Born in 1940, Alighiero Boetti initially aligned himself with the Arte Povera movement before embarking on a distinct artistic trajectory of his own.

In 1972 he moved to Rome, where he discovered the pleasure of light and colours, far from the austerity of Turin. In 197, in search of a transformative experience, he found solace and inspiration in the vibrant city of Kabul, Afghanistan. His first encounter with the city marked the beginning of a profound connection that would shape Boetti’s creative journey for the next 23 years until his passing in 1994. More than a mere traveller, Boetti immersed himself in the fabric of Kabul’s culture, going so far as to establish the renowned One Hotel and making recurrent visits until the region was unsettled by the Soviet invasion in 1979.

It is Boetti’s extraordinary collaborations with Afghan craftswomen that remain his most remarkable achievements, commissioning them to craft monumental embroideries that embody the essence of his artistic vision.

As a conceptual and versatile artist, he has produced a great variety of artworks, delegating to other people the manual execution of some specific typologies, but in that case following very precise “rules of the game” and even high principles such as the 1971 Nobel Prize Jacques Monod’s “Chance and necessity”.

Among such pieces, the ballpoint pen Monochromes (blue, black, red, green) with a white coded writing coming out of the evenly doodled coloured surface; or the tapestries embroidered on cloth, not only the World Maps but also the multi-coloured “Magic Squares” of texts written in Italian and Persian as well as the “Tutto” (Everything), dense puzzles where indeed everything can be found (newspaper silhouettes, figures of animals and shapes of domestic objects ...).

Alighiero Boetti exposed his works in the most prestigious and emblematic exhibitions of his generation, from ‘When Attitudes Become Form’ (1969) to ‘Contemporanea’ (Rome 1973), from ‘Identité Italienne’ (Paris, 1981) to ‘The Italian Metamorphosis 1943-1968’ (Guggenheim Museum New York, 1994). Works of his were exposed at six editions of the Venice Biennale; his personal exhibition room in the 1990 edition was awarded a special prize, and a posthumous homage show was presented in the 2001 edition.

Jannis Kounellis (1936-2017) was a Greek-Italian artist associated with the Arte Povera movement.

Born in 1936, in Piraeus, Greece, Kounellis later moved to Rome, where he became a prominent figure in the international art scene. In the early 1960s, he emerged as a key exponent of Arte Povera, a radical art movement that emphasized a raw, elemental aesthetic and a rejection of traditional artistic mediums.

Kounellis gained widespread recognition for his groundbreaking installations that incorporated found objects, live animals, and diverse materials. In 1969, he presented one of his most iconic works, Untitled (12 Horses), which featured live horses tethered to the walls of a gallery space. This piece exemplified his interest in creating immersive, multisensory experiences that challenged the boundaries between art and life.

Throughout his career, Kounellis continued to explore themes of transformation, ritual, and the relationship between the natural and industrial worlds. His works often incorporated everyday materials such as coal, steel, wood, and cloth, contributing to the distinctive aesthetic of Arte Povera.

Jannis Kounellis exhibited widely across the globe, participating in major art events, including Documenta in Kassel and the Venice Biennale.

Kounellis passed away on February 16, 2017, in Rome, leaving behind a rich and influential body of work that continues to be celebrated for its experimental nature and its profound engagement with the human experience.

Danh Vō, born in 1975 in Bà Rja, Vietnam and raised in Denmark, lives and works between Berlin and Güldenhof, Germany.


Danh Vō’s conceptual works and installations often draw inspiration from personal experiences to address broader historical, social, and political concerns.


Central to his artistic practice is a meticulous process of collecting and accumulating photographs, souvenirs, fragments, and objects from his personal life, which allow him to delve into universal questions of identity and the paradoxes of Western society. This process gives rise to recurring elements in Danh Vō's body of work, serving as leitmotifs of his preoccupations, notably centered around capitalism and Western colonialism, Catholicism and sexuality, as well as cultural heritage and identity.


Every artwork is an amalgam of stories, references and symbols assembled in a process of creative deconstruction of value and reiterative appropriation.


Vō’s work is featured in both private and public collections, including: Art Gallery of Ontario, Ontario; Sifang Art Museum, Nanjing, M + Museum, Hong Kong; Faurschou Foundation, Copenhagen; SMK National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen; CAPC – Musée d’art contemporain de Bordeaux, Bordeaux; Centre Pompidou, Paris, FNAC - Fond National d’Art Contemporain, Paris; Kadist Foundation, Paris; Boros Collection, Berlin; Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen, Stuttgart; Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach; Museum Ludwig, Cologne; Israel Museum, Jerusalem; Museion, Bolzano; Pinault Collection, Venezia; Ishikawa Foundation, Okayama; Aishti Foundation, Beirut; CIAC – Colección Isabel y Augustin Coppel, Ciudad de Mexico, Jumex Foundation, Ciudad de Mexico, Museo Tamayo, Ciudad de Mexico; Serralves Foundation, Porto; Qatar Museum, Doha; Fundacion Banco Santander, Madrid; Reina Sofia, Madrid; Magasin III, Stockholm; Kunsthaus Zurich, Zurich; Kunstmuseum Basel, Basel; South London Gallery, London; Tate, London; The Roberts Institute of Art, London; Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo; Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago; Aspen Art Museum, Aspen; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas; Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines; Guggenheim Museum, New York; MoMA - Museum of Modern Art, New York; Pérez Art Museum Miami, Miami; Rubell Family Collection, Miami; SFMOMA – San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Whitney Museum, New York.


Danh Vō represented Denmark at the 2015 Venice Biennale and was included in the 2019 and 2013 Venice Biennales, the Berlin Biennale in 2014 and 2010, among others.