Simone Forti

Born in 1935 in Italy. Based in Los Angeles. 

Simone Forti is a dancer, choreographer, artist and writer. Born in Florence, Italy, she emigrated with her family to Los Angeles in 1938. In 1955 she began dancing with Anna Halprin, who was doing pioneering work in improvisation. She later moved to New York to study composition with Robert Dunn at the Merce Cunningham Studio, where she connected with key figures of postmodern dance. In 1961, she premiered her influential Dance Constructions at Yoko Ono’s loft. Her work has influenced a number of artists and dancers, and shaped movements such as Fluxus and postmodern dance. Her practice encompasses not only choreography and dance, but also works on paper, video, holograms, performance ephemera and documentation.

Forti has appeared at venues including the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; The Louvre Museum, Paris; and Danspace, New York. She has had solo exhibitions at Centro Pecci, Prato (2021); Galleria Raffaela Cortese, Milan (2018); Kunsthaus Zurich, Zurich (2017); Kunstmuseum, Bonn (2016); Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2015); as well as her first major retrospective at the Museum der Moderne, Salzburg, Austria in 2014. In 2023, Forti was awarded The Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in Dance by La Biennale di Venezia.

Simone Forti is participating in the MUNCH Triennale with the 120º multiplex hologram Harmonics (1) (1975–78).