IX Biennale di Mosaico Contemporaneo

From October 18, 2025, to January 18, 2026, Ravenna will host the ninth edition of the Biennale di Mosaico Contemporaneo (Contemporary Mosaic Biennial). On this occasion, the city will be transformed into a widespread museum, where museums, cloisters, galleries, monuments, workshops, and urban spaces will host exhibitions, installations, and projects that showcase mosaics as a living heritage, capable of intertwining artistic research, craftsmanship, training, and restoration.
The title of this edition is Shared Place. An invitation to reflect on mosaics as a language that creates relationships and promotes dialogue in an era marked by conflict and digital loneliness.
An invitation to discover the city through its tiles, between memory and contemporaneity.

The main event is the exhibition Chagall in Mosaic. From Project to Work, dedicated to the mosaic works of the great artist Marc Chagall, created over more than twenty years of activity, starting with one of the masterpieces in the MAR collection, Le Coq Bleu. Exceptionally, the large mosaic Le Grand Soleil, originally given by Chagall to his wife Valentina as a gift for their home ‘La Colline’ in Saint Paul de Vence, will also be on display. It was subsequently removed and has not been visible for decades. The exhibition is completed with an in-depth look at the individual work of the Ravenna mosaicists who collaborated with Chagall: Romolo Papa, Antonio Rocchi, and Lino Melano

Palazzo Rasponi dalle Teste is hosting two parallel solo exhibitions: Breath, by Pakistani-born artist Shahzia Sikander, who lives and works in New York, in collaboration with Galleria Valentina Bonomo, and Studies in Mosaics, by Lebanese artist Omar Mismar, curated by Serena Simoni and Daniele Torcellini. Recently featured at the 2024 Venice Biennale, the two explore themes related to identity, gender politics, social tensions, and contemporary conflicts.

Il Pavimento (The Floor), conceived by Nicola Montalbini and created by Montalbini himself together with Marco Santi’s Gruppo Mosaicisti di Ravenna (Ravenna Mosaicists Group) and the Accademia Statale di Belle Arti di Ravenna (Ravenna State Academy of Fine Arts), is a site-specific installation designed for Porta Adriana: a journey through time and the memories of the city.

The Arian Baptistery—one of eight UNESCO World Heritage Sites—is hosting an encounter between Trentino artist Ismaele Nones, who reinterprets Byzantine painting with a contemporary and ironic eye, and the mosaic tradition of Ravenna. The installation Verso l’Alto, verso la Terra: Sguardo al firmamento (Upwards, towards the Earth: A glance at the firmament), curated by Anna Caterino, is the result of a collaboration between the artist and Marco Santi’s Gruppo Mosaicisti di Ravenna (Ravenna Mosaicists Group).

To discover the full program of exhibitions and events, visit the website: https://biennale.ravennacittadelmosaico.it/en