Narcissus Garden for Sale: «one piece 2 dollars». Yayoi Kusama alla Biennale di Venezia nel 1966

Things that do not exist or should not exist and ‘ghetto exhibitions’ mark some counterpoints on the presence of female artists and on first performance actions at Venice Biennale in the 1960s and the 1970s. Yayoi Kusama, who created Narcissus Garden without being invited in 1966; Marina Abramović and Ulay, invited for the first time in 1976 but in an external venue; and Paula Claire’s action, between others, at the exhibition Materializzazioni del Linguaggio curated in 1978 by Mirella Bentivoglio, mark two crucial decades of increasingly contemporary trend at the Esposizione Internazionale d’Arte of Venice. This essay connects new relationships between Yayoi Kusama presence, art galleries in New York City, Milan, Venice and other main characters in the art system of the 1960s.