Koen Vanmechelen is featured in Glasstress 2nd Edition in Sweden, in the Millesgården Museum with his artwork ‘Temptation’. The exhibition will be opened by Vanmechelen with an inauguration speech on 17th September 2022, in the Lidingö based museum.
Glasstress Stockholm 2022
For the second time, the international exhibition Glasstress lands in the Millesgården Museum in Stockholm. Glasstress is a project by Adriano Berengo to further his mission of marrying contemporary art and glass. Artists of all disciplines are invited to collaborate with the maestros of Berengo Studio in creating art in glass. Launched in 2009 as an official collateral event of the Biennale di Venezia, today Glasstress is the world’s leading showcase of this collaboration of craft and creativity, forging a new trajectory for glass and a new path for contemporary artists. It is the second time that Glasstress travels to Sweden. This 2nd edition is a completely new exhibition with new artists and glass infused artworks.
“All have come to the small island of Murano on the outskirts of Venice to create works of art together with the skilled glass craftsmen of Berengo Studio. Now we welcome them to the island of Lidingö and Millesgården Museum.”
— Onita Wass, Millesgarden Director
The exhibition brings together 31 international artists, such as Mat Collishaw, Tony Cragg, Jimmie Durham, Wael Shawky, and Koen Vanmechelen who explore the many facets of glass. In collaboration with the glass masters of Berengo Studio, they have pushed their imagination through the medium of glass and this resulted in unexpected and compelling works of art. The alluring surface of the glass attracts the gaze and awakens curiosity, which is used cleverly to address a wide variety of political issues such as the environment and climate, racism and gender equality.
“The artworks reveal the various ways that modern artists are reinventing traditional forms, taking the architecture of traditional Venetian objects and reinterpreting them in cunning ways to reflect and build upon elements of history with a new vision.”
— Adriano Berengo
Temptation
Selected for this group exhibition is Vanmechelen’s Temptation sculpture; a white ceramic bust of a hybrid female figure with Siberian features. A cracked eggshell covers her fragile, hairless skull. On top of it rests a glass egg in perfect balance. Embracing the hybrid are a glass snake and a double-headed eagle from glass, both born in the legendary glass ovens of the Berengo studio on the Venetian island of Murano.
The double-headed eagle is her Janus figure, double fertility. It represents the past. The snake stands for Temptation, and the reason for the start of civilization. The future is situated on top of the hybrid. The transparent Vanmechelen egg, like Schrodinger’s cat, contains the future.
Participating artists:
Ai Weiwei, Avery Charles, Billgren Ernst, Campos-Pons, María Magdalena, Collishaw, Mat Cragg, Tony Durham Jimmie, Garaicoa Carlos, Kendell Geers, Hershman Joshua, Kabakov Ilyra & Emilia, Kogelnik Kiki, Kvie Jone, LaMonte Karen, Lunardon Massimo, Mazzola Stefania, Milan Denise, Ekman Marie Louise, Muniz Vik, Op de beeck Hans, Oursler Tony, Plensa Jaume, Prouvost Laure, Riello Antonio, Shawky Wael, Tagliapietra Lino, Schütte Thomas, Vanmechelen Koen, Wilson Fred, Wylie Rose, Wurm Erwin
Exhibition facts
Glasstress
Millesgården Museum
Herserudsvägen 32
181 50 Lidingö, Sweden
17.09.2022 - 29.01.2023 Open every day except Monday 11am - 5pm