Marina Apollonio is an Italian artist, recognized as one of the most prominent figures in the international Op Art and Kinetic Art movements. She was born in Trieste on November 12, 1940. As the daughter of art theorist and critic Umbro Apollonio, she grew up in a stimulating artistic environment. In 1948, when her father was appointed head of the historical archive of the Biennale, her family moved to Venice. In 1959, she attended painting classes taught by the artist and professor Giuseppe Santomaso at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice, where she focused on industrial, graphic, and interior design. In 1962, she began exploring visual perception and communication. In 1964, she met Getulio Alviani, who encouraged her to present her works to the public,and they began a significant collaboration.She came into contact with major figures in Op Art and Kinetic Art and exhibited alongside them in important national and international exhibitions. In 1965, she joined the international New Tendency movement and participated in NOVA TENDENCIJA 3 at the Galerija Suvremene Umjetnosti in Zagreb. She was one of the key artists in the significant exhibition Aktuel ‘65 in Bern and exhibited alongside Alviani and Scheggi at the Smith Gallery in Brussels. In 1966, she took part in the OP-POP exhibition at the D Gallery in Frankfurt. In 1968, during a solo exhibition at the Barozzi Gallery in Venice, Peggy Guggenheim acquired her work Rilievo in Alluminio for her collection. 

In the following years, Apollonio participated in major avant-garde exhibitions, including L’OEIL MOTEUR 1950-1975 at the Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain in Strasbourg in 2005. In 2007, the Schirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt commissioned Spazio ad Attivazione Cinetica, a ten-meter rotating disc installed on the floor of the museum’s rotunda for the international exhibition OP ART. She also participated in OPTIC NERVE: Perceptual Art of the 1960s at the Columbus Museum of Art in Columbus, Ohio, USA. In 2012, she was featured in two international exhibitions: Arte Programmata e Cinetica at the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna in Rome and GHOSTS IN THE MACHINE at the New Museum in New York. In 2013, she took part in one of the most significant exhibitions on international Kinetic Art, DYNAMO: A Centur y of Light and Movement in Ar t 1913-2013, at the Grand Palais in Paris. In 2022, Apollonio was featured in the 59th edition of the Venice Biennale International Art Exhibition in the thematic “capsule” titled Technologies of Enchantment. That same year, she participated in the group exhibition L’occhio in gioco in Padua, where she created Spazio Attivazione Cinetica 6B, a ten-meter disc installed in the ancient courtyard of the University of Padua at the Bo. 

Marina Apollonio currently lives and works in Padua.