The weekend of Art City 2025 Bologna, dedicated to art in all its facets, has just ended. Once again, the event embraced the city’s cultural venues and attracted a vast audience of arts-enthusiasts.
Good things come in threes, so Marca Corona per l’Arte just had to be there, organising activities spread across the days of Friday 7 February, Saturday 8 February and Sunday 9 February.
In this great call to art, which accompanied a very ambitious 2025 edition of Art City Bologna, we chose to broaden our perspectives and create cross-contaminations between a set of connected themes: drawing, architecture and urban regeneration.
This was all done together with experts in the relevant sectors and artists who gave us access to their experience and worldviews, dialoguing with people and showing that vision is still the driver for generating community, participation and change.
So let’s take a look at the highlights of the Marca Corona per l’Arte and Art City Bologna 2025 weekend, looking back at the events at Teatro San Leonardo, Via San Vitale 63, in words and pictures.
When Architecture Converts Culture. Art City 2025 Bologna began with the “R(i)esistere” congress
On the first day of Art City Bologna, we opened our programme with the congress “R(i)esistere – Quando l’architettura converte la cultura” [“Resisting-Re-existing- When Architecture Converts Culture”].
With inputs from a series of speakers, the event investigated the role of art, architecture, culture and innovation in the regeneration of the urban environment.
In a fast-evolving world, these areas influence the way in which we inhabit spaces, shaping cities and affecting society. As a result, culture becomes an ecosystem in which creativity, technology and community engagement interweave, originating new forms of language and new interpretations of reality.
Through the sequence of talks, attendees were able to interact with various conversations on the subject of the transformation of cities, the evolution of art and architecture in this context, and how these factors can become essential tools for redefining the relationships between the individual, the community and nature.
On stage with us at this event were:
- Maurizio Cilli, artist and architect engaging in research in issues of the Culture of Architecture, living-spaces and the application of the Civic Arts as practices in urban and territorial regeneration processes.
- Emanuel Ingrao, social innovator, entrepreneur and strategic consultant, head of Shifton – a firm specialised in design practices for social innovation – and co-founder of the Milano Painting Academy.
- Giada Crispiels, visual artist, member of the board of Trans Europe Halles – a network of European cultural centres – and expert in cultural management for the promotion of art as a tool for community engagement.
- Alessandra Pioselli, art critic, curator, lecturer and author of the book “L’arte nello spazio urbano” [“Art in Urban Space”], one of the main themes of our “R(i)esistere” congress through the talk “L’arte rigenera l’architettura?” [“Does Art Regenerate Architecture?”].
- Laura Ragazzola, journalist and architect, in her talk discussed aspects like sustainability and environmental impact, with a focus on Scandinavian projects, outlining the innovative approach advocated by Bjarke Ingels.
- Andrea Mastrovito, artist and film director, well known for his innovative, multidisciplinary approach. He explores themes including memory and popular culture, time and space, and reality and fiction, relating them to contemporary society.
- Guido Incerti, architect and congress moderator, not to mention the official greetings from Lelio Poncemi, CEO of Marca Corona, Marco Filippucci, President of the Bologna Architects’ Association and Wladimiro Bendandi, President of the ADI’s Emilia Romagna Delegation.
The first evening of Art City Bologna 2025 featured the Premio Marca Corona award for talented young contemporary artists
Friday’s events continued in the evening with the awards ceremony of the Premio Marca Corona prize for up-and-coming young artists.
This year the competition, held for the 3rd time, was inspired by the works and exhibition by Andrea Mastrovito, entitled “MCm: Minimo Comune multiplo – processi moltiplicativi” [“Least Common Multiple – multiplication processes”].
The chosen theme celebrates multidisciplinarity and inclusion, drawing inspiration from the artist’s constant search for meaning and the innovative techniques he applies.
One of the competition’s aims is to offer talented artists under 35 new opportunities for visibility and independence, by promoting fresh languages and influences and embracing a new partnership of creativity, business and contemporary art.
The jury appointed to examine the works comprised:
- Andrea Mastrovito – artist, president of the jury
- Ilaria Bernardi – curator
- Giulia Ronchi – director of Exibart
- Lorenzo Madaro – curator and full professor of history of contemporary art at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts
- Tommaso Guerini – collector
- Simone Gheduzzi – architect and creator of the PIETRO contemporary art space, Bologna
- Sara Zambon – CEO R&P Contemporary Art
- Luca Fiandri – head of R&D, Marca Corona
- Mariachiara Russo – product manager, Marca Corona
The winner of the 2025 Premio Marca Corona was Lorenzo Gnata with his “Presenze intermittenti” [“Intermittent Presences”] project, chosen by the jury for:
“[…] painstaking research into the local area and company traditions, with a focus on archive material. The intense dialogue with the work and processuality of Andrea Mastrovito within the organisation is a key aspect. The use of the concept of the “single multiple” and the “module” is also particularly interesting.”
During the awards ceremony, the artist described the work’s creation as follows:
“I developed my idea starting from a striking archive image found on the company’s website: a girl taking the place of men sent to fight at the front during the War. She is a worker, in herself a least common multiple, a small, common element that can still multiply and save the company in those dramatic times.
[…] I aimed to celebrate the authentic power of the smallest unit, the singular, things which are common, often almost identical but can also build communities: vitally important and acting as genuine multipliers.”
Second and third runners-up were the collective Ire Ēre, (i.e. Chiara Capuana, Ettore Vezzosi) with Caterina Mainardis and Giulia Facchin, respectively with the projects “Iknoskopèo” and ‘Earth Patchwork’.
The jury was impressed by both works, giving the following reasons:
“‘Iknoskopèo’, the result of the equal collaboration between the members of the Ire Ēre collective (namely Chiara Capuana, Ettore Vezzosi) and Caterina Mainardi, engages in research which extends beyond form, with a profound exploration of the material used. It is a fascinating reflection on the concept of multiplication, which emerges not just in the work’s formalisation but also in the collective dialogue the artist undertakes”.
“‘Patchwork di terra’ by Giulia Facchin manipulates matter in an original fashion, which radically transforms its perception. At the same time, the artist carries forward an intriguing investigation of cultural traditions, considering ways for their reinterpretation using a contemporary approach and different languages”
On the stage at the awards ceremony, Ettore Vezzosi explained that his project originated in the “Ire Ēre artistic collective (Chiara Capuana and Ettore Vezzosi) with Caterina Mainardis. The idea is rooted in a reflection of what unites us as human beings, the inseparable oneness to which we all belong: the primordial cells activated in the first week of life to form the three fundamental layers of our bodies: ectoderm, mesoderm and endoderm.”.
Giulia Facchin described the research underlying her work, picking up features also praised in the jury’s comments “[…] my work focuses o exploring and analysing textile traditions surrounding sewing and embroidery […] Clay was the material I used in my first approaches to sculpture and it’s always had a profound appeal for me, since its malleability enables me to give concrete shape to ideas and concepts.”
Last but not least, there was a special mention for artist Giorgia Mascitti with “Il cielo in comune” [“The Shared Sky”], praised for its lyricism and its work on the concept of the multitude, expressed in the bond between individual and community, past and future.
Giorgia Mascitti explained the meanings embedded in her work:
“[…] At the centre of the work is a winged Pegasus, symbolising freedom, inspiration and progress, flying across a starry sky carrying with it a beam of light supported by a human figure. […] It becomes a metaphor for human creativity which, illuminating the past and present, guides us towards a future of new possibilities. The starry sky around the Pegasus figure consists of modular ceramic tiles, each decorated by a unique star, which I would like to be designed by the Marca Corona production workers.”
This year the Premio Marca Corona award again offered all entrants a major opportunity to establish contact with leading figures in the contemporary art world by putting forward their interpretation of the competition’s concept.
Film as canvas. Art and film meet on Art City White Night 2025 Saturday and Art City Sunday
The big Art City White Night 2025 Saturday and Art City Sunday party got off to an early start at Teatro San Leonardo.
The location was transformed for the occasion into a combined art gallery and cinema, where the works in the “MCm — Minimo Comune multiplo” exhibition by Andrea Mastrovito provided the backdrop and introduction to the showing of the film “Nysferatu – Symphony of a Century”.
This truly exceptional experience proved very popular with all visitors and definitely made its mark within Bologna’s February 2025 programme of events and exhibitions.
Looking back over this fascinating occasion, Andrea Mastrovito’s works reinvent drawing in unique ways, making use of recycled materials, collage and illustrated compositions.
Curated by Ilaria Bernardi, the exhibition at Teatro San Leonardo combined a one-man show by the artist – comprising a selection of his most celebrated works from 2009 to 2024 – with the new previously unseen work developed from the stories gathered and meetings held with the Marca Corona employees.
It is a large whole-wall mosaic in the style of a period photograph containing the faces and profiles of the people who have belonged to the company. Mastrovito created this portrait using the frottage technique, reproducing the photos on paper tiles of the same size, placed side by side.
As well as the portraits, the artwork also contains objects in everyday use within the organisation, created by current employees under the artist’s direction so that within the photograph their positioning traces the outline of a typical decoration found on Marca Corona tiles produced in the 1950s, now conserved in Galleria Marca Corona.
Thus another part of the company’s history is restored to us thanks to the dialogue between art, business and the community, enabling us to explore the present and future with a collaborative vision.
Everything can be created from a grain of sand, a sheet of paper, a canvas.
Clearly, Mastrovito has chosen to explore the concept of intrinsic multiplicity in relation not only to his own work but also to the characteristics of ceramics production.
A pairing that reinvents painting, sculpture and drawing to originate a new, shared collective work.
After Art City 2025 Bologna, the Marca Corona per l’Arte project continues with an array of new projects running right through the year.
From workshops for schools to special openings and travelling exhibitions in partnership with museums, the public will be offered a rich programme of activities in which they can take part.
