Glasstress 2022 – State of Mind

Coinciding with the 59th Venice Biennale, ‘Glasstress – State of Mind’ ran from 4 June to 27 November 2022, bringing together a group of leading contemporary artists from Europe, the United States, Latin America and Africa. 

The group show is curated by Adriano Berengo and Koen Vanmechelen with the contribution of Ludovico Pratesi. New names at the 2022 edition included eL Seed, the French-Tunisian artist who presents experimentations in handblown forms made in collaboration with the glass masters in the furnace, while several other new names decided to develop works in Berengo Studio’s specialised casting workshop. Notable new faces included German artist Paloma Varga Weisz and Italian artist Vanessa Beecroft. 

The Studio is also particularly excited to have collaborated with the English artist Ryan Gander for the first time, and in fact a detail of Gander’s installation was selected as the official exhibition image. Thanks to extensive exploration into the material Gander has managed to create a realistic replica of snow using glass dust, creating an eerie scene of cold desolation in the midst of the Italian summer heat. The juxtaposition is striking and opens up an engaging dialogue with an audience that cannot help but point to the subject of the climate crisis as well as the internal ‘seasons’ of the mind.