THOMAS SCHÜTTE at Georg Kolbe Museum, Berlin

We were delighted to see that one of our collaborations with German artist Thomas Schütte was chosen as the exhibition image for the poster of his latest show at the Georg Kolbe Museum. Titled Glaskopf, the opaque milk white glass head stands out against a dramatic dark blue background luring visitors into the exhibition in Berlin.

The work is one of several glass sculptures in the exhibition that have been made in Murano at Berengo Studio. In 2005 Schütte received the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale and later, in 2011, he featured one of his first collaborations with the Studio at an edition of the exhibition Glasstress in Stockholm. He went on to feature in a number of editions, with his collaborations with the Studio evolving over the years. To create the works in glass in Murano the artist experimented with both traditional hand-blown techniques and more modern methods of casting. In this instance, the artist favoured a collaboration with our specialised casting workshop to create a mould using a classical lost-wax technique. Once the mould was ready molten glass was poured into the sculpted shape of the head and left to cool in a specialised furnace.

In his glass sculptures, Schütte continues to circle back to an examination of the human form, and most specifically the human head. Often the subject has been the same varied constant in his work with the Studio over the years: an exploration of human expression and the unique landscapes emotions can forge upon a single set of features. The exhibition at the Georg Kolbe Museum includes around 35 sculptures and numerous works on paper, including many pieces that were created in 2020 and 2021 during the global pandemic. It also features a number of the artist’s conceptual-architectural models adding a further dimension to fully display the range of Schütte’s creative output.

The exhibition is supported by the Hauptstadtkulturfonds and runs till 20th February 2022. For more information visit the museum website here.