Why are Yoko Ono and Japan’s radical women artists in a Vicenza textile factory?

About ↓ · Takako Saito: chess without looking ↓ · The Japanese artist who worked in a Vicenza factory ↓ · Yoko Ono: open the box and find a smile ↓ · Mieko Shiomi: a poem performed across the world ↓ · Why a textile family collected Fluxus ↓ · What you can discover at Fondazione Bonotto ↓ · Plan your visit ↓

ABOUT

What connects three Japanese women who helped change the meaning of art with a textile factory in Vicenza, Italy?

At Fondazione Bonotto, the work of Takako Saito, Yoko Ono and Mieko Shiomi is represented in one of Italy's major private collections of Fluxus and experimental poetry. Its online catalogue contains 424 records associated with the three artists, ranging from original works and editions to photographs, artist books, correspondence and documentation. [1][2][3] Here, chess can be played using smell, a box can contain a smile, and a poem can involve participants scattered across several continents. These experiments belong to Fluxus, the international avant-garde movement that emerged in the early 1960s, bringing together performance, music, everyday objects, humour and games. Japanese artists were central to its development, as documented by New York's Museum of Modern Art. [4]

The connection with Vicenza is particularly personal in the case of Takako Saito, who spent time working with the Bonotto family in 1996 and 1997. The collection is housed in Colceresa, in the Vicenza countryside. Guided visits have been organised by the Foundation, including special evening openings, and future access can be requested directly.

TAKAKO SAITO: CHESS WITHOUT LOOKING

A Japanese artist who made chess a game of smell, sound and touch.

Forget the conventional chessboard. Takako Saito, born in Sabae, Japan, in 1929, became internationally known for reinventing chess through sensory experiences. In her Fluxus games, players may have to identify pieces by their weight, the sounds they produce or the smell of their contents.

Her celebrated Spice Chess, created in 1965, replaced the familiar visual identity of chess pieces with spices. Cinnamon, cumin and other aromas became part of a game played through the nose. [5] 

The Museum of Modern Art in New York preserves examples of her experimental chess sets, including Nut & Bolt Chess and Smell Chess, Liquids, while Fondazione Bonotto catalogues numerous chess inspired works, games and performances by Saito. [1][5] Her work appeals to something wonderfully universal: the pleasure of discovering that an ordinary game can have completely different rules. In Vicenza, the collection documents Saito's experiments with objects, clothes, artist books and playful performances, including Grinder Chess, Play Chess with the Sun! and Fluxchess Sets.

THE JAPANESE ARTIST WHO WORKED IN A VICENZA FACTORY

Saito's relationship with Vicenza extended far beyond collecting her work. In 1996 and 1997, she stayed and worked in Molvena, where Luigi Bonotto's textile company was based. The Foundation preserves photographs of those visits, taken by Bonotto himself, showing the artist during her time in the Vicenza countryside. [6] The connection produced objects with a distinctly personal character.

One work, dated 1997, is titled 1936 Giovanni, Luigi's Father, Starts Producing Hats... 1972 Luigi Starts His Business. It incorporates the history of Bonotto's family enterprise into Saito's artistic practice. [7] The collection also preserves a garment associated with her 1996 Cut and Signature performance in Bassano del Grappa, alongside clothing, objects and documentation connected to her activities in Europe. [8] For Japanese contemporary art enthusiasts, this is an uncommon relationship to discover: a leading Fluxus artist who lived and worked in an Italian manufacturing community, leaving behind works, photographs and records of her friendship with a local collector.

YOKO ONO: OPEN THE BOX AND FIND A SMILE

Yoko Ono is internationally associated with John Lennon, but her reputation as a Japanese conceptual artist was established independently through the experimental art and music of the early 1960s. Her work often begins with an instruction, an ordinary object or a simple gesture that asks the viewer to participate. 

Fondazione Bonotto's catalogue includes A Box of Smile, associated with a work first conceived in 1967. The idea is irresistible: open a small box containing a mirror and discover your own smiling face. [2] The collection also documents A Hole to See the Sky Through, Sky Puzzle Piece, PEACE is POWER, Dream Black Box and other works exploring perception, peace, memory and participation.

Yoko Ono's connection with Luigi Bonotto includes an Italian project with a much larger public presence. In June 2009, around the time she received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Biennale, hundreds of large posters bearing her word DREAM appeared in Italian cities, including Rome, Milan, Padua and Verona. Bonotto participated in organising the project. [7]

In 2013, the Foundation's first public initiative included a lecture by Yoko Ono at IUAV University of Venice and the work I'll Be Back, dedicated to artists of the future. In Vicenza, at Colceresa, visitors interested in Japanese conceptual art can discover objects and documentation belonging to this history, including works that are surprisingly intimate despite Ono's global celebrity.

MIEKO SHIOMI: A POEM PERFORMED ACROSS THE WORLD

Long before the internet, a Japanese artist made the entire world her performance space.

Mieko Shiomi, born in Okayama in 1938, was trained in music before becoming one of Japan's important experimental composers and Fluxus artists. Her most captivating project is Spatial Poem, developed between 1965 and 1975. Shiomi sent instructions to participants living in different countries. They performed simple actions in their own locations and mailed reports back to her. The responses became part of an artwork whose stage was the entire world. [9]

The Getty Research Institute has published an extensive study of Spatial Poem, examining its correspondence, instructions, maps and international participants. Fondazione Bonotto preserves material associated with the project, including editions of Spatial Poem No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 and the 1976 publication recording nine international events. [3][10]

The collection also includes Water Music, Endless Box, Bottled Music and Fluxus Balance for Luigi, a work whose title gives another glimpse of the relationship between experimental Japanese art and the Vicenza collector. Shiomi's work is particularly interesting for travellers familiar with contemporary participatory art, sound art and experimental music. Decades before online collaboration became commonplace, she was asking people thousands of kilometres apart to contribute to the same artwork.

WHY A TEXTILE FAMILY COLLECTED FLUXUS

The story begins with Luigi Bonotto, whose family business developed from traditional manufacturing into textile production and design. Bonotto studied art, taught textile design and developed friendships with international artists. His factory in Molvena became a place where artists could stay, work and experiment, sometimes using the company's technical expertise and materials.

Rather than simply purchasing finished artworks, he invited artists into the daily life of the business. The relationship generated performances, books, correspondence, clothing, objects and works made specifically for the collector. [7] This explains why the Bonotto Collection contains so much material that conventional museums might never acquire: handwritten notes, personal photographs, original instructions and records of performances. It also explains why three internationally important Japanese women appear in a collection rooted in the manufacturing history of Vicenza.

WHAT YOU CAN DISCOVER AT FONDAZIONE BONOTTO

The Foundation maintains an extensive digital catalogue of Fluxus and experimental poetry, with separate artist records for Takako Saito, Yoko Ono and Mieko Shiomi. Among the works documented are Saito's games and garments, Ono's conceptual objects and editions, and Shiomi's experimental musical scores and international performances.

The historical collection includes material that originated directly from relationships between artists and Luigi Bonotto, offering a rare opportunity to study the personal exchanges behind the artworks. [1][2][3][7] Visits must be arranged with the Foundation. The presence of an item in the catalogue does not establish that it will be on display during a particular visit, so anyone travelling to see works by one of the three Japanese artists should ask in advance.

PLAN YOUR VISIT

CAN YOU VISIT FONDAZIONE BONOTTO IN VICENZA? The Foundation has hosted guided visits and special openings at its Colceresa headquarters, including events in September 2026. Contact the Foundation to request the next available dates and confirm whether private or group visits are possible. [11]

CAN YOU SEE WORKS BY TAKAKO SAITO, YOKO ONO AND MIEKO SHIOMI? All three artists are extensively represented in the Foundation's catalogue. Contact the staff before visiting to ask which original works, documents or archival materials can be viewed.

IS THERE A PERMANENT PUBLIC DISPLAY? A continuously accessible exhibition of all three artists has not been verified. The online catalogue can be explored independently, while physical access depends on the Foundation's programme and arrangements.

 CONTACT +39 342 5282876; info@fondazionebonotto.org