Le Stanze Del Vetro is a joint venture involving Fondazione Giorgio Cini and Pentagram Stiftung, a Swiss-based, non-profit foundation and it is both a cultural project and an exhibition space, designed by New York-based architect Annabelle Selldorf.
The purpose of Le Stanze Del Vetro is to focus on the history and the use of glass in 20th and 21st century art in order to bring this medium back into the center of the attention and discussion within the international art scene.
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. Thus, two exhibitions are staged each year on the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore. One in the spring, dedicated to the use of glass in 20th and 21st century Art and Design, and the second in the autumn, dedicated to the talented people who designed objects for the Venini glassware company in the 20th century. All exhibitions of Le Stanze Del Vetro are accompanied by a catalogue published by Skira, available at the bookshop of Le Stanze Del Vetro and online.
Alongside these initiatives, a series of special, often site-specific projects are organized, involving contemporary artists (Swiss artist Not Vital in 2013, Japanese artist Hiroshi Sugimoto in 2014 and American artist Pae White in 2017), who are invited to work with glass, either prefabricated or specially produced by craftsmen in Venice. The result is a site-specific installation, coupled with the design of a small limited-edition object produced in Murano and sold at the bookshop to support the activities organized and promoted by Le Stanze Del Vetro.
In addition to this, 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, and scholarships specifically addressed to researchers interested in the topic are granted annually. Furthermore, conferences and workshops on the history, technology and development of the art of glassmaking are organized regularly.
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. Admission to the exhibitions, the guided tours and all the educational activities of LE STANZE DEL VETRO are free of charge.