Koen Vanmechelen. Burning Falls

After their success at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence during the exhibition Seduzione, the thirty fantastical creatures made by Koen Vanmechelen from striking combinations of glass and Carrara marble are presented by Adriano Berengo in the setting of their origin: the island of Murano.

Titled Burning Falls, Vanmechelen’s new exhibition showcases the sculptures, which were handmade last year with the support of the glass masters of Berengo Studio, in the atmospheric setting of the Fondazione Berengo Art Space. The exhibition features as part of the In Città section of Homo Faber 2022, the major exhibition event dedicated to artistic crafts and international artisans. Burning Falls aligns with the spirit of Homo Faber, whose focus this year is The Living Treasures of Europe and Japan. Crafting a more Human Future, and allows us to celebrate this unique material during the United Nation's International Year of Glass: "If Burning Falls can break down the walls that divide us today, it will create a transparency in which we will recognise ourselves in each other," says Koen Vanmechelen.

With this exhibition, the artist's Cosmopolitan Renaissance narrative continues, with the burning mouth of the furnace as its focal point. “Glass," the artist observes, "is the material of the future. It is both recyclable and mouldable. And it invites connection and teamwork, merging creativity and craftsmanship. Working with glass is like working with water: the liquid becomes solid when the elements come together. Fire enables this transformation, and the state between solid and liquid is symbolised by a firebird, like a generator of action, or a flow of lava, leading to the image of Burning Falls.”

For the occasion, in addition to the Medusas, the red tiger, the serpentine chickens, the horned iguanas and the other mystical animals seen in Florence, several never-before-seen pieces will make their public debut, including the captivating "Formula Segreta" chandeliers: two complex works that reflect on the origin, decay and regeneration of all living things, and are intended as a tribute by the artist to the history of Murano glass.

“The secret formula of these magnificent chandeliers is the chain of evolution.” The Belgian artist explains: "At the base of the evolutionary chain are crests, claws and eggs: primordial elements, a metaphor for an ancestral world in a perpetual struggle for survival. The snake crawls among them and recalls the decadence resulting from original sin and the final judgement, its inevitable consequence. Species evolved but were lost, in dissolution and self-destruction, from generation to generation. A new segment intervened to redirect evolutionary destiny: the virus. But out of potential destruction, new life emerged, an egg from which a child was generated, blindfolded because it was still unaware.”... read the rest of the article»