FrancoVerdi
Biography
Franco Verdi (1934, Venice, Italy-2009,Verona, Italy) is an Italian poet, artist, writer, and philosopher, known for his contributions to visual and concrete poetry. His work explores the relationship between words, images, and sound, aiming to push the boundaries of language and artistic expression. Since the 1950s, Verdi has been engaged in experimental literature, focusing on the visual and auditory dimensions of poetry. In the mid-1960s, he played a key role in organizing early exhibitions of concrete poetry in Italy, working alongside Arrigo Lora Totino, Adriano Spatola, Eugenio Miccini, Lamberto Pignotti, and Luciano Caruso to introduce new poetic forms that merged text, space, and sound. In 1983, Verdi joined Logomotives, an artistic collective founded by Sarenco (pseudonym of Isaia Mabellini). This group sought to revitalize visual poetry in a time when conceptual and language-based art had started to decline in the mainstream. Alongside figures such as Alain Arias-Misson, Paul de Vree, Jean-François Bory, Julien Blaine, and Sarenco, Verdi contributed to a body of work that explored the motion of words and their interaction with visual elements. His artistic output includes works like "Segni nello spazio" (1971) and "Cut-up" (1973), which reflect the principles of concrete poetry and experimental typography. Through his involvement in avant-garde literary and artistic movements, Verdi has significantly influenced the development of visual poetry in Italy and beyond, bridging the worlds of literature, philosophy, and conceptual art.
