The Venice Glass Week: magic and boldness of glass

Once again this year, the heart of the event is the group exhibitions featuring a selection of works created by international artists and designers. Dedicated to 50 established and established artists, “The Venice Glass Week HUB” is hosted, as usual, at Palazzo Loredan, home of the Veneto Institute of Sciences, Letters and Arts in Campo Santo Stefano. Instead, it is dedicated to 30 young emerging artists and designersthegroup exhibition “The Venice Glass Week HUB Under35,” curated by Stefano Coletto in collaboration with Marta Gradenigo, set up for the first time in the headquarters of the Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa in Piazza San Marco. At the Gallerie dell’Accademia not to be missed is the solo exhibition “ Tristan Di Robilant. Inacademia” , on view through Nov. 24. Through 12 glass sculptures made in Murano at the Anfora glassworks, Tristano di Robilant createsabstract forms that within the museum itinerary invite an “other” reading of the museum’s masterpieces. On the Island of San Giogio Maggiore, on the other hand, it is possible to see at Le Stanze del Vetro the historical retrospective on the presence of glass at the Biennale (read here). There is also no shortage of events in Mestre, where the Biblioteca Vez is hosting the exhibition “ Toho Challenge. Glass Beads from Hiroshima.” dedicated to one of Japan’s most famous glass bead companies, founded in 1951 in Hiroshima to produce “conteria” beads used primarily in embroidery techniques and jewelry making. The works on display, created by designers from around the world, are inspired by the sunsets and landscape of the Sonora Desert.

Several initiatives are also being developed by the Glass Museum on the island of Murano. In collaboration with the Vetri di Laguna Committee, for the duration of The Venice Glass Week it will also host the exhibition “Murrine in Dialogue. A Roman Age Sampler,” a series of panels encompassing a rich sampling of fragments of Roman-era murrine glass, polychrome ribbon, reed and millefiori, until now exhibited only once in 2012 outside the city. The exhibition aims to create a dialogue with the contemporary murrines on display in Murano’s Spazio Sorelle Sent dedicated to the production of Malvino Pavanello. Also open until Jan. 18 is the exhibition “Vero Casanova. “ Conceived by the Consorzio Promovetro Murano, produced in collaboration with the Musei Civici di Venezia and curated by arch. Matteo Silverio of rehub, the exhibition revolves around eleven works and glass installations signed by Murano masters that interpret different aspects of Casanova’s personality, inviting us to rediscover the adventurer as a symbol of the Enlightenment and as a figure capable of still speaking of desire, ingenuity and freedom. Until Jan. 6, the museum will also host an exhibition of works participating in the fourth International Competition “Your Pearl for Venice,” curated by the Committee for the Preservation of the Art of Venetian Glass Beads. Also continuing through Nov. 24 is the exhibition “Stories of Factories. Stories of Families. Fratelli Toso “ dedicated to the Fratelli Toso glassworks, founded in 1854, and in particular to the artistic production of the 20th century, which focused on murrina.

The committee, “Glass a living resource.”

On Thursday, the 18th, the ceremony will be held at Palazzo Franchetti to award the Fondazione di Venezia Prize for the best project of the Festival, joined for the first time by “The Venice Glass Week Hub Under35 Scholarship Prize at The Studio of The Corning Museum of Glass” and the “Arterìa Prize for The Venice Glass Week HUB.” The occasion will also see the announcement of the Committee for Glass Scholarships, an important agreement, signed by the Corning Museum of Glass, Le Stanze del Vetro – Fondazione Giorgio Cini and Pentagram Stiftung, Ca’ Foscari University Venice, Iuav University of Venice and Laguna~B, that creates an international committee to enhance and expand access to scholarships, training courses and workshops in the field of glass in Venice and the United States. The project aims to promote training, research and innovation opportunities related to glass, with a strong focus on the Venetian context and an open eye to the world. “Our vision looks to the future: glass not only as a legacy to be preserved, but as a living resource, a tool for innovation, reflection and community. – stressed the organizing committee – Our vision is for Venice to remain a vital and globally recognized center, not as a museum of a glorious past, but as a living laboratory where glass continues to generate wonder, meaning and community.” All initiatives at: www.theveniceglassweek.com.