Massimo Bartolini was born in Cecina (1962), where he lives and works. He studied as a surveyor in Livorno (1976-1981) and graduated from the Florence Academy (1989). He is professor of visual arts at UNIBZ Bolzano, NABA (New Academy of Fine Arts, Milan) and Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna.

Also following his experiences in the world of theater, Massimo Bartolini's first interventions are actions performed with live music, theatrical machines, and dancers. Subsequently he dedicated himself separately to installation and performance, thus isolating the actors from the theatrical machines and from the stage, to obtain a space that directly modifies the perceptions of the spectator also through an architectural narration. Typical of Bartolini is an attitude of extreme openness completely transversal to the mediums that he uses and reinvents in unorthodox ways. The variety of languages and materials adopted is extraordinary: from performative works that involve temporary actors, the public or the architectural space, to drawings carried out over a deliberately long time frame; from large public installations often created with the collaboration of other hands and knowledge, to small sketch-works assembled in the studio; from complex sound sculptures to photographs and videos.

Since 1993 Massimo Bartolini has exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Italy and abroad. Among his personal exhibitions: Senza titolo & Artra (Milan, 1993), Henry Moore Foundation (Leeds, 1996), British School at Rome (Rome 1997, with Martin Creed), Casa Masaccio (San Giovanni Valdarno, 1998), PS1 (New York, 2001), Museum Abteiberg (Mönchengladbach, 2003), Luigi Pecci Center for Contemporary Art (Prato, 2003), GAM (Turin, 2004), Museu Serralves (Porto, 2007), CaixaForum (Barcelona, 2007), Ikon Gallery (Birmingham, 2007), Museion (Bolzano, 2010, with Stefano Arienti), Center of Contemporary Art Znaki Czasu (Torun, Poland, 2011), Auditorium Arte (Rome, 2012), MARCO (Vigo, Spain, 2012), SMAK (Ghent, 2013), Museo Marino Marini (Florence, 2015), Fondazione Merz (Turin, 2017), Le Futur derrièr nous (Villa Arson, 2022).
He has participated in the Venice Biennale (1999, 2001, 2009, 2013), the Valencia Biennale (2001), Manifesta 4 (Frankfurt, 2002), the São Paulo Biennale (2004), the Pontevedera Biennale (2004), the Shanghai Biennale ( 2006 and 2012), International Triennale of Contemporary Art (Yokohama, 2011), Documenta 13 (Kassel, 2012), Etchigo Tsumari Tiennal (Tokamachi, Japan, 2012), Kathmandu Triennale (Nepal, 2017), Pune Biennale, (India, 2017 ), Yinchuam Biennial (China, 2018), Bangkok Biennial (2020).