Glasstress is a recurring exhibition that brings together art by contemporary artists made with glass. Launched in 2009 as a collateral exhibition of the Venice Biennale of Arts by Adriano Berengo as a way of showcasing the works produced by Berengo Studio, it has since had editions take place in 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2022. The mission of Glasstress is to show how contemporary artists use glass as an incomparable medium for their expression. For a long time, especially in Venice and Murano, glass has been generally associated to decoration, whereas its relevance for outstanding accomplishments by great artists was neglected. '' The Bride Stripped Bare by her Bachelors, Even'', also known as ''The Large Glas''s by

Marcel Duchamp Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, , ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, and conceptual art. Duchamp is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso ...

(1915–23, Philadelphia Museum of Art) might be considered as a seminal milestone. But in recent years an increasing number of artists have taken up working with glass for their creations, and Glasstress is the first initiative aimed at documenting and promoting this trend. The exhibition furthers the mission of Berengo Studio to promote the use of glass in the world of contemporary art, and although it frequently holds editions in Venice it has also evolved into a travelling exhibition.

Glasstress 2009

Glasstress 2009 (June 6 - November 24), curated by the glass expert Rosa Barovier Mentasti and the art historian Laura Mattioli Rossi, was mainly a historical display of masterpieces of art glass from 1920 to the present times. The rooms of

Palazzo Cavalli-Franchetti Palazzo Cavalli-Franchetti is a palace in Venice, Italy, not far from the Ponte dell'Accademia and next to the Palazzo Barbaro on the Grand Canal of Venice. Since 1999 it has been the seat of the Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti and f ...

, facing the Canal Grande, hosted artworks by

Josef Albers Josef Albers (; ; March 19, 1888March 25, 1976) was a German-born artist and educator. The first living artist to be given a solo show at MoMA and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, he taught at the Bauhaus and Black Mountain College, ...

Man Ray Man Ray (born Emmanuel Radnitzky; August 27, 1890 – November 18, 1976) was an American visual artist who spent most of his career in Paris. He was a significant contributor to the Dada and Surrealism, Surrealist movements, although his t ...

, Anton Pevsner,

Jean Arp Hans Peter Wilhelm Arp (16 September 1886 – 7 June 1966), better known as Jean Arp in English, was a German-French sculptor, painter, and poet. He was known as a Dadaist and an abstract artist. Early life Arp was born in Straßburg (now Stras ...

Lucio Fontana Lucio Fontana (; 19 February 1899 – 7 September 1968) was an Argentine-Italian painter, sculptor and theorist. He is mostly known as the founder of Spatialism. Early life Born in Rosario, to Italian immigrant parents, he was t ...

Robert Rauschenberg Milton Ernest "Robert" Rauschenberg (October 22, 1925 – May 12, 2008) was an American painter and graphic artist whose early works anticipated the Pop art movement. Rauschenberg is well known for his Combines (1954–1964), a group of artwor ...

, Richard Hamilton,

Joseph Kosuth Joseph Kosuth (; born January 31, 1945), an American conceptual artist, lives in New York and London,

Louise Bourgeois Louise Joséphine Bourgeois (; 25 December 191131 May 2010) was a French-American artist. Although she is best known for her large-scale sculpture and installation art, Bourgeois was also a prolific painter and printmaker. She explored a varie ...

. Some of the artworks had been expressly made for Glasstress by artists such as

Tony Cragg Sir Anthony Douglas Cragg (born Liverpool 9 April 1949) is an Anglo-German sculptor, resident in Wuppertal, Germany since 1977. Early life and training Tony Cragg was born in Liverpool."Tony Cragg." ''Contemporary Artists''. Farmington Hills, ...

Jan Fabre Jan Fabre (born 14 December 1958) is a Belgian multidisciplinary artist, playwright, stage director, choreographer and designer. Conviction for sexual assault and harassment In September 2018, twenty former members of Fabre's performing ar ...

Orlan orlan is an internationally recognized French artist. She is not tied to any one material, technology, or artistic practice. She uses sculpture, photography, performance, video, 3D, video games, augmented reality, artificial intelligence, and ro ...

, and Fred Wilson, who have been invited to work in his glass studio in Murano by Adriano Berengo, the inventor of Glasstress. Works include Hye Rim Lee's ''Crystal City Spun'', a 3D animated video animation.

Glasstress 2011

Glasstress 2011 (June 4 – November 27) has been curated by Bonnie Clearwater, Lidewij Edelkoort, Peter Noever and Demetrio Paparoni. The 2011 edition took place in two different sites,

, and the Berengo Centre for Contemporary Art and Glass, in Murano. Glasstress 2011 focused on the complex relationship that ties art, design and architecture together in an age thought to have moved beyond modernism. The exhibition, produced by Venice Projects, a partnership between Adriano Berengo and Susan Scherman, was presented in collaboration with MAD, the

Museum of Arts and Design The Museum of Arts and Design (MAD), based in Manhattan, New York City, collects, displays, and interprets objects that document contemporary and historic innovation in craft, art, and design. In its exhibitions and educational programs, the mus ...

, New York.

Glasstress 2013

Glasstress 2013: ''White Light/White Heat'' ''(''June 1 – November 24) was a Collateral Event of the 55th Venice Biennale, curated by James Putnam and Adriano Berengo. It featured the artwork of over 66 artists, including:

Tracey Emin Tracey Karima Emin, Order of the British Empire, CBE, Associate of the Royal Academy, RA (; born 3 July 1963) is a British artist known for her autobiographical and confessional artwork. Emin produces work in a variety of media including drawi ...

Tony Oursler Tony may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer * Motu Tony (born 1981), New Zealand international rugby leagu ...

Jaume Plensa Jaume Plensa i Suñé (; born 23 August 1955) is a Spanish visual artist, sculptor, designer and engraver. He is a versatile artist who has also created opera sets, video projections and acoustic installations. He worked with renowned Catalan th ...

Koen Vanmechelen Koen Vanmechelen (born August 26, 1965 in Sint-Truiden) is a Belgian artist who began his career in the early 1990s. Central to his work is the concept of bio-cultural diversity, which he investigates through the domestic chicken and its ancestra ...

and

Ursula von Rydingsvard Ursula von Rydingsvard (née Karoliszyn; born 1942) is a sculptor who lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. She is best known for creating large-scale works influenced by nature, primarily using cedar and other forms of timber. Early life and ...

. The exhibition took place in three locations:

/ Veneto Institute of Sciences, Arts and Letters, the Berengo Center for Contemporary Art and Glass on the island of Murano, and next to the Grande Confraternity School of San Teodoro at San Marco.

Glasstress 2015

Glasstress 2015: ''Gotika'' (May 9 – November 15) was a collateral event of the 56th Venice Biennale of Art. Organized by The

State Hermitage Museum The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is the list of ...

, Berengo Studio, and Fondazione Berengo, it was curated by Dimitri Ozerkov and Adriano Berengo. In 2016, the exhibition travelled to Russia and was presented at the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. The exhibition included artworks from

Olafur Eliasson Olafur Eliasson ( is, Ólafur Elíasson; born 5 February 1967) is an Icelandic–Danish artist known for sculptured and large-scale installation art employing elemental materials such as light, water, and air temperature to enhance the viewer's ...

Erwin Wurm Erwin Wurm (born 1954) is an Austrian artist. He lives and works in Vienna and Limberg in Austria, and in New York City. Early life Erwin Wurm was born in Bruck an der Mur, Austria, in 1954. His father was a detective, who did not approve of ar ...

and

Jake and Dinos Chapman Iakovos "Jake" Chapman (born 1966) and Konstantinos "Dinos" Chapman (born 1962) are British visual artists, often known as the Chapman Brothers. Their subject matter tries to be deliberately shocking, including, in 2008, a series of works that ...

Glasstress 2017

Glasstress 2017 (May 11 – November 26) was a significant evolution from previous years. For the first time, it was a stand alone exhibition which took place during the Venice Biennale of Art. It was curated by Dimitri Ozerkov of the State Hermitage Museum, Herwig Kempinger the president of the

Vienna Secession The Vienna Secession (german: Wiener Secession; also known as ''the Union of Austrian Artists'', or ''Vereinigung Bildender Künstler Österreichs'') is an art movement, closely related to Art Nouveau, that was formed in 1897 by a group of Austri ...

, and Adriano Berengo with consultation by Clare Phyllis Davies of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The exhibition included artworks by some of the most significant contemporary artists including

Ai Weiwei Ai Weiwei (, ; born 28 August 1957) is a Chinese contemporary artist, documentarian, and activist. Ai grew up in the far northwest of China, where he lived under harsh conditions due to his father's exile. As an activist, he has been openly c ...

Shirazeh Houshiary Shirazeh Houshiary (born 15 January 1955) is an Iranian-born English sculptor, installation artist, and painter. She lives and works in London. Life and work Shirazeh Houshiary was born on 15 January 1955 in Shiraz, Iran. She left her native c ...

Vik Muniz Vik Muniz (; born 1961) is a Brazilian artist and photographer. Initially a sculptor, Muniz grew interested with the photographic representations of his work, eventually focusing completely on photography. Primarily working with unconventional ma ...

Sarah Sze Sarah Sze (; born 1969) is an American artist widely recognized for challenging the boundaries of painting, installation, and architecture. Sze's sculptural practice ranges from slight gestures discovered in hidden spaces to expansive installati ...

, and

Karen LaMonte Karen LaMonte (born December 14, 1967) is an American artist known for her life-size sculptures in ceramic, bronze, marble, and cast glass. Background LaMonte was born and grew up in Manhattan, New York. In 1990, after she graduated from the Rhod ...

Glasstress 2019

Glasstress 2019 (May 8 – November 24) was a special year. Ten years of Glasstress coincided with the thirty year anniversary of Berengo Studio and so Adriano Berengo decided to bring the exhibition back to its roots in the Venetian lagoon. Held at the new Fondazione Berengo Arts Space in Murano it brought together the best of Berengo's archive along with a series of newly commissioned collaborations under the curatorial leadership of Belgian artist

and Brazilian artist

. The show featured new collaborations with Prune Nourry,

José Parlá José Parlá (born 1973 in Miami, Florida), is a Brooklyn-based contemporary artist whose work has been described as "lying between the boundary of abstraction and calligraphy." Parlá is publicly known for his permanent installations of large- ...

and

Xavier Veilhan Xavier Veilhan (1963) is a French artist who works with photography, sculpture, film, painting and installation art. Life and career Xavier Veilhan graduated from the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. Xavier Veilhan ...

. It also included a special project of newly created glass artworks by Robert Wilson, curated by Jean Blanchaert.

Glasstress editions in 2021

A year unlike any other 2021 brought new trials to the organisation of Glasstress, and yet the exhibition went ahead despite restrictions due to the global pandemic. In January an edition of Glasstress launched at the

Boca Raton Museum of Art Founded by artists, the Boca Raton Museum of Art was established in 1950 as the Art Guild of Boca Raton. The organization has grown to encompass an Art School, Guild, Store, and Museum with permanent collections of contemporary art, photography, ...

in Florida, USA, a highly anticipated follow up to the edition held in the same institution back in 2017. Later in the year in September Glasstress returned, this time to the

in Saint Petersburg, Russia with the title "Glasstress: Window to the Future".

Glasstress 2022

Coinciding with the 59th Venice Biennale, ‘Glasstress – State of Mind’ ran from 4 June to 27 November 2022, and brought together leading contemporary artists from Europe, the United States, Latin America and Africa. Glasstress opened in the heart of

Murano Murano is a series of islands linked by bridges in the Venetian Lagoon, northern Italy. It lies about north of Venice and measures about across with a population of just over 5,000 (2004 figures). It is famous for its glass making. It was on ...

at the Berengo Art Space Foundation in Murano, an old glass furnace abandoned in 1965 and transformed into an exhibition space to showcase the incredible sculpture being produced. Glass has always had a special significance for Murano, and for the occasion of the United Nations’ Year of Glass, it included a group show curated by Adriano Berengo and Koen Vanmechelen with the contribution of Ludovico Pratesi. The exhibit featured special works by artists

, Bob Wilson and

and new collaborations with Tim Tate,

Michael Janis Michael Janis (born 1959) is an American artist currently residing in Washington, DC where he is one of the directors of the Washington Glass School. He is known for his work on glass using the exceptionally difficult sgraffito technique on glass ...

and Chris Shea.

References

External links

Glasstress
{{coord missing, Italy Art exhibitions in Italy Venice Biennale