For the tenth edition of Venice Glass Week, the festival’s signature project, Murano Illumina il Mondo (“Murano Illuminates the World”), turned St. Mark’s Square into an open-air showcase pairing international artists, designers, and architects with Murano’s glassblowing workshops. Rather than a conventional exhibition, the installation was conceived as a dialogue between glass, the city’s architecture, and its art — one that plays out in the middle of one of the most recognizable public spaces in the world. An expert committee of curators, museum directors, and specialists in both historical and contemporary Murano glassmaking selected the participating artists.
Among the standout pieces is Venetian Chandelier – Hydra, a collaboration between the Norman Foster Foundation, Salviati, and master glassblower Franco Zane. Its organic, fluid form makes a strong case for glass as both a structural and expressive material, drawing a direct line between Venice’s historical craft traditions and a distinctly contemporary design vocabulary. British designer Bethan Laura Wood teamed up with master craftsman Matteo Tagliapietra and GAMBARO&TAGLIAPIETRA on Taiko, a light fixture inspired by traditional Japanese drums. Designer Pierre Charpin worked with Simone Cenedese Murano on Tubi or not tubi, which reimagines the classic chandelier archetype through tubular elements in colored blown glass — a title that doubles as a pun most visitors will catch immediately.
The installation remains on view through November 1.