Koen Vanmechelen at Glasstress Gotika 2015
Glasstress 2015 Gotika, a joint exhibition by The Russian State Hermitage Museum and Berengo Studio, brings together contemporary art and glass.
This year’s Glasstress incorporated Slow Food Celebrate Biodiversity by Belgian conceptual artist Koen Vanmechelen. In his work, Vanmechelen deals with the themes of diversity and cultural identity, for which he developed in the Life Bank project.
Vanmechelen’s installation of two big, black bronze hands functions as a gate into the evocative gothic garden of the palazzo. The hands, one male and one female, are symbolic guardians to two delicate sculptures made of Murano glass – a little chick and a heap of scattered seeds.
The glass biennial is located in the ancient Venetian bank Palazzo Franchetti, which functions as an exhibition space for bronze sculptures, glass and 500 species of ancient seeds. With the pieces of art situated between antique wooden furniture, Vanmechelen’s Life Bank has taken on a life of its own, substituting currency with the real patrimony of our civilisation: the seed.
Glasstress 2015 Gotika is a collateral to 56th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale. The exhibition runs at Palazzo Franchetti / Instituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere e Arti (Campo S. Stefano, 2847 Venice) and at Berengo Foundation (Campiello della Pescheria, Murano) from 9 May–22 November 2015.
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