GLASSTRESS: The Flowing Carnival of Venice, Shanghai Jiushi Art Museum (CN), 18 JULY - 18 OCT 2026

Koen Vanmechelen joins GLASSTRESS, one of the most internationally influential collateral events of the Venice Biennale, for its grand debut at the Shanghai Jiushi Art Museum. The exhibition, "GLASSTRESS: The Flowing Carnival of Venice," opens on July 18, 2026, marking the first comprehensive presentation of this landmark international art project in Shanghai. Housed in a century-old historic building at the core of the Bund, the exhibition stages an artistic dialogue that transcends geographical boundaries and time.

About GLASSTRESS: The Flowing Carnival of Venice

Venice and Shanghai — two cities born and thriving because of water — achieve a spectacular cultural resonance under the banner of art. This Shanghai edition adopts the Venice Carnival as its academic and visual thread, unfolding across four chapters: Donning the mask (Mascheramento), Playing a role (Travestimento), Parading in costume (Sfilata), and Removing the mask (Smascheramento). Breaking away from traditional "passive viewing," the exhibition invites visitors to become active participants in the parade, exploring self, identity and civilization amid the light reflected by glass.

Founded in 2009 by Adriano Berengo, founder of Fondazione Berengo, GLASSTRESS is one of the most internationally influential art projects of the Venice Biennale, inviting leading contemporary artists into the glass furnaces of Murano and pioneering glass as a medium within contemporary art discourse. From Picasso and Chagall to over 400 international contemporary artists, the project has traveled to major art museums worldwide, including in New York, London, Stockholm and St. Petersburg — now arriving on the Shanghai Bund for the first time. Here Vanmechelen exhibits alongside an international lineup that includes Sean Scully, Jimmie Durham, Jian'an Wu and Zhuo Qi. The exhibition is curated by Jean Blanchaert and Bao Honglei.

We are deeply honored to bring GLASSTRESS to Shanghai, a city that similarly possesses a pioneering spirit, fluidity, and inclusivity. Glass transforms from a liquid to a solid state under the pull of high temperatures and gravity, which in itself is a metaphor for a carnival. Inside Bund One, a century-old architectural marvel where Eastern and Western cultures interweave, we hope the Chinese audience will not just view an exhibition, but actively participate in a spiritual parade that transcends matter and directly touches the soul. - Ms. Honglei Bao, curator

Evolution of a Hybrid

Vanmechelen presents Evolution of a Hybrid, a glass sculpture developed during a workshop at the Academy of Arts & Design in Beijing in 2025, in collaboration with master glassmaestro's from Berengo Studio. The project offered students insight into the collaborative process between artist and artisan.

Alongside the sculpture, the installation includes drawings made during the workshops, revealing a process of crossbreeding that is both biological and cultural — showing how interaction between disciplines, materials and people can generate new forms and meanings.

The presentation also includes Cosmopolitan Fossil I (2021), a sculpture in marble and glass that continues Vanmechelen's long-standing exploration of hybridity as an evolving condition. In this work, glass functions both as material and metaphor: fragile yet resilient, transparent yet layered.

Together, these works situate Vanmechelen's practice within the broader dialogue of Glasstress: a continuous negotiation between tradition and experimentation, between material and meaning, and between local craftsmanship and global exchange.

EXHIBITION FACTS GLASSTRESS: The Flowing Carnival of Venice July 18 – October 18, 2026 Shanghai Jiushi Art Museum (2nd Floor, No. 1 Zhongshan East 1st Road, Huangpu District, Shanghai) Organizers: Shanghai Jiushi Art Museum, Fondazione Berengo