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In the Eternity of the Temporary
Nell’Eternità del Provvisorio
Museo d'Arte della città di Ravenna
Museum of Art of Ravenna, Italy
December 2025 – February 2026
curated by Giorgia Salerno
*Spazio Neutro* returns to the Art Museum of Ravenna—a project curated by Giorgia Salerno, the museum’s curator, offering the public a fresh perspective on the understanding of contemporary art, with a particular focus on relational dynamics. Now in its third iteration, the program hosts artist Jonathan VanDyke with *Nell’Eternità del Provvisorio / In the Eternity of the Temporary*.
Drawing inspiration from Ravenna’s mosaics—specifically those found in the Basilica of San Vitale—the American artist and performer creates a modular environment in which individual tesserae transform into intricate weaves of painted fabric, and the decorative element becomes a tool for contemplation for the visitor. The composition emerges from a meticulous assemblage of fabrics—cut, sewn, embroidered, and painted—sourced from garments worn by friends and family members; through a different medium, this process evokes the patient and precise construction inherent to mosaic art.
The deliberate pace of the creative process stands in contrast to the rapid tempo of our modern age—a time in which everything flows past too quickly to be fully grasped. Thus, within the fragment—the essential building block of the composition—there surfaces "the eternity of the temporary," to quote the feminist poet Armanda Guiducci (1923–1992). The enduring persistence of the mosaic tessera—rooted in tradition and the past—is renewed through the artist’s skillful reassembly, wherein the familial network expands outward through the fabrics, generating new interconnections and new architectural forms.
Completing the installation are a series of costumes—created specifically for this occasion and made available to the public—allowing visitors to engage in a direct, firsthand experience of the artwork. Indeed, each visitor is invited to don these "new garments," thereby becoming an integral part of the composition and helping to reveal the continuous dialogue between intellect, gesture, and artistic reception.
VanDyke’s artistic inquiry operates across multiple registers, eluding rigid definitions and categories as it ranges from performance to painting, thereby affirming the inherent freedom of his artistic languages.
Photos: Roberto Ana & Jonathan VanDyke
Interview between curator Giorgia Salerno and Jonathan VanDyke. conducted by Massimo Bello, in Culture Future
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