John Giorno: The Performative Word

John Giorno (New York, 1936–2019) was a magnetic poet and performer who knew how to transform words into art. From February 5 to May 3, 2026, MAMbo - Museo d'Arte Moderna di Bologna, a division of the Settore Musei Civici of Comune di Bologna, is presenting John Giorno: The Performative Word, curated by Lorenzo Balbi. Held in the Sala delle Ciminiere, this is the first major institutional retrospective celebrating one of the most radical and visionary figures in contemporary culture.

John Giorno was a key figure in the avant-garde New York scene. A poet, artist and activist, he tore down the boundaries between disciplines, turning poetry into a living body capable of inhabiting unexpected places. His friendships and collaborations with major figures of that era, including Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, William Burroughs, John Cage, and Patti Smith, as well as his establishment of Giorno Poetry Systems in 1965—a non-profit organization that revolutionized the dissemination of poetry by blending it with music, visual arts, political engagement and community practices - are all a testament to Giorno's essential impact on art history.

The exhibition showcases the multifaceted artistic practice of John Giorno by presenting several groups of his works. This approach demonstrates how the artist enhanced poetic language through its plastic, relational and performative qualities, thereby expanding the scope of words and venturing into the realms of visual arts and telecommunications networks. Much of his artistic production reuses excerpts from his poems, which are replicated on different media with carefully chosen colors and an iconic font.

At the heart of the exhibition is Dial-A-Poem, an iconic interactive piece through which the artist made recordings of poets, artists, musicians and activists reading their work available to the public via telephone. Produced in 1969 and subsequently presented at the 1970 Information exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, this pioneering project transformed the telephone into a tool for disseminating poetry on a large scale. Over the years, the project grew to encompass 282 recordings by 132 authors, including Patti Smith, Allen Ginsberg and Amiri Baraka. It also spawned international editions in several countries and became the emblem of participatory conceptual art.

For the exhibition John Giorno: The Performative Word, an Italian version of Dial-A-Poem, Dial-A-Poem Italy, was created specifically for MAMbo, involving over thirty contemporary Italian poets selected by Caterina Molteni.

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

With John Giorno: The Performative Word, MAMbo pays tribute to an artist who redefined poetry as a form of expression that incorporates gesture, rhythm, the body and presence. Through this work, Giorno created a multidimensional language that is capable of uniting politics, spirituality and everyday life. His art restores the essential power of the voice and builds a bridge between history and the present.

To coincide with the exhibition, Mousse Publishing will publish a monograph produced with the support of Almine Rech, kurimanzutto and Galerie Eva Presenhuber (Zurich/Vienna).

The show is organized in collaboration with Giorno Poetry Systems and with the support of Galleria Thomas Brambilla.

The exhibition is part of the institutional program of ART CITY Bologna 2026, a series of exhibitions and events promoted by the Comune di Bologna and supported by BolognaFiere to coincide with Arte Fiera.