9th Biennial of Contemporary Mosaic

From 18 October 2025 to 18 January 2026, Ravenna will host the 9th Biennial of Contemporary Mosaic, promoted, organised and supported by the Municipality of Ravenna, Department of Culture and Mosaic, coordinated by MAR – Ravenna Art Museum, with artistic direction by Daniele Torcellini and made possible thanks to the contribution of the Emilia -Romagna Region, Marcegaglia Ravenna, Fondazione del Monte di Bologna e Ravenna, Orsoni Venezia 1888, Fondazione Cingoli and Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Ravenna.

Mosaic in Ravenna is a bridge between the past and the present. Preserving some of the most significant examples of ancient mosaics within its walls, the city has made this artistic technique famous and continues to bear witness to its intensity today.
The main event of the 9th Biennial of Contemporary Mosaic is the exhibition Chagall in Mosaic. From Design to Work, dedicated to the mosaic works of Marc Chagall, created over more than twenty years of activity, starting with one of the masterpieces in the MAR collection, Le Coq Bleu. The exhibition presents for the first time not only the original sketch but also, side by side, the two versions created by Ravenna mosaicists Romolo Papa and Antonio Rocchi. This work marked the artist’s first encounter with mosaic. This was followed by numerous works in architectural and public art contexts, the genesis of which is reconstructed in the exhibition through mosaic trials, drawings, pastels, watercolours, tempera, gouache, collages and lithographs, testifying to the creative process that accompanied the realisation of each project. 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 title of this edition – Shared Space – invites us to explore the initiatives planned, starting from the idea that mosaics are a language that triggers relationships, both between the tiles and between people. In an era such as the present one, so sadly marked by war, political, social and economic conflicts, it seems necessary and urgent to reflect on the possibilities of encounter, discussion and dialogue in the real places we inhabit and pass through, and not only in virtual spaces, where sharing is reduced to a click that leaves us alone in front of our screens.
Mosaic, as an artistic technique that brings us into contact with the material, as public art and as the sensitive skin of architecture and urban spaces, reminds us that stepping on the same tiles or finding ourselves in front of the same reflected light can be a political act.
The events of the 9th Biennial of Contemporary Mosaic involve museums, cloisters, monuments, galleries, workshops, cultural associations, temporary and symbolic spaces, to promote mosaic in the many fields in which it is expressed and which Ravenna represents well: artistic research, high craftsmanship, applied arts, training, restoration, economic and entrepreneurial activities.

Events are constantly being updated.