The Biscozzi | Rimbaud Foundation in Lecce is hosting a retrospective titled "Gianni Bertini. Story of a man without history" from May 16 to September 13, 2026. Curated by Thierry Bertini and Roberto Lacarbonara, the exhibition traces the creative journey of Italian-French artist Gianni Bertini (1922-2010), featuring over forty works, artist volumes, and archival documents. It explores three key phases of his career: the early "Screams" cycle, his informal period, and the invention of Mec-Art, a mechanical art movement that anticipated New Dada and Pop Art.
This exhibition matters because it restores the complexity of an avant-garde figure who challenged aesthetic conformism and whose work remains underrecognized outside specialist circles. By placing Bertini in dialogue with its permanent collection, the foundation offers new critical tools for understanding 20th-century visual language transformations. The show also highlights Bertini's role as a "total intellectual" who bridged historical avant-gardes and emerging mass society, making a case for his relevance to contemporary art discourse.