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John Giorno - John Giorno Foundation

John Giorno at Hotel Chelsea staring into Brion Gysin's Dream Machine, 1965

1936 Born New York, NY, US to Amadeo and Nancy Giorno

1939 Attends the World’s Fair in Brooklyn, NY

1952 Sees Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas

1954 Graduates from James Madison High School

1956 Reads Allen Ginsberg’s Howl

1958 Graduates from Columbia University, briefly attends graduate program at the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop

1958 Attempts suicide

1959 Begins two-year stint as a customers man on Wall Street, earning a reputation as “the poet who works on Wall Street” amongst his peers

1962 Meets Andy Warhol

1965 Stars in Andy Warhol’s film Sleep

1965 Opens Giorno Poetry Systems bank account to start non-profit for funding poetry projects

1965 Takes 34 LSD trips in Hotel Chelsea with Brion Gysin; creates Subway Sound with Brion Gysin

1966 Begins renting apartment at 222 Bowery

John Giorno - John Giorno Foundation

John Giorno's "Poetry Loft" Studio, © 2019 Marco Annelli

1967 John Giorno releases his first monograph (Poems) and first LP (The Intravenous Mind Presents Poems by John Giorno)

1968 Dial-A-Poem debuts at the Architectural League

1969 Dial-A-Poem is featured in Information at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, curated by Kynaston McShine

1970 Giorno Poetry Systems is incorporated as non-profit

1971 Travels to India and Nepal and meets the Dalai Lama and His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche

1972 Diagnosed with testicular cancer, and is successfully treated at Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital

1972 Giorno Poetry Systems releases first LP, The Dial-A-Poem Poets

1975 William Burroughs moves into the Bunker at 222 Bowery

1977 Spends eight months in Kathmandu studying Tibetan Nyingma Buddhism

John Giorno - John Giorno Foundation

John Giorno in front of LIFE IS A KILLER, 1989. © Philip Heying

1982 Begins to perform poetry with John Giorno Band

1983 William Burroughs moves out of the Bunker, Giorno hosts Nyingma teachings in the space

1985 AIDS Treatment Project, a grantmaking body via Giorno Poetry Systems, is formed

1989 First poem paintings (silkscreen on vinyl) are produced with iconic Mark Michaelson font by Editions Francesco Conz

1997 William Burroughs dies

1998 Meets Ugo Rondinone

2013 Has an early-warning stroke

2015 Ugo Rondinone stages I ❤︎ John Giorno at Palais de Tokyo, Paris

2016 Diagnosed with heart failure

2017 Marries Ugo Rondinone

2017 Retires from performing

2019 Dies in his home at 222 Bowery, New York

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