Ketty La Rocca (1938–1976) ranks among the most important proponents of Conceptual and Body Art in Italy in the 1960s and 70s. Based on a visual poetry, she radically dealt with the sociopolitical limits of the meaning of language and image. A central aspect is the examination of the bodily gesture as an “original means of communication” that is not precoded by society.
Ketty La Rocca’s works are included in renowned institutional collections such as the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Centre Pompidou, Paris; GAM – Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Turin; Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; and the Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence. Currently, her work is included in VALIE EXPORT & KETTY LA ROCCA: BODY SIGN at Thaddaeus Ropac, Palazzo Belgioioso, Milan (IT). Recent exhibitions include the major solo presentation Ketty La Rocca: You You at the Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art, London (UK); Channeling: Body < Image > Viewer at the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago (US); Pop Models – Women in European Pop Art at MORE Museum, Gorssel (NL); Easy Irony: Irony in Italian Art between the 20th and 21st Centuries at MAMbo – Museo d’Arte Moderna di Bologna, Bologna (IT); Disruptions: Early Video Art in Europe at FMAC – Collection d’art contemporain de la Ville de Genève, Geneva (CH); Global Visual Poetry: Transnational Trajectories in Visual Poetry during Vatican Art Week, Dicastero Vaticano, Rome (IT); and Arte Povera – The New Chapter at EMMA – Espoo Museum of Modern Art (FI, all 2025). In addition, her work was presented in Video on Screen: The Early Years in Europe at Tate Modern, London (UK, 2024). Her works have been shown in major international institutions including the Biennale di Venezia (1972); Camden Arts Centre, London (1972); Fotomuseum Winterthur (1987); MoMA PS1, New York (2007); Albertina, Vienna (2012); Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt (2016); Kunstmuseum Krefeld (2016); La Virreina Centre de la Imatge, Barcelona (2017); Gallerie d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Ferrara; and Museion – Museo d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Bolzano (2019); KAI 10 | Arthena Foundation, Düsseldorf; Kunsthalle Kiel (both 2021); MAMAC, Nice; Kunsthaus Graz; Le Bal / Jeu de Paume, Paris; and Kunsthalle Hamburg (all 2022).