Merano Art hosts the exhibition “Murano-Merano. Glass and contemporary art”. The appointment, curated by Adriano Berengo and Valerio Dehò, will be staged from 8 June to 8 September. The exhibition combines the experiences of a series of international contemporary artists such as Aldo Mondino, Aron Demetz, Jan Fabre, Jaume Plensa, Oleg Kulik, Marya Kazoun, Orlan, Robert Pan, Vik Muniz and others, and aims to identify a critical path and study capable of expanding the expressive capabilities of a material such as Murano glass.
The common thread is the relationship that is established between the artist and the glass, the comparison with the characteristics and technical constraints that the medium imposes, the dialogue between the thought of the creator and the hand of the master, in which the work it is the synthesis of knowledge, knowledge and different experiences through which a new expressive language is arrived at.
The artists featured in this review have only occasionally come into contact with the world of glass. Also for this reason the results are highly original and innovative, extraordinary and unpredictable.
What emerges is that the encounter between two apparently distant realities, contemporary art on the one hand, glass on the other, has made it possible to imagine, design and build a third: a new world, in which glass no longer represents simply a symbol of tradition but opens up to new horizons and perspectives.
Glass, an extremely ductile material, open to accepting artistic creativity in its most innovative forms, has been the protagonist of a worldwide relaunch in recent years. The occasion was the first edition in 2009 of "Glasstress", an initiative presented as a side event of the Venice Biennale and has become a platform for reflection on the relationship between design and art, between ancient techniques and contemporary art. Thanks to Adriano Berengo and his laboratory in Murano, the event was subsequently enriched with interventions by the most important contemporary personalities, spreading throughout the world, including the United States and Asia. In a few years there hasn't been an artist who hasn't tried to measure himself with this material, rich in history and at the same time also adaptable to ideas and inventions.
In Merano, simultaneously with the Venice Biennale, on the occasion of which the third edition of "Glasstress" is presented, a series of extraordinary works will be exhibited created at the Berengo Fine Arts by international artists who also come from experiences apparently far from this mediums, such as the Russian Oleg Kulik, already present in Merano in 1998, the French Orlan, famous performer and media artist, the Belgian Jan Fabre, who exhibited in a solo exhibition at the Louvre in 2011. Precisely because of these different poetics and practices, the diversity of works becomes an articulated and interesting map of the intrinsic expressive possibilities of a material that has always accompanied the course of contemporary art, just think of the "Large Glass" by Marcel Duchamp (1915-1923).
The result is a fascinating and curious exhibition, enriched by the contribution of two new creations by two well-known and appreciated South Tyrolean artists such as Aron Demetz and Robert Pan, who for the occasion wanted to deal with a different technique than the one they have always practiced .
During the inauguration, the Lebanese Marya Kazoun will perform a performance related to the work on display.
On the occasion of the event in Merano, Thursday 11 July at the DOC headquarters in Bolzano, a preview will be presented of the glass works created in the Vetro Ricerca laboratories by the Argentinian artist Silvia Levenson, who took part in the second edition of "FROM & TO" in 2010.
Artists
Aldo Mondino, Antonio Riello, Aron Demetz, Bernardì Roig, Francesco Gennari, Fred Wilson, Jan Fabre, Jaume Plensa, Javier Perez, Koen Vanmechelen, Maria Roosen, Marya Kazoun, Michael Joo, Monica Bonvicini, Nabil Nahas, Oleg Kulik, Orlan, Pieke Bergmans, Pino Castagna, Robert Pan, Sergio Bovenga, Thomas Schutte, Ursula Von Rydingsvard, Vik Muniz.
