L'Italo-Americano

www.italoamericano.org 10 THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2017 L'Italo-Americano W ander the back streets of Murano and you can hear the roar of furnaces behind blind factory w a l l s . T h e a i r t r e m b l e s a n d there's a perpetual orange glow in the high clerestory windows that remain just out of reach. It is the hot air from the glass ovens burning at 1500˚C that rushes like dragon's breath through the industrial pipework to plume atop tall chimneys like the blow of a sleeping Leviathan in the shallow Venetian lagoon. Seldom do visitors get the chance to peer inside, for since the 13th century when the glass foundries moved to Murano as a f i r e s a f e t y p r e c a u t i o n , t r a d e secrets were so closely guarded that any artisan who left the city was considered guilty of treason. But these days it is Murano's c l o i s t e r e d m a s t e r s w h o a r e endanger of extinction due to c o m p e t i t i o n f r o m c h e a p e r i m p o r t s , a d e c l i n e i n y o u n g apprentices and a lack of innova- tion befitting the 21st century. Determined to reverse this trend and revive Murano's for- t u n e s a r e a c l u t c h o f y o u n g artist-designers and a trio of V e n e t i a n i n s t i t u t i o n s – t h e F o n d a z i o n e M u s e i C i v i c i d i Venezia, Fondazione Giorgio Cini and the Instituto Veneto di Scienza, Lettera ed Arti – who collaborated on the inaugural Venice Glass Week. The aim of the festival is to bring traditional Murano practitioners back into the contemporary craft move- ment. For it isn't glass per se that has fallen out of fashion, quite t h e o p p o s i t e . I n M a y 2 0 1 7 Christies New York secured a figure of $2.4 million for the sale of 'Carlo Scarpa: Visions in Glass 1926-1962' and there's ample demand for modernist pieces. In addition, the glass world's g r e a t e s t c o n t e m p o r a r y s t a r , Seattle-based Dale Chihuly, credits his residency at Venini in Murano in the 1960s as the cata- lyst for the creative journey he has since undertaken, which has revolutionized the American as well as the international studio- glass movement. Coming from a design and architecture back- g r o u n d , C h i h u l y l a c k e d t h e skills to blow glass himself and instead worked in close collabo- ration with a Muranese team. This, the centrality of a collabo- rative team, was the greatest les- son Chihuly took from Murano, incorporating teamwork into his own projects to create glass sculptures far greater in size than any previously seen. C u r a t o r s o f V e n i c e G l a s s Week realize that Murano needs to look outwards if it is to sur- vive. Collaboration brings new i d e a s , n e w i n n o v a t i o n s a n d renewed dialogue with the out- side world. For Venice, like the US, has a cosmopolitan history t h a t l e d t o t h e s p e c t a c u l a r e n r i c h m e n t o f t h e V e n e t i a n Republic. With its 140 exhibi- tions, conferences, screenings, w o r k s h o p s a n d e v e n o p e n foundries, Glass Week hopes to kick start this new conversation with the artistic world. As Luca B e r t a , c u r a t o r a t VeniceArtFactory points out, "Such a massive participation cannot be taken for granted. In the past, most factories would never open their doors to visi- tors, afraid that someone would steal their secrets." Privileged access includes entry to the studios of some of M u r a n o ' s g r e a t e s t m a s t e r s , i n c l u d i n g t h o s e o f M a s s i m o Micheluzzi. Ninety works by Micheluzzi are also on show at L a C a s a d e i T r e O c i u n t i l O c t o b e r 9 t h , i n c l u d i n g t w o stained glass panels of recycled glass, which depict a visual his- t o r y o f M u r a n o f r o m Renaissance goblets to baroque chandeliers. They are a reminder that for centuries, Murano was at the vanguard of technological i n n o v a t i o n s , i n c l u d i n g t h e development and refinement of crystalline glass (smalto), glass streaked with gold thread (aven- t u r i n e ) , m u l t i - c o l o r e d g l a s s (millefiori), milk glass (lattimo) and crystal so brightly colored it prompted a ban on the produc- tion of fake glass gemstones. Headlining Glass Week at Le Stanze del Vetro (lestanzedel- vetro.org) is the exhibition of Vittorio Zecchin's transparent glassworks for Cappellin and Venini. Although born into a family of Murano glassmakers, Zecchin (1878-1947) unusually PAULA HARDY Venice Glass Week: breaking the mould in Murano studied at Venice's Academy of Fine Arts and was one of the first artist-designers to work with the furnaces. Taking inspi- ration from artefacts depicted in 1 6 t h - c e n t u r y p a i n t i n g s , h e focused on creating Classical shapes, ethereal in their elegant minimalism, as if they just cap- tured the breath of the Murano masters who gave them life. D i s p l a y e d a t t h e f i r s t Biennale at Monza in 1923 they were a shock to traditionalists steeped in 19th century trends, but as the Zecchin show curator Marino Barovier points out, "It was a turning point in twentieth- century Murano and contributed to breathe new life into glass making, which, with rare excep- tions, had been lingering in the sterile repetition of dated mod- els." Venice Glass Week hopes that another such turning point is now imminent. There's no doubt, the obsta- cles are formidable. As artist R o s s l y n d P i g g o t t e x p l a i n s , working in Murano is expensive and hard, furnaces charge by the minute, raw materials must be shipped in and it costs €1000 an hour to keep the furnaces burn- ing. To build up the body of w o r k f o r G a r d e n F r a c t u r e / Mirror in Vapour, her solo exhi- bition at the Museo del Vetro has taken three years, requiring a n i n t i m a t e c o l l a b o r a t i o n between the artist and master craftsmen. But we tend to forget that in its heyday, Murano was the tech equivalent of Silicon Valley and experimentation and innovation was its lifeblood. Giada Fiorindi and Federico Floriani's startling s h o w ' L e m o n s i n M y E y e s . Tales of lo-res feelings, crystal flowers and Baroque futures,' offers a fascinating aesthetic cri- tique on the decline of Murano's once world-conquering techno- logical prowess into stereotypi- cal forms and decorative tourist kitsch. Despite their contemporary s u b j e c t m a t t e r t h e h i g h l y - wrought images were executed by a master Muranese engraver M a u r i z i o V i d a l a t O n g a r o e Fuga furnace and speak of cen- t u r i e s o f t e c h n i c a l p r o w e s s which still defy industrial imita- tion. The engraving done by hand with a small grindstone is a technique usually used to pro- duced a three-dimensional effect on small illustrations, but here it is ambitiously extended across whole slabs of glass. The tradi- tional decorative glasswork of baroque leaves and flowers are also willingly retained but rein- terpreted with sharp, acid-bright colours. The work speaks elo- quently of the design duo's phi- losophy that craftsmanship pro- v i d e s a s t r o n g r e s o u r c e f o r redefining contemporary cultur- al identity rather than being rele- gated to folkloric kitsch. By returning the virtuoso technique of the glass craftsman back to the broader conversation of contemporary art, design and architecture, Venice Glass Week returns relevance and meaning to Murano. This is already evi- d e n t i n t h e o v e r l a p b e t w e e n Glass Week and the Venice Art Biennale, where glassworks by some of the world's leading contemporary artists, are on show. H e r e , F r e n c h a r t i s t L o r i s G r é a u d ' s i n s t a l l a t i o n " T h e Unplayed Notes Factory" leads u s i n t o t h e d a r k h e a r t o f Murano's growling foundries. Here in a foundry that has been abandoned for over 60 years, you find yourself face to face with the roaring furnace. A m i d t h e b i l l o w i n g s m o k e , thick-armed men with leather wrist-bands twirl molten glass spheres – conjured from hour glass sand – at the end of long pipes, breathing life into them before adding them to the trem- bling ceiling of 1000-strong lanterns. As one is added to the c o n v e y o r b e l t t h a t s u s p e n d s them, another crashes to the floor ready to be swept up and r e c y c l e d – e v e r y t h i n g o l d b e c o m e s n e w a g a i n . I t i s a process of perpetual destruction and transformation within which lies the promise of Murano's revival. Venice Glass Week: the aim of the festival is to bring traditional Murano practitioners back into the contemporary craft movement. Photo: Paula Hardy ALL AROUND ITALY TRAVEL TIPS DESTINATIONS ACTIVITIES

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