Mirella Bentivoglio

Mirella Bentivoglio (b. 1922, Klagenfurt, Austria – d. 2017, Rome, Italy) was an Italian artist, poet and art curator. She worked mainly on concrete poetry, visual poetry and performance.

She exhibited several times at the Venice Biennale, the São Paulo Biennale in Brazil, Documenta (1982), the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the XI Quadriennale Nazionale di Roma (1986). Her work is based on a constant reflection on language and possible shifts in meaning, examples of which are the folder Monument of 1968 and The Tricks of Writing of 1972. Her works also include Gabbia (Ho) 1966, Ti amo 1970 and Il cuore della consumatrice ubbidiente 1975. She was the curator of numerous events dedicated to women’s art in Italy and abroad, including the International Exhibition of Visual Workers at the Tool Centre in Milan (1971) and the historic exhibition Materialisation of Language at the Venice Biennale in 1978. In 2011, the exhibition Poesia Visiva. La Donazione Bentivoglio with a wide selection of works that belonged to the artist and were donated to the museum.

Her installations and sculptures in marble and wood are part of permanent collections in numerous museums, including MACRO in Rome, Italy; Ca’ Pesaro in Venice, Italy; National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, US; Getty Institute in Los Angeles, US; MoMA, New York, US; MART, Rovereto, Italy; MAC São Paulo, Brazil; Uffizi Gallery, Italy and the National Library Florence, Italy.