Born in Turin, Italy, Irina Novarese received a BA in Fine Arts from the Accademia Albertina, Turin; and an MA in Art in Context from the UdK Berlin.

Her work has been exhibited in solo shows in various museums, galleries and off-site projects in Italy, Germany, Spain, Venezuela and the USA, as well as in group exhibitions including: the 10th Venice Architecture Biennale (2006); the 2nd Ghetto Biennale in Haiti (2012); the MOR Museo orgánico Romerillo, 12th Havana Biennial (2015), and the BIENAL SUR (2021). 

Her practice is constantly evolving in different areas of work such as artist’s books, texts, drawings, site-specific installations and videos.
Irina’s installations focus on the construction of cartographies and their relationship to reality. A mapping of conceptual rather than physical spaces, oriented towards existing geographies, especially those related to places that are more human and anthropocentric than natural. Her research is mainly developed around interstitial urban environments as opportunities and resources, especially for those who live and produce cultural and political realities around them. In her practice, she longs for and seeks out other people to exchange and explore concepts and places. Some of her recent works, based on reciprocity, are deeply concerned with the relationship between urbanity and the use and emergence of language, seen primarily as a poetic infrastructure.

Participation is a fundamental element of numerous projects through which she aims to build communities based on contributions, shared knowledge, and artistic and visionary affinities.
As an artist, she works as a curator and organizer of various projects. Current memberships are: HIER&JETZT: Connections – a residency and exchange program for artists in exile, Berlin; The Watch, residency program in the former GDR watchtower at Schlesischer Busch, Berlin; MING Studios, Contemporary Art Center & International Artist in Residency Program, Boise, Idaho (USA).
Since 2020 Irina Novarese is a member of the Independent Studio Advisory Board of the bbk Berlin e.V.

Her works are included in the collections of MUFOCO – Museo di Fotografia Contemporanea (IT); ARTPHILEIN FOUNDATION (CH); Universitat Politecnica de València (ES); GAM, Museum of Modern Art, Turin (IT); APERTO, Contemporary Art Museum, Barge, (IT); PAV, Parco d’arte Vivente, Turin (IT); as well as in international private collections.
Irina Novarese’s work is represented by the Canèm Gallery, Castellon (ES)