GLASSTRESS. WINDOW TO THE FUTURE

We are pleased to welcome you to The State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia for Glasstress. Window to the Future from 11 September to 31 October 2021.

The latest edition of Glasstress, our internationally acclaimed exhibition that showcases artworks made with glass by contemporary artists, is a joint venture by The State Hermitage Museum with Fondazione Berengo and Berengo Studio, and features an array of award-winning artists from around the world.

This isn’t the first time Berengo Studio has worked with the Hermitage. In fact, back in 2015 the exhibition Glasstress Gotika, was organized by the State Hermitage and held in the Palazzo Franchetti in Venice during the Venice Biennale. The display included items from the Museum’s collection – armour, religious objects, and other works of applied art made in the Gothic and Neo-Gothic styles – that were presented in a dialogue with pieces created by contemporary artists in Murano. This year Berengo is mixing it up, bringing Murano to Saint Petersburg with the work of over fifty contemporary artists. Last time the past was the inspiration, this time it’s the future.

Glasstress. Window to the Future is one of the Museum’s largest exhibitions of contemporary art, occupying more than ten halls, including the monumental expanse of the Grand Enfilade and White Hall, as well as the intimate spaces of the Courtyard Gallery and the Red Hall in the General Staff Building.

It features more than 50 works created in glass by contemporary artists and the participants include award-winning figures such as Ai Weiwei, Renate Bertlmann, Koen Vanmechelen, Michael Joo, Petah Coyne, Mat Collishaw, and Laure Prouvost. Of particular interest are the pieces produced by Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, Jake & Dinos Chapman, Jan Fabre, Jaume Plensa and Hans Op de Beeck, artists whose works have already been shown with great success in exhibitions at the Hermitage. The wide range of international artists will allow visitors to discover how the traditional glass techniques of Murano have been integrated into the world of contemporary art, and how glass as a medium continues to surprise and revolutionise artistic thinking.

The exhibition has been organized with the support of the Consulate General of Italy in Saint Petersburg and Kerama Marazzi in collaboration with the Ermitage Italia and Villaggio Globale International.

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