Venice Glass Week: ten years of art, design and experimentation with glass

Venice Glass Week is celebrating its tenth anniversary and is set to mark the occasion with an edition worthy of this milestone: 236 events across 140 venues, featuring 311 participants from 57 countries. Venice, Murano and Mestre will be celebrating the art of glass from 12 to 20 September with exhibitions, installations and conferences taking place across the region.

The exhibition project “Murano illuminates the world” returns for its fourth year; from 13 September to 1 November, it brings together international artists and designers, connecting them with a glassworks on the island to create a series of installations spread across St Mark’s Square. Beneath the arches of the Procuratie Vecchie, 12 installations will offer a fresh interpretation of one of the most iconic objects of Venetian tradition: the chandelier. Among the participants selected by the scientific committee – comprising, amongst others, glass historian Rosa Barovier Mentasti – are prominent names such as Norman Foster with Salviati, Chiara Dynys with Seguso Gianni, Pierre Charpin with Simone Cenedese Murano, Tristano di Robilant with Vetreria Anfora and Bethan Laura Wood with Gambaro & Tagliapietra.

There are also plenty of interesting exhibits, such as ‘Paperweights, paperweights and doorstops’, which opens on the 14th at the Palazzo Mocenigo Museum. Also not to be missed, on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore – although there’s time until 22 November – is the exhibition “1948–1958: Glass in Murano and the Venice Biennale”, curated by Marino Barovier at Le Stanze del Vetro.

As for the galleries, “A Glimpse of Brancusi” is well worth a visit; it opened in March at the Galleria Negropontes in the Palazzina Masieri to mark the 150th anniversary of Constantin Brancusi’s birth. This temporary exhibition juxtaposes photographs by Dan Er. Grigorescu, focusing on Brancusi’s own works, with creations by contemporary artists represented by the gallery. During Venice Glass Week, this dialogue is further enriched by glass works by Mirce Cantor and a series of sculptures by Perrin & Perrin. The gallery itself is a masterpiece, housed since 2024 in a 17th-century building overlooking the Grand Canal, the interiors of which were redesigned between 1968 and 1983 by Carlo Scarpa.

The Giberto Venezia boutique on the Rialto Bridge presents ‘Cracklé’, a new series of vases by Giberto Arrivabene Valenti Gonzaga, inspired by ice – one of the great innovations of Renaissance Murano. Venice Glass Week provides Giberto with the opportunity to launch a series of in-shop artist residencies featuring JoAnn Tann, who will create a site-specific installation designed to engage with the new collection.