Coinciding with the 59th Venice Biennale, the seventh edition of Glasstress brings together a group of leading contemporary artists from Europe, the United States, Latin America and Africa in an ambitious exhibition exploring the infinite creative possibilities of glass. The artworks are hosted inside the Fondazione Berengo Art Space in Murano, an old abandoned furnace that was transformed into an evocative exhibition space a few years ago.
The group show, curated by Adriano Berengo and Koen Vanmechelen with the contribution of Ludovico Pratesi, offers an itinerary that develops within the varied landscape of the best contemporary art, put to the test by the confrontation with the ancient art of Murano glassblowing and, more generally, with the challenge of generating new art in glass. Stimulated to search for new languages, the artists involved demonstrate how glass is truly capable of emancipating itself from stereotypes and finding new ways to express itself in the language of modernity.
Among the artworks exhibited are several collaborations with artists who have already worked with Berengo Studio and featured in past editions of Glasstress such as Jimmie Durham, Tony Cragg, Monira Al Qadiri and Thomas Schütte, along with works by a number of artists participating for the very first time including Vanessa Beecroft, María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Paloma Varga Weisz and eL Seed.
Glasstress–State of mind also offers visitors the opportunity to watch the Murano master glassblowers at work in the adjacent glassblowing studio, a thousand-year-old art that the Fondazione Berengo, promoter of the initiative, is committed to defending, conserving and revitalising precisely through the synergies put in place with contemporary artists.
GLASSTRESS 2022 – ARTISTS
NEW ARTISTS
Maria Thereza Alves (Brazil), Vanessa Beecroft (Italy), María Magdalena Campos-Pons (Cuba), Judy Chicago (United States), Chiara Dynys (Italy), eL Seed (France), Endless (Great Britain), (Leandro Erlich (Argentina), Ryan Gander (Great Britain), Alexander Evgenievich Ponomarev (Russia), Laurent Reypens (Belgium), Sibylle Peretti (Germany), Enrico Ruggeri (Italia), Liam Scully (Great Britain), Paloma Varga Weisz (Germany), Osman Yousefzada (Great Britain).
RETURNING ARTISTS
Monira Al Qadiri (Kuwait), Ayman Baalbaki (Lebanon), Tony Cragg (Great Britain), Jimmie Durham (United States), Jan Fabre (Belgium), Josepha Gasch-Muche (Germany), Kendell Geers (South Africa), Marya Kazoun (Lebanon/Canada), Brigitte Kowanz (Austria), Karen LaMonte (United States), Tomáš Libertíny (Slovak Republic), Massimo Lunardon (Italy), Federica Marangoni (Italy), Prune Nourry (France), Anne Peabody (United States), Jaume Plensa (Spain), Laure Prouvost (France), Thomas Schütte (Germany), Sean Scully (United States), Lino Tagliapietra (Italy), Tim Tate (United States), Koen Vanmechelen (Belgium), Rose Wylie (Great Britain), Erwin Wurm (Austria).
The exhibition is on view until the 27th of November, 2022.
Info extracted from Glasstress press release.