John Giorno reading at City Lights Italia Festival, Florence, Italy, May 4 1998, photo by Michele Corleone
Exhibition
John Giorno: a labour of LOVE
Until April 13 2025
Free admission
In the 1960s, the New York cultural scene was revolutionized by a group of friends and artists, notably Robert Rauschenberg, Andy Warhol, William S. Burroughs, John Cage, Allen Ginsberg, Jasper Johns, Patti Smith and John Giorno. This exhibition, held in Cuore, Triennale’s research, study and archive center and on the Scalone d’Onore, explores the life and work of the poet John Giorno. Born in 1936, Giorno was a central figure in the New York underground, known for his powerful stage presence. He reached a crucial turning point in his career in 1962 when he met Warhol and launched the fusion of poetry, visual art and music that defined his future artistic output. He reinterpreted poetry in a postmodern language in The American Book of the Dead (1964) and supported artists, poets and musicians through his organization Giorno Poetry Systems. He also created pictorial works in which words become images, generating a sensory experience that goes well beyond the written word.
Inspired by the theme of miart’s 2025 edition, among friends, the exhibition features the colorful Perfect Flowers, the innovative installation Dial-a-poem and more than one hundred posters, private letters, archival film clips and original flyers advertising public poetry events. Together, they illustrate the world constructed by Giorno—a world in which poems and words explode on the walls, enter into people’s houses and invade the space with an irresistible power, making poetry accessible to everyone.
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Credits
Curated by: Nicola Ricciardi with Eleonora Molignani
Exhibition design: EX.
With the support of: Giorno Poetry Systems
The curator wishes to thank: Fiera Milano, MSGM, Ecoedile
