29,000 bricks tell stories at the Saudi Pavilion in Venice

at the Venice Biennale 2026, clay bricks become vessels of memory

For the Venice Art Biennale 2026artist Dana Awartani fills the Saudi Arabia pavilion with a massive earthen mosaic landscape made up of more than 29,000 hand-made clay bricks. Entitled ‘May your tears never dry, you who weep over stones’, the installation brings together references from historic mosaic traditions across the Arab world, creating a meditation on cultural heritage, loss and collective memory. The project, realized through almost 30,000 hours of craftsmanship, places the knowledge and skills of master craftsmen at its core.

At a time when many traditional practices face extinction, Awartani leads the way as a living system of knowledge transmission, supported through care and the collective act of production.

Dana Awartani, may your tears never dry, you who weep over the stones, 2026 | image by Alvise Busetto, courtesy of the Visual Arts Commission, Ministry of Culture

Dana Awartani draws from endangered mosaic traditions

occupying it kiosk floor like an imaginary archaeological site, the project invites visitors to navigate a network of dirt paths that weave intricate geometric, plant and fauna patterns. Drawing from mosaic traditions found throughout Palestine, Lebanon and Syria, the installation reveals the deep cultural connections that have bound communities across the region for millennia. Avartani emphasizes the shared histories embedded in material culture, highlighting how artistic traditions often transcend borders.

The material composition of the work reinforces its central message. Developed from four different shades of earth clay sourced from different geographies across Saudi Arabia, the hand-formed bricks are assembled without any binders. As the material dries and inevitably cracks over time, the installation becomes a physical manifestation of fragility and loss, presenting heritage as a living entity vulnerable to neglect, violence and erasure.

Equally important is the process through which the project was created. Awartani’s practice embraces the concept of many hands, a principle rooted in craft traditions where writing is collective. Over nearly 30,000 hours, artisans worked alongside the artist to shape, fire, assemble and perfect the thousands of components that make up the installation. Their contributions extend beyond technical execution, incorporating generations of accumulated knowledge that continue to survive through practice and transmission.

the Saudi Arabia Pavilion displays collective production | image by Marco Zorzanello

many hands support cultural heritage in Saudi Arabia pavilion

This emphasis on collaboration reflects a wider transformation in modern craft. Increasingly, designers, artists and architects are turning their attention away from the final object and towards the networks of expertise that make it possible. Traditional techniques are re-examined not only for their aesthetic value but also for the forms of cultural memory they contain. In this context, craft acts as an archive, preserving skills, histories and relationships that might otherwise disappear.

Awartani’s installation shows how these practices can engage with urgent contemporary concerns. The project activates historical forms to address issues of conflict, displacement and cultural responsibility through a slow, labor-intensive process that becomes an act of care, offering an alternative to production systems defined by speed and efficiency.

In May Your Tears Never Dry, You Who Weep Over the Stones, art emerges as a form of cultural infrastructure, capable of carrying memory across generations while creating new possibilities for collective creation in the present.

Dana Awartani draws on historic mosaic traditions from Palestine, Lebanon and Syria | image by Marco Zorzanello