MSGM pays tribute to the legacy of John Giorno, bringing his incendiary words to the Triennale in Milan, open until April 13, and Miart from April 4 to 6, 2025. Here, language becomes action, art transforms into visibility, and transformation becomes a radical expression of a new world.
Words Domenico Costantini
The collaboration between MSGM and the world of contemporary art takes a fresh turn through a project that merges fashion, poetry, and performance, celebrating the iconic poet John Giorno. With his radical art and aesthetic vision, Giorno transformed language into a performative act that challenged conventions and built new narratives. In this dialogue between visual art and fashion, MSGM delves into the power of creativity as a vehicle for change and transformation.
John Giorno, a poet of the Beat Generation and an internationally renowned performer, shaped a visual poetry that transcended written language, pushing words beyond their conventional meanings. His work embodies a tension between the public and the private, the intimate and the collective, an act of resistance that questions the establishment and redefines the concept of identity. The exhibition John Giorno: A Labour of Love, hosted at the Triennale in Milan until April 13, 2025, explores the cultural impact and revolutionary scope of his work, accompanied by materials from his personal archive, which chronicle the evolution of his art and his political and social commitment.
Simultaneously, MSGM will showcase a special installation at Miart 2025 (April 4-6), entitled Big Ego, dedicated to John Giorno. The piece, a tribute to his poetic vision, translates Giorno’s language into a visual project that explores the tension between ego, visibility, and invisibility, between appearing and disappearing. Fashion thus becomes a medium to explore the same dialectic between power and fragility, a way to confront the struggle for visibility in a world that normalizes uniqueness.
In support of new generations of artists, MSGM renews the Massimo Giorgetti Award, an initiative that reinforces Massimo Giorgetti’s commitment to promoting emerging creativity. The 5,000-euro award aims to stimulate artistic research and support young talents ready to challenge the status quo.
To celebrate this collaboration, MSGM has created a limited-edition t-shirt featuring Giorno’s quote, “You have to burn to shine,” taken from the book You Got to Burn to Shine. The t-shirt embodies the tension between beauty and suffering, sacrifice and creation—central themes in Giorno’s poetic vision—and represents the raw energy that fuels all forms of art.
With these initiatives, MSGM not only honors a legendary artist but also charts a path that connects fashion and visual art in a new creative dimension. The collaboration with John Giorno is an act of visibility that transcends aesthetics, demonstrating how creativity can break conventions, opening spaces for reflection, transformation, and freedom.
