Le Stanze del Vetro (in English: Rooms for Glass) is a gallery located on the island of

San Giorgio Maggiore San Giorgio Maggiore () is one of the islands of Venice, northern Italy, lying east of the Giudecca and south of the main island group. The island, or more specifically its Palladian church, is an important landmark. It has been much painted, ...

Venice, Italy Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are linked by 438 bridge ...

with rotating exhibits of

Venetian glass Venetian glass () is glassware made in Venice, typically on the island of Murano near the city. Traditionally it is made with a soda–lime "metal" and is typically elaborately decorated, with various "hot" glass-forming techniques, as well as ...

. It is a joint venture between the

Cini Foundation The Giorgio Cini Foundation (''Italian: Fondazione Giorgio Cini''), or just the Cini Foundation, is a cultural foundation founded by industrialist and politician Vittorio Cini on 20 April 1951 in memory of :it:Giorgio Cini (imprenditore), Giorgio ...

and Pentagram Stiftung, a non-profit foundation established by David Landau and Marie-Rose Kahane. It is housed in a former boarding school, renovated and designed by

Annabelle Selldorf Annabelle Selldorf (born July 5, 1960) is a German-born architect and founding principal of Selldorf Architects, a New York City-based architecture practice. She is a fellow of the American Institute of Architects (FAIA) and the recipient of the 2 ...

Mission

The purpose of Le Stanze del Vetro is to focus on the history and the use of glass in 20th and 21st century art to bring this medium back into the center of the attention and discussion within the international art scene. Le Stanze del Vetro has adopted a model often found in English-speaking countries of free access to museums, based on the idea that cultural heritage belongs to the community.

Exhibitions and cultural initiatives

The cultural initiatives of Le Stanze del Vetro focus not only on contemporary artists who have used glass as their artistic medium, but also on the main producers and on the major glass collections in the world. For this reason, two exhibitions are staged each year on the Island of

. One in the spring, dedicated to the use of glass in 20th and 21st century Art and Design, the second in autumn, dedicated to the talented people who have designed objects for the Venini glassware company in the 20th century.

Site-specific Projects

Alongside these initiatives, a series of special, often site-specific projects are organized involving contemporary artists (Swiss artist Not Vital in 2013 and Japanese artist Hiroshi Sugimoto in 2014), who are invited to work with glass, either prefabricated or specially produced by craftsmen from Venice. The result is a large site-specific installation, coupled with the design of a small limited-edition object produced in Murano and sold at the Le Stanze del Vetro bookshop to support the activities organized and promoted by Le Stanze del Vetro.

Study Centre

Le Stanze del Vetro has set up a Study Centre dedicated to research in the field of artistic glass, together with a general archive of Venetian glass, a series of scholarships specifically addressed to researchers interested in the topic and a series of seminars, conferences and workshops for scholars and artists interested in the history, technology and development of the art of glassmaking.

External links

Official site

References

{{Authority control Museums in Venice Culture in Venice Foundations based in Italy