Istituto Veneto di Scienze - Lettere ed Arti - Palazzo Loredan
The Venice Glass Week - Venice Hub
The Italian Glass Weeks - Venice HUB hosted a series of installations in the home of the Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti at Palazzo Loredan, in Campo Santo Stefano. The HUB was curated by Rosa Barovier Mentasti and realised in collaboration with the company GreenSpin, and hosted installations by international artists and designers.
Bibi Smit - Netherlands - 1965
Maru Mori - The Heartbreaking Simplicity of ordinary Things
These sculptures embrace an ode to the joy and simplicity of nature, coming fully alive and creating a new beauty. Fruits casually fallen become representations of slightly uncomfortable, clumsy and awkward, but tasty, fragments of nature. The work embodies the pleasure of seeing a tulip petal falling, still and quiet, on the table. Each piece is unique and free-blown, shaped by the artist in a controlled movement. In a moment of tension and distortion, a petal is brought once again back to life.
Simone Crestani - Italy - 1984
Irriverenza
Free reinterpretation of a Venetian goblet. A timeless symbol of virtuosity revised in an elegant blend of execution and thought. Technique becomes romantic irreverence, beyond the confines of time and tradition. A tribute to a profession that still knows how to amaze. Made by Simone Crestani himself with Borosilicate glass worked at the torch in his studio in Vicenza.
"I try to find the soul of a phenomen and save it in glass"
Anna-Kaisa Kukkonen-Madi - Finland 1964
Saaret Islands
Saaret Islands are mysterious reminders of pure water. The unique mouth-blown glass sculptures hide miniature islands inside. The islands made with steam-stick technique float in the water which reflects them like a mirror. The cut surface of the water is still. "Pure nature is the only luxury we have", Anna-Kaisa Kukkonen-Madi, the creator of the installation says. they are based on the artist´s childhood memory.
Emmanuel Babled - France - 1967 / Lara Morrell England - 1987
Ubuntu
Ubuntu is an installation of a series of glass vessels by designer Emmanuel Babled and artist Lara Morrell, informed by their recent journey together in Africa.The concept behind the installation is underpinned by African ethics of Ubuntu and holism in regards to nature. A series of glass vessels are arranged above a platform of cracked red earth, they allude to the flora and fauna of Africa and the generative power of natural phenomena, whilst sealed vessels, elevated by locally sourced wooden structures, point to traditional African ceremonial wares, containers of secrets and metaphysical truths.
Sini Majuri - Findland - 1985
Communication: Jungle
What is communication? The Jungle collection resonates with Finally Together sculptures as a metaphor of individual communication in society. Contrast in Nature and the way it creates harmony is the premise of the installation. The language of glass has a potential to be light and strong at the same time. The rhythm of the glass-making process ensures that each object has a unique charisma and soul - as a core of the wordless dialogue.
Tanja Pak - Solvenia - 1971
Silence
A group of three pieces of molten glass in different shades of sky-grey invites the viewer to contemplate and perceive the invisible line between Here and There, between Being and Non-Being, which appears as a soft transition of saturation. The works tell the story of a Silence built within oneself while walking through Time and Being and which reflects the awareness of the space between Here and There. It is an intimate "reverie" of isolated worlds.
Leslie Anne Genninger - USA - 1959
Murano Water
Acqua di Murano...a morphology of Murano past and present reflects into the future. Fundamental to Murano’s survival are actions...acts of creation, repetition, collaboration, mastering, listening, watching, and collecting...each essential to the other like water to an Island. Objects recovered from the past created by unknown Masters whose purpose is now defunct, are merged, morph and metabolise into a new life, a new alchemy, an elixir for Murano...a drop of water….survival.
Melvin Anderson - Aruba - 1944
Transparent Decorative Objects
In Melvin Anderson's work, Northern European clarity meets Italian warmth, and traces of Africa mingle with memories of the Caribbean, his birthland. The forms flow surprisingly and unexpectedly like a stream of consciousness. They are sculptures that defy the hardness of glass, created with the refinement of great performers by master glassmakers Andrea Zilio of the Anfora furnace in Murano and Richard Price of Van Tetterode in Amsterdam.
Marja Hepo-Aho -Ukraine - 1986
Communication - Finally Together
Natural stone and blown glass come together in the works of the Finally Together collection. Next to the timeless stone, glass becomes a spiritual creature: melting into the roughness of stone, bringing contrast and tension. Behind the name is a playful thought of these materials separated during millenia now Finally Together. These sculptures resonate with the Jungle collection exemplifying communication and understanding.
Chen Peiper - Netherlands - 1946
Refugees
Chen Peiper expresses her work in an extremely sensitive way. People have fled from their countries across wild seas in inhuman conditions. The colours of the sky and the sea and in between, human beings. This is the essence of the work “Refugees”. The sea is their last refuge. The use of the magnifying glass and a “net of hope” overwhelms this global problem. Images emerge from countless events of refugees at sea, on their way in search for a safe haven.
Giovanna Palandri
director - Istituto Veneto di Scienze - Lettere ed Arti
member of the jury - Premio Fondazione di Venezia