Vincenzo Agnetti

Vincenzo Agnetti (Milan, 1926–1981) was a central figure in the international Conceptual Art scene of the 1970s. He was a poet, critic, and “reciter” who trained at the Brera Academy and the Piccolo Teatro school. After initial experiences in informal painting and poetry, he embarked on an independent path, thanks in part to his friendship with Piero Manzoni and Enrico Castellani, and his connections with the Azimuth group, to whose journal he contributed with several articles supporting the most radical trends of that time.

After a period spent in Argentina in the early 1960s, during which he distanced himself from traditional artistic practice to devote himself to theoretical thinking, he returned to Italy and inaugurated a mature phase of his artistic exploration. From this point on, he created works—such as the “axioms” in bakelite or the “portraits” in felt—and actions in which the concepts of word, territory, “translation,” relationship, and the singularity and universality of communication are fundamental.