Research at the Bonotto Foundation
I was lucky enough to have the possibility to spend 2 weeks at the unique site of the Bonotto Foundation in Italy.
During my research period I concentrated on the work of female visual poets - as part of my doctoral research project. Besides reading I also had the chance to be familiar with the structure and the characteristics of the art collection.
The Bonotto Foundation is an art collection of mainly Fluxus and Visual Poetry created thanks to the dedication of Luigi Bonotto to experimental art. As the head of Bonotto Spa. a leading textile firm established in the Seventies, he also has a huge network of contacts among artists internationally. From the Eighties the house of Luigi Bonotto in Molvena became an important center for cultural research and a point of interest where many artists were invited. As a result of these ‘vacations’- today we would call them ‘artist residences’ the leading figures of experimental art and fluxus visited Bonotto. The collection slowly developed into a huge estate of artworks from Yoko Ono to Adriano Spatola, from Maciunas to Lamberto Pignotti and others. As the textile factory has become prosperous during the years the collection is also enriched with unique works from renown international artists. There are many memorable stories which illustrate the path of Luigi Bonotto who in a couple of decades from a successful entrepreneur became an art collector of international reputation. One of the most famous memory of his past is the occasion when he played chess with Marcel Duchamp. His talks about his personal experiences in this recent volume:
By 2013 the collection has grown so huge that it was impossible to handle by Luigi at home. The Foundation was born that year in order to have a proper space and institutional background for the collection. Since then the Fondazione Bonotto is at the same site of the factory in Molvena, a small town between Bassano del Grappa and Vicenza in Veneto.
The collection is unique from anoher (practical) point of view as well: the artworks are partly stored in a storage room and partly are “exhibited” in the spaces of the currently working textile factory.
As a very first step of institutionalization the entire collection has been digitalized and made available online on the site of the Fondazione, It took years to complete this huge work as the collection counts more than 30 thousand pieces (of artworks, original documents, artists’ books, documentation materials, etc)
I was told that even the collector does not know the exact number of the artorks in his collection and it is continually growing - by acquisitions and by occasionally “finding” important pieces at home - not cataloged previously.
During my stay I had the chance to get an insight into the daily work of a private art foundation and also got familiar with the archiving and cataloging practices.
The small “staff” was extremely helpful and showed my the way they work and handle documents and artworks. (Grazie, Laura!)
Also the aim of m stay was to dedicate undivided attention to my research topic: Italian Female Visual Poetry as part of my doctoral thesis. The materials - catalogs, bookworks and originals - available for research at the Fondazione were really useful and I was able to enrich my knowledge on female experimental poets. This is an important aspect also because in this field there is always a lack in research materials on women artists.
I consulted materials on the following artists, leading figures of different tendencies within Italian visual poetry:
Mirella Bentivoglio, Betty Danon, Irma Blank, Caterina Davinio, Ketty La Rocca, Lucia Marcucci, Anna Oberto, Patrizia Vicinelli, Elisabetta Gut, Giulia Niccolai.
I am grateful to the Fondazione Bonotto for their professional support!












