ROBERT WILSON IN GLASS

Coinciding with the first The Venice Glass Week, Fondazione Berengo is proud and delighted to present Robert Wilson in Glass, an exhibition of glass artworks by the renowned stage director, designer and visual artist, curated by Jean Blanchaert and Noah Khoshbin.

For the first time in Italy, Wilson’s glass artworks will arrive in Venice, overlooking Murano, the Island of Glass that inspired these pieces. In fact, it was his encounter with the glass maestro Lino Tagliapietra that sparked Wilson’s passion for glass. At the beginning of the 90s, Lino Tagliapietra was often in Marseille, at CIRVA (Centre International de Recherche sur le Verre et les Arts Plastiques), and that was the place where Wilson started producing glass, following every step of the production process, from the shaping of molten matter to the final polishing. On view during the inaugural The Venice Glass Week, Robert Wilson in Glass includes a selection of his works, created from 1994 to 2005 at CIRVA.

Bowls, cylinders and domes, as well as inverted pyramids, lustrous and translucent, as well as dark and opaque, Wilson describes his experience with glass as a constant contradiction. Wilson says “I like ceramics but I much prefer glass because of its heaviness and lightness”. His glass pieces are the result of a subtle alliance of these contrasts.

From the theatrical stage to video projects, in every aspect of Robert Wilson’s oeuvre we can see a dreamlike environment of great visual and emotional impact derived from a very specific field: geometry. Glass is no exception. Curved lines express specific moments from Wilson’s life, made even more recognizable by the colors used. “They have memory”, says Wilson. The morning fog and condensation captured in the satin surfaces, the reflection of water, highlighted by flashes of metal, occupied the beautiful spaces of Palazzo Franchetti, the stunning palace on the Grand Canal that is the official home of Fondazione Berengo.

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