351BERENGO STUDIO Berengo Studio, the home of contemporary art and glass on Murano, and Fondazione Berengo celebrate the close of a wonderful 2017, which highlighted the fifth iteration of Glasstress presented concurrently with the 57th Venice Biennale of Art. Since 1989, Berengo Studio has been working with artists from all over the world, over 300 in total, introducing them to the magic of glass and, together with their creativity, shattering expectations of glass art forever. FONDAZIONE BERENGO Fondazione Berengo, the sponsoring institution of Glasstress, was founded to promote and enhance the glassmaking traditions of Murano. In an old furnace, unused for decades, it opened a permanent exhibition space as a second venue of Glasstress and as a museum for its permanent collection of contemporary art and glass. Fondazione Berengo also collaborates with other institutions in presenting exhibitions of art, architecture and design including events in the architectural biennale. For the past several years, it has welcomed young artists and artisans to provide them with the opportunity to work in glass in its residency program.32Tony CraggUntitled, 2017 glass, 84 × 21 × 14 cmGLASSTRESS 201711.05 ▸ 26.11.2017 Since 2009 Glasstress has delighted visitors at the Palazzo Franchetti in Venice, the city where glass was born, and this year was no exception. Staged again in the historic Palazzo Franchetti on the Grand Canal, Glasstress 2017 featured more than 38 artists from 21 countries whose works employed a range of themes from the sexual and political, to ones that are purely aesthetical. For the political, Ai Weiwei’s now iconic raised “Up Yours” middle finger was cast in glass and stood guard over his enormous white chandelier with glass Twitter birds, surveillance cameras and handcuffs. On a sexual note, Paul McCarthy’s “Trees” made for the first time in glass did not disappoint while Monica Bonvicini fashioned “Bonded” from belts of shiny black glass.54Dustin YellinInvisible Sisyphus, 2017 / detail glass, collage, acrylic, 40.6 × 40.6 × 20.3 cmThe American artist, Sarah Sze surrounded the Palazzo with shards of broken glass protecting each window and ledge while Vik Muniz created historical glasses your grandmother would collect and covet except for the fact that they are almost two meters tall. Erwin Wurm and Brigitte Kowanz, the artists who represented Austria in this year’s Art Biennale, also created new works in Berengo Studio on Murano. Wurm’s “Venetian Sausages” and hot water bottles walk on glass legs while Kowanz’s “Vo-lumen” reflects her special way of connecting light, space and language. Glasstress also featured Karen Lamonte’s series of graceful and elegant figures cast in glass and the new work “Swarm Study” by Random International, famed for the “Rain Room” recently purchased by laCMa. A crystal tower by Tony Cragg, considered to be one of today’s most important sculptors, and Thomas Schütte, whose “Gartenzwerge” will surprise his fans, kept company in the exhibition with works by Charles Avery and Ugo Rondinone. This year’s Glasstress was curated by Adriano Berengo, Dimitri Ozerkov of the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, Herwig Kempinger, Director of the Secession Museum in Vienna, in consultation with Clare Davies, Assistant Curator of Middle Eastern Art from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.76PROTECTED PARADISEThe garden of the Palazzo Franchetti was home to “Protected Paradise” an installation by Koen Vanmechelen, the renowned Belgian conceptual artist whose work involves themes of biodiversity, fertility, and the human condition. His imposing sculpture stands over 12 meters high and shows a marble egg sitting on broken glass, and imprisoned in a cage. The egg is sheltered and protected by huge bronze tree branches but threatened by a giant claw. The work is a statement by the artist on the stance of the human animal in our rapidly changing world. The work is composed of glass, bronze, marble and recycled household plastics and was generously supported by the Belgian company, eCO-Oh! and promoted by the European Inter-University Center for Human Rights and Democratisation (eIUC) as a special project of Glasstress.Koen VanmechelenProtected Paradise, 2017glass, fiberglass, marble, bronze, recycled plastic, 12 × 10 × 6 m 98THE UNPLAYED NOTES FACTORYAs a special project of Glasstress, the French artist, Loris Gréaud, considered to be one of the most influential artists of his generation, resurrected an abandoned glass furnace on Murano. His spellbinding installation and performance work, “The Unplayed Notes Factory,” curated by Nicolas Bourriaud, was a true tableau vivant.Smoke filled the furnace, flames shot up to the ceiling which was lined with over 1,000 grey-hued glass clouds. Lights glowed and dimmed with a brooding soundtrack of shattering glass in the background that called to mind a suspense scene in a science-fiction film while glassblowers worked in a corner continuously creating and breaking the ceiling clouds.Loris GréaudThe Unplayed Notes Factory, 2017 glass, light bulbs, metal, from 30 to 60cm (diameter), each piece / variable dimensions (installation), performance1110ROBERT WILSON IN GLASS03.09 ▸ 26.11.2017Fondazione Berengo was proud to present the exhibition Robert Wilson in Glass at the Palazzo Franchetti in the context of Glasstress. Known as the avant-garde visionary of theater and opera, Wilson is also a visual artist who turned his hand to glass with his signature use of light and design.Glass was the perfect medium for Wilson, who considers light to be a “magic wand.” With his video portrait of an owl in the background, his works in soft colored glass evoked a sense of serenity. The exhibition was curated by Jean Blanchaert and Noah Khoshbin.Robert Wilson and curator Jean Blanchaert at Fondazione Berengo, Palazzo Franchetti, Venice1312GLASSTRESS BOCA RATON31.01 ▸ 02.07.2017Glasstress hit the road again. This year it traveled to the Boca Raton Museum in Florida accompanied by two of the exhibiting artists, Koen Vanmechelen and Marya Kazoun. Kazoun opened the five month long exhibition with her performance piece. Glasstress Boca Raton was part of the museum’s new curatorial initiative to examine areas traditionally considered “craft,” but which present alternative mediums to contemporary artists.The exhibition occupied the entire museum and featured glass installations by over 30 artists from 23 countries chosen by the exhibition’s curator, Kathleen Goncharov. Glasstress Boca Raton incorporated performance, video, interactive media, design, and even a video game. To create works especially commissioned for this show, Carol Prusa, a Boca Raton artist, traveled to Murano to work with the glass maestros in Berengo Studio. This cutting-edge exhibition was designed to challenge visitors’ notion of glass as a “beautiful” and decorative material. The show was a great success welcoming thousands of visitors in Southern Florida.Marya Kazoun at the Boca Raton Museum of Art, Florida1514EIUC AND FONDAZIONE BERENGOThe eIUC/Global Campus for Human Rights is a unique network of more than 100 universities worldwide and is the largest institution for education in human rights issues. In April 2017, Fondazione Berengo and the eIUC signed a collaboration protocol based on the strong belief shared by both institutions that art, more than any other means of communication, is a powerful medium to promote the universal values of human rights to the wider public. Together they sponsored several “HumanRightsStress” events in the context of Glasstress including hosting representatives from the UN and UNesCO at the Palazzo Franchetti. The Belgian artist and human rights activist, Koen Vanmechelen, with the support of Fondazione Berengo and the Belgian recycling company eCO-Oh!, donated his beautiful marble sculpture entitled “Collective Memory” to the eIUC. The sculpture depicts a child who represents the birth of democracy while sitting proudly on five volumes of books inscribed with the United Nations’ human rights protocols. The sculpture is permanently installed in the cloister of the Monastery of San Nicolò, the campus for the eIUC on the Venice Lido.Koen VanmechelenCollective Memory, 2017marble Adriano Berengo and Manfred Nowak, Secretary General of the EIUC, sign the collaboration agreementNext >