marta minujín
1943, Buenos Aires
Marta Minujín is a pioneering Argentine visual artist known for her avant-garde, playful, and participatory work. She studied at the Escuela de Bellas Artes Manuel Belgrano and the Escuela Nacional Prilidiano Pueyrredón in Buenos Aires. In 1961, she received a scholarship to study in Paris, where she created her first performance, La destrucción (1963). Upon returning to Buenos Aires, she won the Torcuato Di Tella Institute National Award for Revuélquese y viva (1964), her first interactive installation. In 1965, she co-created La Menesunda—a groundbreaking multi-sensory experience—with Rubén Santantonín. A Guggenheim Fellowship took her to New York in 1966, where she collaborated on major media projects such as Simultaneity in Simultaneity (with Allan Kaprow and Wolf Vostell) and Minuphone (1967). Throughout the 1970s, she lived between the U.S. and Argentina, staging iconic happenings and performances such as Interpenning (1972), Kidnappening (1973), La Academia del Fracaso (1975), and Comunicando con tierra (1976). Her work—marked by color, humor, social critique, and ephemeral materials like mattresses and inflatables—has been exhibited worldwide, cementing her place as a major figure in contemporary Latin American art.
Minujín lives and works in Buenos Aires.
marta minujin and alberto greco. untitled, c. 1958. mixed technique on canvas, 47.2 x 47.2 in (120 x 120 cm). © marta minujín
minujín in her studio on rue delambre in paris, with her first multicolored mattresses, 1963. © marta minujin
la cabalgata (cavalcade), 1964, event on the TV show la campana de cristal, live on channel 7, buenos aires. © marta minujín
view of la menesunda. sixteen multisensorial and multimedia environments organized by minujín and rubén santantonín, di tella, buenos aires, may 1965. © marta minujín
simultaneidad en simultaneidad (simultaneity in simultaneity), 1966. happening at di tella, buenos aires, october 13 and 24, 1966 live broadcasts on television channels 11 and 13 transmissions from radio libertad. © marta minujín
minuphone, 1967. © marta minujín
selection from the archive of minucode, 1968. museum of modern art, new york. acquired in part through the generosity of the latin american and caribbean fund anonymous donor, the modern women's fund, glenn fuhrman, and grazyna kulczyk
importación-exportación (import-export), 1968. environment and happening at di tella, buenos aires, july 22—31, 1968 © marta minujín
how to be in a movie, minujin's event at soft gallery, 1973. © marta minujín
untitled, 1973. from the series frozen sex, 1974—75. acrylic on canvas. 50 3/4 x 50 3/4 in. (129 x 129 cm) © marta minujín
marta minujín posing at the entrace of the hornero (furnarius nest), made in conjunction with comunicando con tierra (communication with earth), 1976, presented at cayc, buenos aires © marta minujín
el obelisco acostado (the obelisk lying down), 1978. full escale construction of the buenos aires obelisk reclining and television sets with projections inside, presented at parque ibirapuera as part of the latin american biennial of sâo paulo, november 3 — december 18, 1978. © marta minujín
la estatua de la libertad recubierta de hamburguesas (statue of liberty covered with hamburgers), 1979. ink on paper vellum. 31 1/2 x 431/2 in (80 x 110.5 cm). solomon r. guggenheim museum, new york. © marta minujín
la torre de pan de james joyce (the james joyce tower in bread), 1980, presented at rosc'80: the poetry of vision, earlsfort terrace, university college, and the national gallery of ireland, dublin, july 6 — september 30, 1980. © marta minujín
mitos populares desmitificándose (popular myths demystified), 1986. ink, pencil, graphite, and felt pen on transparent paper 27 1/4 x 39 in (69.3 x 99.3 cm). daros latinamerica collection, zurich
estatua de la libertad cayendo (statue of liberty lying down) 1986. bronze, 10 1/4 x 9 5/8 x 2 1/4 in. (26 x 24.4 x 5.7 cm). amaca panama collection, panama
operación perfume (operation perfume), 9 de julio avenue in buenos aires, november 28, 1987. © marta minujín
soliloquio de emociones encontradas (soliloquy of mixed emotions), 2011. acrylic and tempera on hand-cut mattress fabric strips glued with vinyl adhesive on canvas, 94 1/2 x 189 in (240 × 480 cm). © marta minujín
el partenón de los libros (the parthenon of books), 2017, in friedrichsplatz, kassel, as part of documenta 14, june 10 - september 17, 2017. © marta minujín
el partenón de los libros (the parthenon of books), 2017, in friedrichsplatz, kassel, as part of documenta 14, june 10 - september 17, 2017. © marta minujín
el partenón de los libros (the parthenon of books), 2017, in friedrichsplatz, kassel, as part of documenta 14, june 10 - september 17, 2017. © marta minujín. photo: roman maerz
vacunación global (global baccination), 2021. acryilic and tempera on hand-cut mattress fabric strips glued with vinyl adhesive on canvas. 106 1/4 x 70 7/8 in. (270 x 180 cm) © marta minujín
ensoñación, 2023. mixed media: mattress fabric, foam rubber and fluorescent paint, 45 x 35 x 20 cm.
Her solo exhibitions include: Marta Minujín: Vivir en Arte, kurimanzutto, Mexico City (2025); Marta Minujín: Making a Presence, kurimanzutto, New York (2024); Marta Minujín: Intensify Life, Copenhagen Contemporary, Denmark (2024); Marta Minujín: Ao Vivo, Pina Luz Building, Pinacoteca de São Paulo, Brazil (2023); Marta Minujín: Arte! Arte! Arte!, The Jewish Museum, New York (2023); Marta Minujín’s MINUCODE, The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York (2021); La Menesunda, Tate Liverpool, United Kingdom (2020); Marta Minujín, Menesunda Reloaded, New Museum, New York (2019); La Menesunda según Marta Minujín, Museo Moderno, Buenos Aires (2015); Marta Minujín: Minucodes, Americas Society, New York (2010); Marta Minujín. Works 1959-1989, Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA) (2010); Marta Minujín. Sculptures, Galería Enlace, Lima, Peru (2008); Marta Minujín. Los meses del año, Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA) (2006); Marta Minujín. Ventanas, Borges Cultural Centre, Buenos Aires (2005); Philosophy of diagonality, Roldán Art Auction Showroom, Buenos Aires (2003), among others.
Group exhibitions include: Sensing the Future: Experiments in Art and Technology (EAT), The Tower, Living Archives Gallery, Parc des Ateliers, LUMA Arles, France (2025); Territorios: Latin American contemporary art at the Jorge M. Pérez Collection, Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo (CAAC), Seville, Spain (2024); Performance Biennial, Puente de la Mujer, Buenos Aires (2024); Lo que la noche le cuenta al día, organized by Padiglione d'Arte Contemporanea (PAC), Milan and Fundación Proa, Buenos Aires (2024); dOCUMENTA (14), Kassel, Germany (2017); Radical Women: Latin American Art, 1960–1985, organized by Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2017); traveled to Brooklyn Museum, New York (2018); and Pinacoteca de São Paulo, Brazil (2018); Artecho by Un Techo Para Mi País, Centro Cultural Recoleta, Buenos Aires (2010); WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution, The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles (2007); traveled to PS1 MoMA, New York (2007); I Encuentro entre dos Mares, São Paulo-Valencia Biennial, Spain (2007); La Presencia-The Presence of Latin American Art in California Collections, Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA), Long Beach, California (2007); Beyond Geography: 40 Years of Visual Arts at the Americas Society, New York (2005), among others.
Her works are part of international public collections such as: the Art Museum of the Americas, Washington D.C.; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes and Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA); The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York; Olympic Park, Seoul; Tate Modern, London; The Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met), New York; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid; and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.
