Renato Barilli is an Italian academic and art critic who taught Aesthetics and Phenomenology of Styles at the University of Bologna, where he became a professor emeritus. Active in the Neo-avant-garde movement of the 1960s and a promoter of the group Nuovi-nuovi in the 1980s, he curated significant exhibitions and wrote essays on contemporary art and literature. Among his key works: “Tra presenza e assenza” (1974), “L'arte contemporanea” (1984, new edition 2005), “Arte e cultura materiale in Occidente” (2011).