Italy’s most important festival dedicated to industrial and artistic glass
10th September will mark the launch of The Italian Glass Weeks: the most important international event in Italy dedicated to artistic and industrial glass, which was born from the union of Vision Milan Glass Week and The Venice Glass Week. This major new festival will see a series of exhibitions, installations, workshops, performances, activities for children and families as well as guided tours, conferences and much more, taking place across Milan and Venice over the course of a fortnight. The first week will take place in Milan from 10th to 18th September 2022, with a programme dedicated primarily to industrial glass and design. The second week will take place in Venice from 17th to 25th September 2022, dedicated to artistic glass.
Hundreds of candidates applied to take part in the festival, which will feature a programme of over 250 events across both cities and online, organised by more than 150 participants including museums, institutions, universities, companies, artists and designers both from Italy and abroad.
Members of the public will be able to follow all of the Milanese events either in person or online via The Italian Glass Weeks social media channels, in the form of daily online video clips. Other online events will include the Conversations on Glass by Apice: seven panel discussions in English involving international experts in the world of glass, produced in collaboration with Apice, the renowned art handling and transportation company.
The main centres of the two weeks will be the HUBs, each with a different focus: The Italian Glass Weeks – Milan HUB will host conferences and seminars, including the event dedicated to operators in the glass sector organized by HCE International, which will teach companies how to make themselves and their products stand out through the simple use of the correct words. Meanwhile, The Italian Glass Weeks – Venice HUB and The Italian Glass Weeks – Venice HUB Under35 will host installations by more than 40 artists and designers, including exhibitors aged 18-35, from Italy and around the world.
THE ITALIAN GLASS WEEKS: THE EVENTS IN MILAN
The event will kick off in Milan on 10th September with the official inauguration of The Italian Glass Weeks – Milan HUB at Palazzo Giureconsulti, headquarters of the Chamber of Commerce, which for the whole week will be the meeting point for participants who wish to take part in the rich programme of conferences, round-tables and talks dedicated to industrial glass.
There will also be many activities designed for adults as well as children, such as workshops and guided tours of the glass collections at Castello Sforzesco, which on 6th September will also inaugurate the photographic exhibition “La Milano di Vetro”: an exclusive photographic exhibition featuring historic glass objects preserved in Milanese museums and showcased for the first time in a single exhibition in the magnificent setting of one of the most iconic venues in Milan. Members of the public will also be able to book guided tours of the Milanese museums and Cultural Institutions that are taking part in the “Le vie del Vetro” project: from the Castello Sforzesco to the Civico Museo Archeologico, from the Museo Poldi Pezzoli to Palazzo Clerici with its gallery frescoed in 1741 by Tiepolo, Via these pre-booked tours, visitors will be able to discover the world and history of of glass.
The Milanese evenings of The Italian Glass Weeks will involve themed events hosted at the beautiful Terrazza Santambrogio, official partner of the event, where glass is the central element of the decoration and furnishings: on 15th September there will also be the exclusive launch of the del Profumo del Vetro – an evocative and multi-sensory event. To find out more, and to discover the updated programme of daily events, members of the public can visit the website https://www.santambrogiomilano.com/the-terrace
THE ITALIAN GLASS WEEKS: THE EVENTS IN VENICE
The Venetian week will feature hundreds of events dedicated to artistic glass across Venice, Murano and Mestre. The week, historically dedicated to artistic glass, will be officially launched on the evening of 16th September with the inauguration of The Italian Glass Weeks – Venice HUB and The Italian Glass Weeks – Venice HUB Under35. The former will be hosted at Palazzo Loredan, home of the Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti, featuring glass art works by 21 Italian and international artists and designers; the latter will host works by 20 Italian and international artists and designers aged between 18 – 35 at Palazzo Giustinian Lolin, headquarters of the Fondazione Levi.
Among the numerous exhibitions that will enrich the programme is Venini: Light 1921 – 1985, curated by Marino Barovier, which will be open to the public at LE STANZE DEL VETRO on the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore from 18th September 2022 to 8th January 2023 .
There will also be events for specialists of the sector: from 19th to 21st September 2022 at Palazzo Franchetti the Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti will present the tenth edition of the Study Days on Venetian Glass, one of the most important annual events for international scholars of glass, titled Cross-influence between two glassmaking traditions: Venice and Islam.
A special focus will be dedicated to glass beads with a series of initiatives organised by the Comune di Venezia, which will also organise a Conference on Mirrors on 21st September at the Ateneo Veneto, to explore and retrace the history of mirrors and “specieri” in Venice, involving the contribution of industry experts and representatives of Murano families involved in the creation of these works.
Finally, the Closing Event of The Italian Glass Weeks will be held on Sunday 25th September at the Teatro Goldoni featuring a concert by Vocal Skyline, with the special participation the Big Vocal Orchestra, directed by the Murano artist Marco Toso Borella and involving more than 250 voices.
THE PRIZES
24th September 2022 will be a special evening at Palazzo Franchetti, which will host the award ceremony for three important prizes within the context of The Italian Glass Weeks: the Glass in Venice Prize, awarded to artists and glass masters who have distinguished themselves with their work in the great Murano tradition, or, elsewhere in the world, through different schools and techniques; as well as the Premio Fondazione di Venezia per Vetro Artistico, awarded to the best project in the Venetian week of the festival, and finally the Autonoma Residency Prize, awarded to a young artist or designer from Italy or abroad, participating in the HUB Under35.
THE ITALIAN GLASS WEEKS TOURS IN MILAN AND VENICE
The two weeks of The Italian Glass Weeks will also feature official guided tours both in Milan and Venice.
In the Lombard capital, the Ordine degli Architetti will organise guided tours enabling members of the public to discover modern and design-oriented Milan through buildings, parks and squares in a city that has redesigned its skyline using glass.
During the Venetian week, the public will be able to join the Tours by Nexa, organised in collaboration with Nexa, a Venetian events company specialising in high-level international projects. The main aim of these tours is to allow audiences to witness the magic of artistic glass production first-hand, in a number of selected furnaces, ateliers and showrooms.
2022 UNITED NATIONS INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF GLASS
2022 has been designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Glass, with a view to celebrating glass at a global level. The Italian Glass Weeks is part of the official programme of the 2022 United Nations International Year of Glass and will be Italy’s most important event dedicated to glass, as well as one of the most significant glass sector events in Europe.
