Published on : Tuesday, July 4, 2017
From September 10 to 17, 2017, more than 100 different venues will host a total of over 140 events as part of the first edition of The Venice Glass Week – an international festival dedicated to the art of glass, with a particular focus on that of Murano, the artistic and creative resource for which the Lagoon City is renowned around the world.
The festival is promoted by Comune di Venezia 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, Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti – and the guardians of original Murano artistic glass production, the Consorzio Promovetro Murano, which also manages the Vetro Artistico Murano trademark of the Veneto Region.
The response to the initiative has been unanimously positive. Hundreds of applications were received by 31 March 2017, and a careful selection was made by the committee, from a wide variety of applicants including foundations, art galleries, museums, cultural institutions, universities, higher education institutes, furnaces, glass companies, artists and private collectors both from Italy and abroad; a sure sign of the dynamism and vitality of Venice’s artistic and cultural scene, and a strong indication of the international interest in the field of glass.
Paola Mar, Tourism Council Member of Comune di Venezia, said, “Glass art is one of the areas of excellence for which Venice is so famous world over. Our goal is to bring Murano glass back to the forefront of the world’s attention and to consolidate in Venice, with the mainland and its islands, a long-term event for the celebration of this material.”
The Venice Glass Week programme will be made up of various types of events sharing the common theme of glass art, most of which will be free of charge, including exhibitions, conferences, seminars, award ceremonies, film screenings, educational activities, sporting activities, parties, themed evenings and open furnaces, and will be open to all ages.
The “Glass Week” will begin on September 10 with the opening of the exhibition Vittorio Zecchin: Transparent Glass for Cappellin and Venini, curated by Marino Barovier for LE STANZE DEL VETRO; the exhibition will focus on the transparent glass works designed by Vittorio Zecchin between 1921 and 1926.
Also on San Giorgio, in the garden opposite the Zecchin exhibition venue, visitors will be able to admire the monumental glass sculpture by American artist Pae White, which will be completed in August: Qwalala, a 75 metre curved wall made up of thousands of coloured, hand-cast bricks.
On the occasion of The Venice Glass Week, the Glass Study Centre will offer the opportunity, during the Glass Week, to visit the Glass Archives and the specialized library, organizing guided tours of the Fondazione Giorgio Cini.
The Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti will organize the Study Days on Venetian Glass 2017, on the theme of Venetian Filigree Glass throughout the centuries. Now in its sixth edition, this event was established to offer students the opportunity to deepen their knowledge of and engagement with glass; it is one of the most important events of its kind in the world. The 2017 edition will feature 30 glass experts from all over Europe and the United States, including museum curators, scholars, collectors, restorers and glass artists. During The Venice Glass Week the institute will also host an exhibition of works by the 2017 winners of the Glass in Venice and Riedel Awards, as well their respective award ceremonies.
From August 30 to September 13, thanks to a collaboration between the Consorzio Promovetro Murano and La Fenice Theatre, Le Sale Apollinee will host “Gold” – an important Murano glass installation by companies associated with Vetro Artistico Murano. The main feature of the installation will be gold – an element which often characterizes Murano production, synonymous with wealth and prosperity. In addition, Consorzio Promovetro will offer guided tours to discover the world of Murano glass. The Murano Glass Experience tours will enable visitors to observe glass masters at work in some furnaces and workshops of Murano that are otherwise closed to the public.
Each event in The Venice Glass Week will feature a logo designed by Anna Scaini, who was selected in 2016 from proposals submitted by second-year students of the graphic design course at IED Venezia – visual communications partner for the event. The logo is in “Venetian Red”, a colour dating back to ancient times — which symbolizes life and vitality as well as the will to do and excel — and which resembles the outline of a vase, with two wings, like those of the Lion of St Mark.
Tags: exhibition, festival, glass, Murano, murano glass, Venice Glass Week
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