**What’s Glasstress?**

“For hundreds of years, glass has been viewed by some as simply a decorative or functional medium, Glasstress ... shatters those notions.”

– Philippe de Montebello

Former Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

The first edition of Glasstress was held in 2009 as a collateral event of the Venice Biennale in Palazzo Franchetti on the banks of the Grand Canal, and was born from Berengo’s desire to showcase to the world the innovative creations contemporary artists were making with the material, both as a result of his first-hand experience with artists in Berengo Studio, and through his extensive experience within the world of contemporary art.

Glasstress was founded in 2009 by Adriano Berengo, a born and raised Venetian and the CEO of Berengo Studio, one of the world’s leading creative glass furnaces. It is an innovative exhibition that focuses on glass as a medium for contemporary art, and has become an internationally acclaimed group show that is known for gathering together the best contemporary art made with glass.

As a result of its success Glasstress has now been presented in prominent museums and institutions worldwide, including the Lativan National Museum of Art “Riga Bourse” in Riga, the Millesgården Museum in Stockholm, the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) in New York, the Beirut Exhibition Center (BEC) in Beirut, the London College of Fashion, the Wallace Collection in London, the Ptuj City Gallery in Slovenia and the Boca Raton Museum of Art, Florida. With each new edition Glasstress travels further afield, gaining new collaborators and creative partners along the way.

At present over 300 contemporary artists have featured in Glasstress and the exhibition has distinguished itself as one of the leading shows of contemporary art in glass in the world. For its tenth anniversary edition in 2019 the exhibition returned to the heart of Murano to the newly opened Fondazione Berengo Art Space on the island. A subsequent exhibition in 2022 was held at the same location.

Title

by Umberto Croppi

When I first began working with glass I could never have im- agined the places it would take me. I originally founded Glasstress as an exhibition to create a place for art in glass to take centre stage. I have always been concerned about how glass has been neglected as a medium within the world of contemporary art. This magnificent ancient material deserves to be explored and used by the greatest creative minds we have, yet so often the complexities of how to work with it have prevented artists and de- signers from engaging with glass with the freedom they deserve.

Working with glass is not always easy, yet we have always sought to open the door to those outside the world of Murano ever since I decided to launch Berengo Studio in 1989. To borrow the theme of this year’s Architecture Biennale in Venice, I saw
the studio as a “Laboratory for the Future,” a place where crea- tive minds would be free to develop and evolve a relationship with the notoriously difficult material. Inviting artists to come and experiment with glass and creating a safe space for them to investigate its untapped potential was essential in expanding the possibilities for the medium within the world of contemporary art. The more collaborations we created the more I became aware that the number of artists using glass was growing, and there was no place for these artworks to be admired together. In 2009 I launched the first edition of Glasstress. As the name suggests, with this group show I wanted to capture the innate energy,
that conducive pressure, that so often gives way to innovation and progress. We needed an exhibition that could pay homage to the many visitors who had dared to step out of their comfort zones and try something new. The original show was a collateral event of the Venice Biennale and held in the Palazzo Franchetti on the banks of the grand canal. Since then I’m delighted that the success of the exhibition has seen it become a fixture in Venice, but also created a real impact on the art community on an international scale. Today, Glasstress has been featured in prominent museums and institutions worldwide, including the Lativan National Museum of Art “Riga Bourse” in Riga, the Ptuj City Gallery in Slovenia, the Millesgården Museum in Stockholm, the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) in New York, the Beirut Exhibition Center (BEC) in Beirut, Boca Raton Museum of Art in Florida, and the Wallace Collection in London. With each new edition Glasstress travels further afield, gaining new collaborators and creative partners along the way.

It brings me great pleasure to bring this most recent edition to Poland and to The State Art Gallery. Poland, like Italy, is a country that has its own rich history of glassmaking, and a vibrant art scene engaged in reinventing the ways we encounter this materi- al. I’m excited by the opportunities that this moment presents for us to forge deeper connections with the art world in this country. I have had the honour of collaborating with several Polish artists over the years, including the likes of Mirosław Bałka, Marta Klo- nowska, and Alicja Kwade and working together with the Sopot State Art Gallery I was delighted when they proposed two con- temporary Polish artists to come and work in Murano with us spe- cially for this show: Maurycy Gomulicki and Xawery Wolski. With a range of artworks from our archive presented alongside more recent works – some created just earlier this year! – it is wonderful to see how this new iteration of Glasstress has come together, to present a wide-ranging exhibition that showcases just a glimpse of all that can be achieved in this miraculous medium.