John Giorno: The Performative Word

A magnetic poet and performer, John Giorno (New York, 1936 - New York, 2019) transformed words into art. The MAMbo - Museum of Modern Art in Bologna is dedicating John Giorno: The Performative Word, from 5 February to 3 May 2026, to him. This is the first major Italian retrospective, staged in the Sala delle Ciminiere, celebrating one of the most radical and visionary protagonists of contemporary culture.

A key figure in avant-garde New York, poet, artist and activist, John Giorno broke down disciplinary boundaries, turning poetry into a living body, a gesture capable of inhabiting unexpected places. His friendships and collaborations with some of the most significant figures of those years, including Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, William Burroughs, John Cage and Patti Smith, and the founding in 1965 of Giorno Poetry Systems - the non-profit platform that revolutionised the dissemination of poetry by intertwining it with music, visual arts, political engagement and community practices - testify to the essential impact Giorno has had on art history.

The exhibition traces John Giorno's multifaceted practice through different groups of works, showing how the artist enhanced the poetic language in its plastic, relational and performative dimensions, pushing the word to cross over into the territory of visual arts and telecommunications networks. Much of his artistic production reuses excerpts from his poems replicated on different media, with the use of carefully chosen colours and an iconic font created by Mark Michaelson specifically for the artist.

The exhibition includes a section dedicated to archival materials curated by Nicola Ricciardi in collaboration with Eleonora Molignani, with an installation designed by Studio EX. (Andrea Cassi and Michele Versaci).

Exhibition curated by Lorenzo Balbi, promoted by MAMbo - Museo d'Arte Moderna di Bologna in collaboration with Giorno Poetry Systems and with the support of the Thomas Brambilla gallery.