On April 1st, 2026, the international exhibition Glass Stress – The Evolution of Modern Art in Venice was inaugurated at the Tsinghua University Art Museum. This exhibition was organized by the School of Art of Tsinghua University, the Tsinghua University Art Museum, and the Berengo Studio in Italy. It brought together over 60 works by 56 artists from 20 different countries (including 6 British artists). The artists, within the specific glass culture context of Venice, responded to the proposition of the transformation of traditional craftsmanship in the contemporary context, exploring new artistic expressions and possibilities of glass in the context of globalization and multiculturalism.
Glass has been closely related to the development of human civilization throughout the long history. Due to the ‘stress’ generated during its preparation and shaping, it exhibits unique technical properties and thus becomes an artistic medium capable of expressing aesthetics, symbols, and concepts. ‘Glasstress’ as a physical concept refers to the situation where the amorphous structure of glass is ‘frozen’ during its transition from the molten state to the solid state, thereby retaining the stress state within the material. On one hand, it has given rise to the unique production techniques of glass; on the other hand, it also constitutes the material basis for the fragility, tension, and potential danger of glass. In artistic works, this ‘critical state’ between stability and fragmentation is often transformed into resources with aesthetic tension and spiritual metaphor.
For a long time, glass art has been mostly regarded as merely a ‘decorative medium’, and the inherent properties of the material have often been overshadowed by artistic concepts. The core breakthrough of this ‘Glasstress’ exhibition lies in establishing the ‘active nature’ of glass materials – the transparency, brittleness, and stress marks of glass are no longer mere by-products in the production process, but rather ‘material grammar’ that participates in the generation of artistic meaning, deeply influencing the conceptual construction and emotional expression of the artists.
Exhibiting Artists:
Tony Cragg (UK)，Josepha Gasch-Muche (Germany)，Sean Scully (USA)，Gu Liming (China)，Ted Noten (Netherlands)，Marta Klonowska (Poland)，Dustin Yellin (USA)，Thomas Schütte (Germany)，Mimmo Paladino (Italy)，Zhang Lei (China)，Bai Ming (China)，Maria Grazia Rosin (Italy)，César Baldaccini (France)，Fiona Banner (UK)，Michael Joo (USA)，Jaime Hayon
(Spain)，Cornelia Parker (UK)，Javier Pérez (Spain)，Polly Apfelbaum
(USA)，Mirosław Bałka (Poland)，Loris Cecchini (Italy)，Penny Byrne
(Australia)，Charles Avery (UK)，Laure Prouvost (France)，Emilio Isgrò
(Italy)，Erwin Wurm (Austria)，Fariba Ferdosi (Iran)，Koen Vanmechelen
(Belgium)，Halim Al-Karim (Iraq), Judy Chicago (USA), Marya Kazoun
(Lebanon), Jimmie Durham (USA), María Magdalena Campos-Pons (USA),
Osaru Obaseki (Nigeria), Jaume Plensa (Spain), Marie-Louise Ekman
(Sweden), Arne Quinze (Belgium), Chila Kumari Singh Burman (UK),
Massimo Lunardon (Italy), Tony Oursler (USA), Anna Jermolaewa (Russia),
Qiu Zhijie (China), Wu Jian’an (China), Wael Shawky (Egypt), Ilya & Emilia Kabakov (Ukraine), Fred Wilson (USA), Karen LaMonte (USA), Monica Bonvicini (Italy), Mat Collishaw (UK), Joana Vasconcelos (Portugal), Hans Op de Beeck (Belgium), Vik Muniz (Brazil), Antonio Riello (Italy), Robert Wilson (USA), Pedro Friedeberg (Mexico ), Li Jing (China).
For further information and images of works in the exhibition- See the attached PDF
Websites
Tsinghua University Art Museum
(The text was compiled by Dr Jianyong Guo and Dr Dian Shi based on the exhibition’s promotional materials. All the figures in the text were provided by the organizing committee of this exhibition.)
