Born in Cagliari on October 21, 1961, Tinamaria Marongiu (birth name: Maria Cristina) entered the world of art at a very young age as a pop music performer. In 1977, she moved to Rome, where she joined Il Cenacolo—the only creative hub for emerging artists, founded by RCA Italiana under the direction of its president Ennio Melis. This space became a center for experimentation and dialogue between young talents and established artists, a pivotal place for her artistic and human development.

In 1979, under the stage name Babi, she released her first 45 rpm single “Maschere”, produced by Paolo Dossena and distributed by Polygram, composed by Maurizio Monti and Aldo Tamborrelli.

In the early 1980s, she performed under her given name Cristina, recording the song “La Lettera”, which became the opening theme of Gli Emigranti, one of the first and most iconic telenovelas broadcast in Italy. The track was later included in the LP “Contremano”, presented at the MIDEM in Cannes and reviewed in the world’s leading music magazine at the time, Billboard.

The 33 rpm album “Contremano” was released across Europe. In Germany, distributed by Virgin, it achieved notable success. The single “Soli”, written by Riccardo Cocciante and performed by Cristina, remained in the top radio charts for over eight months.

Tinamaria represented Italy at an edition of the International Festival of Malta, and during the same period starred in a musical comedy produced by ETI (Italian Theatrical Institution) alongside actors Emi Eco and Valerio Isidori.

In the early 1980s, she began writing her own lyrics and enrolled with SIAE (Italian Authors and Publishers Society). Her singer-songwriter voice emerged strongly in the early 1990s.

In the late 1980s, she spent a brief period in California, where she attended a vocal training course. She graduated from the CET (European Center for Tuscan Studies), a music university founded and directed by Mogol (Giulio Rapetti), as a certified pop music interpreter.

In 2004, Tinamaria participated with two of her original songs in the competition “L’Altra Musica”, organized by IMAIE, and was selected among the winners. In 2005, at the “Italians in the World” contest held between Paris and Sanremo (alongside the Sanremo Festival), she won the Critics’ Award with her song “Madreterra”.

In 2007, she traveled to Havana, Cuba, where—with the collaboration of legendary Cuban flutist José Luis Cortés—she recorded her first singer-songwriter CD:

“Dal Poetto al Malecón”, released by Interbeat and distributed by CNI (Compagnia Nuove Indie).

In July 2008, she was invited to the “Premio Lunezia”.

With several tracks from her music project “Passepartout”, she became a semi-finalist at Premio Musicultura 2010.

In 2023, her song “Attimi” was included in the compilation album “Sanremo Famosi”, published by Dino Vitola.

From Music to Visual Art Her insatiable curiosity and need for new forms of expression have driven an ongoing journey of research and experimentation —from songwriting and poetry to photography and ultimately, visual arts.

In 2009, she earned a three-year Master’s in Art-Counseling in Rome, where she explored various creative methods. This became the catalyst for her entry into the visual art world.

In 2010, she realised her first Box-Es: instinctive, unplanned material-based artworks, expressing a desire for free expression within a conformist and standardized society. These three-dimensional pieces, made from organic, inorganic, and recycled materials, are combined with colors and resins, then enclosed in plexiglass vitrines. One recurring symbolic element is the “pharmaceutical”, representing the comfort and discomfort of humanity and the world.

In 2011, she participated in the Chianciano Biennale, where she won the 3rd Leonardo Prize in the Applied Arts  section. That same year, she was featured in a collateral event of the Venice Biennale with some of her Box-Es and held her first solo exhibition in Miami, Florida (USA). 

Compact Art – A New Movement

In 2013, Tinamaria coined the term “Compact Art”, aiming to define a clear creative framework. The movement integrates a strong social concept, expressed in five guiding principles: Uniqueness – Universality – Unity – Humanity – Equality.

Compact Art is based on the assemblage of diverse materials—organic, inorganic, and found fragments—into unified, three-dimensional compositions enclosed in plexiglass cases. Her works embody a fusion of material experimentation and formal coherence, challenging the traditional boundaries between art, artifact, and ecological consciousness.

In 2025, the theoretical foundation of her practice was officially codified with the publication of the “Manifesto of Compact Art” in issue no. 366 of the Bolognese quarterly journal I MARTEDÌ. This publication marked the official launch of a new international art movement, positioning Compact Art as both an aesthetic and socio-cultural response to contemporary materiality.

Awards and recognition

• October 2020 – 1st Prize, Gold Medal for Sculpture, 43rd Medusa Aurea International Award (AIAM)

• June 2021 – Participant in the London Art Biennale; awarded the Gagliardi Gallery Award (4th Prize ex aequo); selected among the 25 artists for a follow-up exhibition in London (Nov 3–12, 2022)

•  2022 – 1st Prize, Applied Arts, Chianciano BiennaleGlobal Exhibitions and Legacy 

The originality and depth of her Box-Es have led to widespread success and exhibitions across Europe, the UK, the USA, and internationally. In 2025, she also earned official certification as a Ceramic Artist.

Since 2018, she has been featured in the Catalog of Modern Art (CAM), published by Giorgio Mondadori (formerly Bolaffi), and has received multiple features in Arte magazine (Mondadori) and other prominent publications.

The year opened with the publication of the “Manifesto of Compact Art”, under the editorial direction of I Persiani publishing house and with the supervision of journalist Domenico Segna and Father Giovanni Bertuzzi, director of I MARTEDÌ magazine.