Venice, 9 – 16 September 2018
The international festival dedicated to the art of glass returns with more than 180 different events including exhibitions, guided tours, conferences, workshops, performances and educational activities.
Comune di Venezia, Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia, Fondazione Cini/LE STANZE DEL VETRO, Istituto Veneto and Consorzio Promovetro Murano present the second edition of the festival that from 9th to 16th September will involve all the main institutions in the city, with several new additions.
From 9 to 16 September 2018, more than 150 participants, with a total of over 180 events across Venice, Mestre and Murano, will take part in the second edition of The Venice Glass Week, the major international festival dedicated to the art of glass, conceived to celebrate the artistic and economic resource for which Venice is famous around the world.
The event is promoted by the Town Council of Venice and conceived by three of Venice’s principal cultural institutions with considerable experience and expertise in the field of glass – Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia, Fondazione Giorgio Cini and Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti – along with the most important trade association, the Consorzio Promovetro Murano, which also manages the Vetro Artistico® Murano trademark of the Veneto Region. This year’s edition has again attracted a large number of participants, with a 20% increase over the first year’s festival.
Hundreds of applications were originally submitted for review and selection by the curatorial committee that was introduced this year, chaired by the Venetian glass historian Rosa Barovier Mentasti, and including critics and curators Chiara Bertola and Jean Blanchaert, journalist and editor of the German magazine Neues Glas Uta Klotz, and chemist, university teacher and expert in the composition of glass materials Marco Verità. The high volume of applications, from foundations, art galleries, museums – among which we note the participation for the first time of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Palazzo Fortuny and Museo di Storia Naturale -, cultural institutions, universities and advanced education institutes, as well as glass furnaces, companies, artists and private Italian and foreign collectors, confirms the dynamism and vitality of Venice’s cultural scene, and provides a strong indication of the local and international interest in the field of glass.
The rich and expansive programme for The Venice Glass Week festival will involve varied and widespread events across the district, which this year also extends to the mainland, with Mestre now one of its main centres, along with Venice and Murano. The events, most with free entrance, will all have artistic glass as their main theme and be aimed at audiences of all ages: exhibitions, guided tours, conferences, seminars, prize-giving ceremonies, film screenings, educational activities, parties, drinks receptions, open studios and a non-competitive night-time race around the candle-lit streets, canals and glass-furnaces of Murano.
MUSEO DEL VETRO’S PROGRAMME
Exhibition: Mario Bellini at Murano, curated by Gabriella Belli and Chiara Squarcina.
From 9 September 2018 to 3 March 2019.
In addition to the presence of its exceptional permanent exhibition, the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia is presenting an exploration of innovative forms of artistic expression in glass through the work of the famous architect and designer Mario Bellini.
Born in Milan in 1935, Mario Bellini has influenced the history of architecture and international design through his extensive work in the field of industrial design, which has led him to create some of the most innovative products in the automobile industry (Renault), electronics (as former chief design consultant for Olivetti), and the communication field (La Rinascente). Recently the architect of Deutsche Bank headquarters in Frankfurt (2011) and of the new wing of the Louvre dedicated to Islamic art (2012), Bellini has also complemented his professional activity with experimentations in many materials and widely varied techniques, among them glass, which he has designed on the island of Murano for the furnaces of Seguso and Venini.
Guided tours: Venezia Arte Cultura & Turismo – Murano, back to the future
Museo del Vetro, Fondamenta Giustinian 8, Murano.
Opening days and times: 11 and 14 September in Italian, 13 September in English, from 2.30pm until 4.15pm.
We will retrace the history of glass, going through the most precious artefacts on display at the Glass Museum to then analyze the realities of the present day. Special emphasis will be placed on the art of making glass beads. In the past, the production of beads was carried out in Venice rather than in Murano, and it was a woman’s occupation rather than a man’s. It relied on a widespread network of bead-makers, who worked at home using the glass canes produced in the Murano kilns. The revival of Murano glass at the end of the 19th c. was also boosted by an extraordinary production of beads, highly valued items traded in and out of the Mediterranean since time immemorial. Today the art of bead-making still engages and challenges a considerable number of creative and innovative artisans and artists.
Exhibition: Autonoma ACSTVM Associazione culturale per la salvaguardia delle tecniche vetrarie muranesi e.t.s. Marcantonio Brandolini d’Adda – LIGHT ON
From 9 to 16 September 2018, 10am-6pm, last entrance 5pm.
Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia hosts AUTONOMA & ACSTVM, a project by Marcantonio Brandolini d’Adda. The project involves a programme of cultural exchange with The Pilchuck Glass School, which aims to create an international hub for artists and designers from around the world, and to preserve and spread the tradition of glass-making.
The goal of the second edition of AUTONOMA & ACSTVM is to lay the foundations for a lasting scholarship programme. Building on the success of this year’s pilot programme – where three students visited and worked in glass factories for several weeks – the structure of the programme will be modified in an effort to promote an experience that benfits all participants.
The program will continue to showcase the rich glassmaking tradition of Murano, but will also have a much wider practical component: instead of simply visiting the factories, participants had the opportunity to work in a glass factory under the expert guidance of Andy Paiko. The programme hosted six students and was themed, both in practice and in theory, around the reinterpretation of the classic Rezzonico chandeliers. This exhibition presents three new glass chandeliers designed and produced by the students, assisted by some of the most prestigious Masters of Murano.
Discover Musei Civici di Venezia’s complete programme >
For information and for discover general programme: