Architecture began resorting to glass already in the late 19th century and even more so during the 20th. Moreover, since 1950, this material itself has evolved in unique fashion, as documented by the Mudac collection over the last forty years. Be it for monumental sculpture, art works or design pieces, glass has in fact become a choice material that is truly con­temporary.
The properties of glass are as singular as they are fascinating—ever intimating the paradoxical and challenging our percep­tion of mass, volume and space. Like no other medium, glass brings into play metaphor, and even the temporal dimension. Moreover, not only does it easily imitate other materials, but it also can be turned into whimsy, be transformed into kitsch, or else serve to inspire contemplation. Essentially a plain material, in its crystalline form glass becomes precious. Certainly it comes as no surprise that a material that is so proteiform, so highly expressive, is held in great esteem by such a diversity of creators.

Ann Wolff was born in 1937. An artist of Swedish origin, living in Germany, she has won a number of awards, including two in 2011 alone: the Lifetime Achievement Award of the GAS Glass Art Society in the USA and the European Culture Prize, PRO EUROPA, Strasbourg. She has always been fascinated by the expressive power of the human face and body and their interaction with the environment. Her solid and pow­erful style counterbalances the light pass­ing through the glass. Her work expresses strength and effort and has a sculptural, even monumental dimension. There is noth­ing insipid about her approach: she choos­es existential themes and translates them with unshakeable conviction.

Hassan Khan, a Cairo-based artist, musician and writer born in 1975, interweaves references to minimalism and the energetic popular movement New Wave Shaabi into his musical performances. His sculpture The Knot, which was exhibited at the Kassel documenta in 2012, represents a Gordian knot, a metaphor for an insoluble problem that can only be resolved by bold action, hence the expres­sion ‘cutting the Gordian knot’. Many of this multi­faceted artist’s works have a self-referential theme. The work was created around the time of the Tahrir Square protests during the Arab Spring. It is possi­ble to see it as a reflection on his working methods. As Hassan Khan says himself: “It’s not possible to fully understand how an artist works. I don’t know exactly what I’m doing. But I find out as I go along. As I work, I understand a little more…” In the act of creation, old codes are deciphered and new ones are created in an ongoing oscillation between indi­vidual and social references.
Hassan Khan, The Knot, 2012

Drawing Glass
This series of 14 objects accompanied by freehand sketches is the result of a workshop organised by Sam Baron, direc­tor of the design department of Fabrica in Treviso. Simone Farresin and Andrea Trimarchi of Studio Formafantasma were invited to lead an experiment with the seven fabricanti (students in residence) who graduated in 2013, and guided the students in their exploration of the creative process and the relationship between drawing and 3D execution. Glass was the obvious material to choose as, in its clear and transparent form, its materiality disappears to the extent that it resem­bles a line drawn in space. The sketches were given to glassmaker Massimo Lunardon, who interpreted the designs and executed them, underlining the traditional collaboration between designers and master craftsmen.
Studio Formafantasma, Mar Gh’era, from the projet Drawing Glass, FABRICA, 2013

This British artist, born in 1949 and based in London, executes her own designs. This work was one of the submissions for the 2014 Coburg Glass Prize (Germany), a prestigious European event that showcases the wide range of artistic expression possible through glass. It awards a number of prizes and is a reference in the discipline. Katharine Coleman exploits the optical properties of clear lead crystal overlaid with a layer of coloured blown glass. Broken China Bowls was created by first carving and polishing the crystal to reveal its interior. Then the design was engraved, reflecting and refract­ing through the internal surface, creating the illusion of one bowl floating inside another. 

Alessandro Diaz de Santillana also cre­ated a project specifically for the mudac collection. This glass artist likes to take over space with mural reliefs that are of­ten of monumental size and is very com­fortable with the illusionist games associ­ated with this material, especially mirrors. Untitled mudac is composed of sparkling
glass elements that are tilted at various angles, partially reflecting and distorting the surroundings. The result is an activa­tion of space and a relationship of aston­ished curiosity between the spectators – whose reflections are manipulated – and the work.

This Japanese artist has for many years divided his time between Murano and his country of origin. Yoichi Ohira was born in 1946 and has just retired from producing art after an illustrious career. Unlike his opaque pieces made up of canes of coloured glass, Cristallo Sommerso N°60 – Scolpito is part of a collection he began in 2006 with the assis­tance of maestro Giacomo Barbini of the Anfora glassworks, reflecting his interest in clear glass. This series is characterised by compact and co­herent shapes, focusing the attention on volume rather than colour, resulting in a stunning sculptural presence despite the small size of the pieces.

Born in Lausanne in 1976 and awarded the cantonal plastic arts grant for 2014, Sandrine Pelletier lives and works in the Lausanne/Ge­neva region.

Marina is the result of one of her first encounters with glass, a material she con­tinued to explore during her Forest Winds resi­dency in the Nantes area in 2014. Her creative processes draw inspiration from the popular arts and various forms of craftsmanship to cre­ate a corpus of works that bears witness to a strong desire for experimentation, playing with the limits of the chosen materials and tech­niques, even subverting them. Trompe-l’oeil and illusion, ideally expressed in glass, are never far away, as in the case of this work ac­quired by the mudac.

Born in Iceland in 1943, Hreinn Fridfinnsson is one of the standard-bearers of conceptual art in Iceland. His work uses common materials such as glass and cardboard to address themes that are both simple and profound, in a lyrical and poetic way. Cast is a cast of the artist’s hands.

The work is placed upside-down on a plinth, and is reflected in the mirror placed underneath. It is not by looking at the object itself, but through the reflection, that the eye is able to apprehend the piece’s true nature; does this mean that the reflection is more ‘real’ than the physical object? 

Simon Klenell of Sweden, who exhibited at European Glass Context 2012, amuses himself in Frigger Tactics with subvert­ing a classic of glass produc­tion: cut-glass drinkware. He takes the key elements of this formal language, such as the iconic cabochon and whisky glass, deconstructs them and reassembles them to create a fantastic table setting that is both grotesque and charm­ing. All these pieces are new creations, nothing is recycled. None of these objects has any practical function, although all of them make playful reference to their traditional and decora­tive role. 

GZ was born in 1952 in the Czech Republic, then part of Czechoslovakia. A graduate of the Czech glass sculpture school, which generally focuses on non-figurative expression, she excels in bringing out the plastic and light-enhancing properties of her chosen material, using moulds and carving to create often monumental works that draw attention to the concepts of volume and space. Exponat is a challenging piece: its massive upper part rests on five delicate feet that barely seem strong enough to support it. The milky colour of the glass further reinforces the paradoxical impression of lightness that the work projects.

In The Seed of Narcissus, Tomás Libertíny associates two unexpected materials: massive silvered crystal glass and bee’s wax. This spectacular work seeks to unite the organic and artificial worlds, nature and culture.

Accompanied by a video that shows bees busily “colonizing”, this work is impressive first by its size and then by the scent that greets spectators, drawing them into a closer communication with the work. The cocoon shape resembles a natural swarm of bees and stresses the weight of the arrangement. The wax evokes fragility through its softness. At a time when we are becoming aware of the mass destruction of bee populations, this work owes as much to the bee as it does to the human hand and highlights its crucial role by means of art.