Valentina Vetturi on Plant Memory and Mimosa Pudica at MAXXI
On November 21, 2025, the MAXXI museum in Rome welcomed Valentina Vetturi, born in Bari in 1979, for her lecture performance titled "Mimosa Pudica," inspired by the "Sensitive Plant." Vetturi engages in observation, performances, workshops, and discussions that merge artistic inquiry with philosophy, biology, and ecology. The audience participated in a live dialogue during the event. She referenced the work of Jagadish Chandra Bose on plant behavior and Monica Gagliano's findings on plant memory. Vetturi's research links digital memory to plant learning and fosters partnerships with academics such as Vlad Morariu and Raluca Voinea. This performance was part of a broader initiative, including a lecture at MACTE Termoli in October. Since 2014, her projects have examined themes of memory and forgetting.
Key facts
- Valentina Vetturi performed 'Mimosa Pudica' at MAXXI on November 21, 2025.
- Mimosa pudica is a plant that can learn and remember without a central nervous system.
- Vetturi's practice includes daily observation, lecture performances, workshops, and roundtables.
- She was inspired by Jagadish Chandra Bose and Monica Gagliano's experiments.
- Monica Gagliano's experiments at LINV (directed by Stefano Mancuso) showed the plant remembers for about 45 days.
- Collaborators include Vlad Morariu, Raluca Voinea, Delio Mugnolo, Federica Giardini, Marco Armiero, Rachel Armstrong, and Yvonne Volkart.
- A related performance took place at MACTE Termoli in October 2025.
- Vetturi's work since 2014 addresses memory and forgetting, including 'Alzheimer Café', 'Tails', and 'La Matematica del Segreto'.
Entities
Artists
- Valentina Vetturi
- Jagadish Chandra Bose
- Monica Gagliano
- Stefano Mancuso
- Vlad Morariu
- Raluca Voinea
- Delio Mugnolo
- Federica Giardini
- Marco Armiero
- Rachel Armstrong
- Yvonne Volkart
- Édouard Glissant
- Vittoria Caprotti
Institutions
- MAXXI
- Laboratorio di Neurobiologia Vegetale (LINV)
- Middlesex University
- tranzit.ro Bucarest
- FernUniversitaet Hagen
- MACTE Termoli
- Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore di Milano
- Casa Testori
- Artribune
Locations
- Rome
- Italy
- Bari
- India
- Londra
- Bucarest
- Hagen
- Termoli
- Voghera
- Milano