Poet, activist, performer and pioneer of American spoken word poetry, Bob Holman is among the most influential names on the international cultural scene. A leading figure for generations of artists and promoter of an idea of oral poetry as a social and performative practice, Holman is in Venice with We Are the Dinosaur, an urban action conceived for public space.

“A poem is not written until you see/hear it, until you read it. That’s my job, transferring energy through the poem to the audience/reader. And that’s what I do at the Biennale Teatro 2025, poems of joy and murder, words of love and slander, images of corpses and creatures from outer space.
Working with Industria Indipendente is utopia, freedom of the body on stage to become language. Working with musicians is to return to the oral roots of the art of poetry. Guerrilla poetry actions on the streets and canals of Venice follow the dinosaurs! Viva Dario Fo! (B. Holman).”

Bob Holman’s street performance will travel through the city of Venice, stopping in several places over the course of the morning and afternoon:

between 9.30 am and 1 pm Bob Holman will wend his way through the Rialto Bridge area, Campo San Giacomo dell’Orio, Campo dei Frari, Campo Santa Margherita, Zattere agli Incurabili, the Basilica Santa Maria della Salute, Punta della Dogana, Teatro la Fenice, and Campo San Fantin.

In the afternoon, the street performance will move through the open spaces of the city around Ca’ Giustinian, head towards Santa Maria Formosa, Calle Seconda de la Fava, Campo San Lorenzo, Via Garibaldi, Piazza San Marco, before ending in front of the Teatro Goldoni.