Some 20 totally new works, exploring the fragility of the human condition through a hypnotic and innovative sculptural practice, make up Shattering beauty, the solo exhibition of Swiss artist Simon Berger hosted by the Glass Museum in Murano, Venice, from Jan. 28 to May 7, 2023.
Opened on Jan 27 in the presence of the artist, the exhibition, curated by Sandrine Welte and Chiara Squarcina in collaboration with the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia and Berengo Studio, is conceived as an immersive installation where visitors are invited to lose themselves among glass cubes and sculptures of different sizes.
The installation also features some glass portraits, made with the technique-the artist calls it “morphogenesis”-that has made Berger internationally known.
Simon Berger’s is an artistic investigation that tests glass by pushing it to its limits, to the point of breaking. The artist “draws,” in fact, with hammer blows, delicate and sharp, generating webs of inlets in which light and transparency intertwine, and the transparent canvas becomes the backdrop for fascinating glassy paintings.
Challenging the Muranese tradition of glassblowing as a technique, Berger decides to tackle the material in a more assertive way: he chips away at it to create human faces, demonstrating how cracks and breaks can become lines of inquiry into ways of seeing and perceiving the world, as glass surfaces are transformed into a reflection of the viewer.
“Venice and Murano,” comments the head of the Glass Museum and director of the MUVE Museum Activities Area Chiara Squarcina, “are proud to be able to host the solo exhibition of Swiss artist Simon Berger, internationally known for his original glassmaking technique. The exhibition features some 20 totally new and site-specific works, conceived and created specifically for the spaces of the Museum of Glass, an immersive installation that is engaging and fascinating, leading visitors to reflect on the power and expressive force of the human face. After admiring in the rooms on the Museum’s main floor the works that have emerged from the imagination and skill of Murano’s master glassmakers over the centuries, the visitor will be confronted with a new way of conceiving a work in glass, drawing the lines for a contemporary dialogue with a globally recognized artistic tradition. This is further evidence of how glass is a living and constantly renewing material and how Murano’s role is central and irreplaceable in this sense.”
“Presenting an exhibition like “Shattering Beauty” to the public is an exciting opportunity to pause and reflect on the many possibilities of glass as a material for artistic exploration, a material that in its fragile essence and luminous splendor reflects the very nature of the Serenissima. While centuries of glassmaking tradition have experimented with new techniques, reinventing the medium in different keys in an attempt to build and preserve it, here is an artist who, striking the transparent surface of his glass canvas, transforms destruction into something of seductive beauty, as the hypnotic tangle of cracks and folds rhythmically transforms into images. His canvases, in this regard, remind me of the dancing reality of Venice, whose precarious status as a city built on water has been its greatest strength throughout history. And just as Venetians once launched themselves fearlessly to realize this urban dream among the surrounding waters, so today Simon Berger’s hammer blows fall boldly on the glass plate to etch images that leave a lasting impression,” says Simone Welte, co-curator of the exhibition.
“It gives me great pleasure to bring new energy to Murano in unexpected forms. With this new exhibition by Simon Berger at the Glass Museum, I am excited to introduce his work to a wider audience and to continue what for me is a real mission: to break the expectations we have about glass and explore its infinite creative potential.” says Adriano Berengo, President of Berengo Studio.
