Simone Forti

Simone Forti (March 25, 1935 – July 2026) was an American postmodern artist, dancer, choreographer, and writer. From the 1950s onward, she exhibited, performed, and taught workshops throughout the world. Her innovations in postmodern dance, including her seminal 1961 body of work, Dance Constructions, along with her contribution to the early Fluxus movement, have influenced many notable dancers and artists.

Forti first apprenticed with Anna Halprin in the 1950s and later worked alongside artists and composers Nam June Paik, Steve Paxton, La Monte Young, Trisha Brown, Charlemagne Palestine, Peter Van Riper, Dan Graham, Yoshi Wada, Robert Morris, and others.

Her published books include Handbook in Motion (1974, The Press of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design), Angel (1978, self-published), Oh Tongue (2003, [reprinted by Nero Editions, Rome, in 2023], and Unbuttoned Sleeves (2006) Beyond Baroque Foundation, ed. Fred Dewey), and New Book (2024), published by Nero Editions. At the time of her death, she was represented by Raffaella Cortese Gallery in Milan, Italy, and her work is held in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, the Generali Foundation in Vienna, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, and the Moderna Museet in Stockholm.