BRANKOPOPOVICBLOG: Glasstress 2017

Ai Weiwei

Glasstress: Contemporary glass art work

Glasstress brings together 33 leading contemporary artists from Europe, the United States, the Middle East and China in an ambitious exhibition exploring the endless creative possibilities of glass. Conceived by Fondazione Berengo, the project will take place in two exceptional historic locations: Palazzo Franchetti in Venice and a converted furnace in Murano.

Glasstress is a project by Adriano Berengo to further his mission of marrying contemporary art and glass. Artists of all disciplines from sculptors to musicians have been invited to collaborate with the maestros in creating art in glass. Since 2009, these works have been exhibited in the historic Palazzo Franchetti, home of the Istituto Veneto di Scienze Lettere ed Arti. Glasstress has always been accredited as an official collateral event of the Venice Biennale of Art. Glasstress, a showcase of this collaboration of craft and creativity, has forged a new trajectory for glass and a new path for contemporary artists.

Karen Lamonte

Since its debut as a collateral event of the Venice Biennale in 2009, Glasstress has revived the traditional craft of Murano glassblowing by forging new alliances with internationally renowned artists and designers and has since become an unparalleled platform showcasing ground-breaking new works in glass.

The 2017 edition of Glasstress presents an impressive line-up of artists including Ai Weiwei, Jan Fabre, Abdulnasser Gharem, Alicja Kwade, Paul McCarthy, Laure Prouvost, Ugo Rondinone, Thomas Schütte and Sarah Sze. With little or no prior experience working with glass, these artists have embraced the challenge of creating extraordinary works in this very delicate medium in collaboration with Muranese artisans. The remarkable output of this unusual encounter defies the stereotypes associated with this ancient craft, ultimately pushing the boundaries of both contemporary art and glass.

Glasstress 2017 is curated by Dmitry Ozerkov (Director of the Hermitage 20/21 Project for Contemporary Art at the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg), Herwig Kempinger (President of Secession, Association of Visual Artists, Vienna) and Adriano Berengo (President of Fondazione Berengo and founder of Glasstress, Venice), with the consultancy of Clare Phyllis Davies (Assistant Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Middle East, North Africa, and Turkey at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York).

New artists
Ai Weiwei (China), Charles Avery (UK), Dike Blair (USA), Graham Fagen (UK), Gaia Fugazza (Italy), Abdulnasser Gharem (Saudi Arabia), Loris Gréaud (France), Xenia Hausner (Austria), Siggi Hofer (Italy), Halim Al-Karim (Iraq), Brigitte Kowanz (Austria), Karen LaMonte (USA), Paul McCarthy (USA), Haroon Mirza (UK), Laure Prouvost (France), Monira Al-Qadiri (Kuwait), Ugo Rondinone (Switzerland), Markus Schinwald (Austria), Sarah Sze (USA), Sabine Wiedenhofer (Austria), Dustin Yellin (USA)

Returning artists
Monica Bonvicini (Italy), Tony Cragg (UK), Erin Dickson (UK), Jan Fabre (Belgium), Josepha Gasch-Muche (Germany), Shirazeh Houshiary (Iran), Alicja Kwade (Poland), Vik Muniz (Brazil), Jaume Plensa (Spain), Thomas Schütte (Germany), Koen Vanmechelen (Belgium), Erwin Wurm (Austria)

http://glasstress.org