 ]

Designed and maintained enterprise workload scheduling and automation systems using IBM Tivoli Workload Scheduler. Developed automation frameworks using Shell scripting, Python, Perl, RegEx. System configuration (Apache, NCFpt).

 Erbamil Soc. Coop, Retroscena Associazione, Smart.it Soc. Coop. – Milan, Bergamo, Italy

Chief Executive Officer, Board Member, Senior Project Lead

[ 01/01/2004 – 01/07/2025 ]

ERBAMIL SOC. COOP. - 2004 – 2008 | Bergamo, Italy

• Financial Oversight: Spearheaded fiscal strategy and budget management, successfully driving a +60%

increase in corporate revenue and funding.

• Digital Transformation & Operations: Led the organisation's digital innovation roadmap, modernising workflows and infrastructure while directing an agile team of 20 professionals to seamlessly absorb the increased activity load without increasing operational overhead. RETROSCENA ASSOCIAZIONE - 2009 – 2013 | Bergamo, Italy
• Asset Acquisition: Negotiated and secured the long-term, cost-free strategic use of a 300-square-meter cultural facility within the historic "Monastero di Valmarina," granted by the "Parco dei Colli di Bergamo."
• Grant Management & Project Leadership: Served as the Director and Manager for the "InItinere Artistic Residency" activities program, managing a cross-functional team of 15 practitioners, successfully securing and managing €300k in total funding across two consecutive grants from the prestigious Fondazione Cariplo- funded ETRE program.

SMART SOC. COOP. IMPRESA SOCIALE - 2018 – 2025 | Milan, Italy

• Corporate Governance: Served on the Board of Directors for the social enterprise, supervising corporate strategy and compliance while contributing to a +100% budget increase.
• Program Management (Innovacultura): Acted as Ideator, Project Manager, and Lead Artist for the Digital

Stage project, managing deliverables and cross-organizational alignment for a high-profile initiative funded by

Unioncamere Lombardia, Regione Lombardia, and Fondazione Cariplo.

• Technical Project Management (Ora! Program): Orchestrated the Scena Digitale project as Project Lead and

Lead Artist, securing a €56k innovation grant from Compagnia di San Paolo (Turin).

• Cross-Functional Team Leadership: Negotiated strategic corporate sponsorship to secure dedicated enterprise software development support from SORINT.lab SpA. Served as Technical Lead, managing the end-to-end software architecture, development, and delivery of a custom voting system while coordinating the engineering team.
• AI Initiative Leadership: Served as Project Lead and Principal Investigator for the Creative AI initiative, backed by a grant from Fondazione Cariplo and Cooperativa Smart It. Designed, programmed, and led an advanced artistic research workshop exploring critical approaches to Generative AI, successfully directing three public exhibitions of the outcomes.

PhD

Libera Università di Bolzano [ 01/08/2022 – 02/04/2026 ]

City: Bolzano | Country: Italy | Field(s) of study: Computer Science; Human-Computer Interaction | Level in EQF: EQF level 8 | Thesis: Disobedience by Design: Exposing Ideology and Acceleration in Automated Language Generation

Funded by EU European Union – Next Generation EU, Mission 4, Component 1. Co-founded by Sineglossa.

Visiting scholar

Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, IDEAI Artificial Intelligence Research Center [ 01/09/2024 – 01/03/2025 ]

City: Barcelona | Country: Spain Computer Science BA and MA

Università Statale [ 01/10/1992 – 12/12/1997 ]

City: Milano | Country: Italy | Field(s) of study: Information and Communication Technologies | Final grade: 101

| Thesis: Math logic-based Knowledge Representation in AI Diploma for actor in theatre, radio and television

European Social Fund 2956 (obj. 3 ax. 1) actor diploma – Regione Lombardia [ 01/07/1997 – 01/07/1998 ] City: Milano | Country: Italy