Sergi
Castella-Martinez

Postdoctoral researcher · Centre for Aesthetics, Religion, and Contemporary Culture ·
Pompeu Fabra UniversityAesthetics and Poetics of Knowledge · Mystical Modes of Speech, Thought, and Life ·
Avant-Garde and ModernismI am a scholar of modern literature and religion, with a special emphasis on a humanistic approach to the aesthetics of production, organization, and communication of knowledge in the Middle Ages and in the 20th and 21st centuries. I am particularly interested in figurations of universal knowledge, understood as eminently practical objects that establish an active, material, and processual relationship with an alleged yet conflictive whole. My main focus is the construction of the mystical writer, especially Ramon Llull, in 20th-century experimental culture.Contact me at [email protected]

Academic Appointments

  • September 2023 - August 2025: Investigo Postdoctoral Researcher (Competitive 2-year research fellowship funded by the Catalan Research Agency AGAUR) - Research Group in Poetics of Knowledge, Pompeu Fabra University (UPF)

  • September 2018 - February 2023: FPU Predoctoral Researcher (Competitive 4-year PhD scholarship funded by the Spanish Research Agency AEI) - Department of Humanities (UPF)

Education

  • 2018-2023 - PhD in Humanities (Aesthetics, Hermeneutics, Religion) (UPF)
    Dissertation: Ramon Llull’s Art in the development of J.V. Foix’s poetry research - Supervisor: Amador Vega
    Excellent cum laude · International PhD
    PhD Extraordinary Award

  • 2016-2017 - M.A. in Comparative Literature, Art, and Philosophy (UPF)
    UPF Academic Excellence Grant (50% of costs funded)
    Overall grade: 9,04/10 · Percentile 92 · 2/34 in cohort

  • 2012-2016 - B.A. in Humanities (Major in Philosophy) (UPF)
    Overall grade: 9,58/10 · Percentile 100 · 1/109 in cohort
    B.A. Extraordinary Award

Research stays

  • June - September 2024 - MDRN Research Lab · KU Leuven Faculty of Arts (Belgium) · Host: Sascha Bru

  • April - July 2021 - Raimundus-Lullus-Institut · Uni Freiburg Faculty of Theology (Germany) · Hosts: Karlheinz Ruhstorfer and Viola Tenge-Wolf

Languages

Catalan · Native
Spanish · Native
English · Fluent
French · Advanced
Italian · Advanced
German · Advanced
Standard Modern Arabic · Beginner
Medieval Latin · Moderate

Publications


Book2025

The Poetry Research of J.V. Foix (1918-1985)
Knowledge Through Likenesses in the Avant-Garde

Venice University Press
(series Rassegna Iberistica 40)
Open Access

Articles2025 - "Jacques Derrida y la fe de la teología negativa" [Jacques Derrida and the Faith of Negative Theology]. Revista Iberoamericana de Teología 21(40) ("Dosier Mística Cristiana y Filosofía en el siglo XX", edited by Pablo Gutiérrez Echegoyen).2024 (co-authored with Maria Saiz-Raimundo) - "Ramon Llull and the Communicating Vessels between Catholicism and Occultism in Early Twentieth-Century France". Romance Quarterly 71(4): 277-291.2024 (co-authored with Bernadette Weber) - "Artistic Imagination and Its Role in Moral Progress. Embracing William James’ Cries of the Wounded". Philosophy & Social Criticism.2023 - "La Purification ardente et l'échec. Antonin Artaud lu par Josep Palau i Fabre" [Fiery Purification and Failure. Antonin Artaud Read by Josep Palau i Fabre]. Cahiers ERTA 33: 69-93.2021 - "El Ars de Llull y la práctica literaria de dominio de la contingencia, a partir de una poesía de J. V. Foix" [Llull’s Ars and the Literary Practice of Contingency Mastering, Through the Lens of a J. V. Foix’s Poem]. Bandue: Revista de La Sociedad Española de Ciencias de Las Religiones 13: 73-100.2021 - "Poetic Objectification of a Shattered Subject: The Alchemical Poetry of Josep Palau i Fabre". Journal of Aesthetics & Culture 13(1).Book chapters2022 - "J. V. Foix: esbozo de lulismo poético" [J.V. Foix: Sketch of Poetic Lullism]. In Ramon Llull y los lulistas (siglos XIV-XX), edited by Rafael Ramis Barceló. Sindéresis: 1133-1148.2021 - "Verdaguer i el 1900. “La recepció creativa de l'aspecte místic de l'obra de Llull" [Verdaguer and 1900: The Creative Reception of the Mystical Aspect of Llull's Work). In Aportacions presents al futur de la catalanística, edited by Eloi Bellés, Paula Marqués, Júlia Ojeda, Míriam Ruiz-Ruano. Punctum: 339-356.2020 - "Aproximació a dues reescriptures poètiques renaixencistes del Llibre d'amic i amat" [Approach to Two Poetic Late-Romantic Rewritings of the Book of the Lover and the Beloved]. In Reescriptures literàries, edited by Carme Gregori, Gonçal López-Pampló, Jordi Malé. Abadia de Montserrat: 253-276.

Digital resources2025 - Alois M. Haas' Fundamental Texts of Western Mysticism. Open Access online learning platform and self-paced course, fully accessible, trilingual. Hosted by a Pompeu Fabra University dedicated website.

As editor2022 - "Note to the edition"; "Bibliography"; "List of authors"; "List of figures". In Amador Vega, Tentativas sobre el vacío. Ensayos de estética y religión. Fragmenta: 649-710.Reviews
2025 - "José Antonio Fernández López. Problemas fundamentales de la filosofía medieval. Una lectura contemporánea. Madrid: Guillermo Escolar, 2025". Revista Española de Filosofía Medieval 32(1): 205-207.2020 - "Dia-Logos: Ramon Llull’s Method of Thought and Artistic Practice, ed. Amador Vega, Peter Weibel, Siegfried Zielinski. Minneapolis: Minnesota University Press, 2018". Studia Lulliana 60: 181-184.Collaboration in a translation2024 - Zabolotski, Nikolai. “El triomf de l’agricultura”, translated by Olga Tikhonova in collaboration with Sergi Castella-Martinez. Reduccions 121: 57-103.

Research groups

  • 2023 - 2026 - Pathologies of capitalist society and the rise of authoritarianism: diagnostic and alternative in Houellebecq, Atwood, and Ishiguro (USTOPIAS) · PIs: Miguel Beistegui and Camil Ungureanu
    Funded by the Generation of Knowledge Programme, Spanish Research Agency AEI

  • Since 2021 - Haas Research Group in Poetics of Knowledge · PI: Amador Vega (UPF)

Organization of
scientific activities

  • October 2025 - Experimental Genres in the Humanities: Theory-fiction, Imagined Narratives, Practice-Based Research · Full-day workshop, co-organized with Margalida Coll · UPF

  • June 2025 - Utopias, dystopias, neoauthoritarianism, and beyond · Two-day workshop, co-organized with Camil Ungureanu, Miguel Beistegui, Núria Sara Miras, Montserrat Crespín, Ieva Stoncikaite, and Jordi Mariné · UPF

  • 2023-2025 - Reading Group Poetry and Philosophy, co-organized within the Haas Research Group in Poetics of Knowledge · UPF

  • January 2025 - The Curatorial Condition, by Beatrice von Bismarck · Lecture co-organized with Isabel Valverde · Arts Centre Santa Mònica, Barcelona

  • October 2024 - Ustopias as Political Devices · Full-day workshop, co-organized with Camil Ungureanu, Miguel Beistegui, Núria Sara Miras, Montserrat Crespín, Ieva Stoncikaite, and Jordi Mariné · Institut d'Estudis Catalans

  • June 2024 - Bricks, branches and bodies (of water): a dialogue on the soul’s knowledge, with Teresa of Avila, Catherine of Siena, and the UPF Water Tower Building, by Harri Hudspith · Seminar · UPF

  • June 2022 - Free Captives: The Creative Practices of Christian Ascetics on the Way to Freedom · Open Panel co-convened with Roni Naor-Hofri · 19th Annual Conference of the European Association for the Study of Religions · University College Cork (Ireland)

  • June 2019 - VIII Alois M. Haas Lectures: "Shadows and Mirrors" · Two-day conference, co-organized with Amador Vega, Raquel Bouso, Ignasi Moreta, and Anna Serra · UPF

Papers at conferences

  • 2025 / Ramon Llull’s General Art, Dismembered / 2025 International Medieval Congress (Jul 9), University of Leeds

  • 2025 / “Mysticisme d’après nature”: Companions and Contexts of Salvador Dalí’s Mystical Realism / Mystical Theology Network Conference (Jun 11), Antwerp University

  • 2025 / “Margaret Atwood’s «God’s Gardeners» Ustopia” / 22 Semana de Ética y Filosofía Política. Congreso Internacional de la Asociación Española de Ética y Filosofía Política (Jan 29), Granada University

  • 2024 / “Una política. Totalitarianism and Unitarism in J. V. Foix’s Shifting Political Models (1921-1936)” / 9th European Network for Avant-Garde and Modernist Studies Conference (Sep 17), Jagiellonian University Cracow

  • 2024 / “Ramon Llull’s Mysticism and the Creative Urge of a Life in Crisis” / 2024 International Medieval Congress (Jul 1), University of Leeds

  • 2024 / Invited to closed panel: “Legends of The Blessed. Interconnected Traditions in Ramon Llull’s Modern Reception” / 7th Annual Conference of the European Academy of Religion (May 21), Palermo

  • 2023 / “Habitus artificialis: Raimundus Lullus' Ars Inveniendi Veritatem and religion as an exercise” / 20th Annual Conference of the European Association for the Study of Religions (Sep 7), Vilnius University

  • 2023 / “Ramon Llull’s combinatorial entanglement of images and intellections and the poietic requirement” / 2023 International Medieval Congress (Jul 5), University of Leeds

  • 2023 / “Poetics of Philosophy in Ramon Llull’s method of contemplation” / 11th Sciences of Religion International Conference (Apr 19), Pontificia Universidade Católica Goiás

  • 2022 / “La doble tradició de recepció francesa de Ramon Llull” / 19è Col·loqui Internacional de Llengua i Literatura Catalanes (Jul 1), Vic University

  • 2022 / “The creative freedom of Love. Poetic asceticism in Ramon Llull” / 19th Annual Conference of the European Association for the Study of Religions (Jun 27), University College Cork

  • 2021 / “Contemporary poetic practices of mastering of contingency (J. V. Foix and David Link), inspired by Ramon Llull’s ars inveniendi veritatem” / 18th Annual Conference of the European Association for the Study of Religions (Sep 1), Università degli Studi di Pisa

  • 2021 / “Experimental objectification of a shattered subject: combinatorial and performative poetics in Josep Palau i Fabre” / London Centre for Interdisciplinary Research International Conference on Poetry Studies: “Poetry Between Creation and Interpretation” (Sep 20), University of Oxford (online)

  • 2019 / “Perles i Flors lul·lianes: reescriptures renaixencistes del Llibre d’amic e amat” / 3r Congrés Internacional “Reescriptures literàries” (Nov 13), Valencia University

  • 2019 / “França, 1952. Cruïlla intel·lectual de Josep Palau i Fabre: Identitat i exterioritat” / 3r Congrés Internacional de Joves Investigadors en Llengua i Literatura Catalanes (Oct 3), Balearic Islands University

  • 2018 / “Pobreza e indefensión de Dios: El lulismo de Eulàlia Anzizu i su configuración poética de un pensamiento religioso contemporáneo” / 2º Congreso Internacional “El hábito de las letras” (Nov 9), Guadalajara University, Mexico

  • 2018 / “Verdaguer i el 1900. La recepció creativa de l’aspecte místic de Ramon Llull” / 2n Congrés Internacional de Joves Investigadors en Llengua i Literatura Catalanes (Oct 5), Lleida University

Teaching experience

B.A. in Humanities and Global Studies (UPF)
2019-2022Courses
Modern and Contemporary Aesthetics
Contemporary Philosophy
Modern and Contemporary Religious Thought
Great Religious TraditionsOther teaching
2022 - 2-hour lecture on Ramon Llull · Medieval Literature course (University of Valencia)
2019 - 3-hour lecture on Clare nun and poet Eulàlia Anzizu · Realism and Naturalism course (University of Barcelona)

Outreach activities

  • 2025 - In Fieri: Translating Images. Performative talks with audiovisual artists, co-organized with Cristina Fernández, Juan de Miquel, and Maria Pinell.

  • 2025 - Literary u(s)topias and the end of capitalism. Public talks. Organized by Ustopias Research Group.

  • 2024 - Performing the Lecture. Performative talks by artists and philosophers, co-organized with Elizabeth S. Coles and Amador Vega.

  • 2024 - Deviations: Perspectives out of norm. Public talks, co-organized with Iker Jauregui, Cristina Fernández, and Jordi Mariné.

  • 2024 - Emparaulant Ramon Llull. Guest speaker at public event by Estudi General Lul·lià.

  • 2024 - Divine Paracusiae. Concert by Manel Ribera, co-organized with Amador Vega.

  • 2022 - IX Alois M. Haas Lectures: L'Escrita. Performance by Perejaume, co-organized with Amador Vega.

Other activities and training

Blind peer review2024-2025 - ArtNodes. Journal of Art, Science, and Technology
2024 - Enrahonar. An International Journal of Theoretical and Practical Reason
2024 - Eikón | Imago
2024 - Guillermo Escolar Publishing house
2022 - Caplletra. International Journal of PhilologyInnovation teching project2022 - With Kant, at the crossroads of creation and interpretation. Within the Modern and Contemporary Aesthetics course, students curated a virtual exhibition and explored the sublime through imagery, complemented by performative lectures from artist Moon Ribas and poet Pol GuaschTeaching training2024 - Guest speaker at "1st Humanities Department Colloquium of Teaching Innovation"
2023 - "ChatGPT and other AI tools: How to use them in teaching?", by Centre for Learning Innovation and Knowledge (CLIK UPF)
2023 - "Design Thinking methodology for working on PBL projects with a focus on the SDGs", by CLIK UPF
2023 - "Plagiarism and Artificial Intelligence: Time to Rethink Assessment", by UPF Learning Lab
2022 - "Raising Awareness Against Gender-Based Violence: Detection and Action", by UPF Equality Unit
2019-2020 - 80-hour Initial Training in University Teaching "FIDU", by CLIK UPF
2019 - #AMBPERSPECTIVA. The gender dimension is also part of your course, by CLIK UPFFurther training2022 - "Intersections: current and future perspectives on hagiographic studies", by Instituto Universitario de Ciencias de las Religiones de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid
2021 - "From Draft to Submission: Publishing an article or book chapter in English", by CLIK UPF
2018 - "La ciudad fronteriza. Introducción al pensamiento de Eugenio Trías", by Institut d'Humanitats de Barcelona
2016 - Jewish Kabbalah, by Institut d'Humanitats de BarcelonaScientific associations membershipSince 2025 - Mysticisms and Creative Practices Community (MCPC)
Since 2025 - Mystical Theology Network (MTN)
Since 2022 - Associació d’Investigadors en Llengua i Literatura Catalanes (AILLC)
Since 2021 - Centre for Aesthetics, Religion, and Contemporary Culture (CERCCA)
Since 2020 - Sociedad Española de Ciencias de las Religiones (SECR) / European Association for the Study of Religions (EASR)
Since 2019 - Sociedad Española de Estética y Teoría de las Artes (SEyTA)Administrative service
2025 - Member, evaluation committee (Philosophy section), Faculty of Humanities 2025 “Francesc Noy Award” to the best Baccalaureate Research Essay in the Humanities
2024 - Alternate member, evaluation committee of PhD thesis “Tecnologías de la Devoción y la Oración Monástica. El diagrama Monte de Perfección de San Juan de la Cruz a la luz de la experiencia acústica” by Raúl Alejandro Dávila, Pompeu Fabra University
Since 2023 - Representative of postdoctoral researchers at the permanent committee of the UPF Institut de Cultura
Since 2021 - Secretary of the selection committee of the “Javier & Marta Villavecchia Fellowships” (Centre for Aesthetics, Religion, and Contemporary Culture – Haas Library Association)