GLASSTRESS
VENICE - ITALY
08 MAY 2019
OFFICIAL INITIATION HUMAN RIGHTS PAVILION
During the opening of the 58th Venice Biennial,
Belgian artist Koen Vanmechelen chose the sixth
edition of GLASSTRESS to initiate the birth of
the evolving artwork Human Rights Pavilion. A
work of art that will take shape during its two-year
world tour, visiting almost every continent. In 2021,
Vanmechelen will present his completed OPUS to
the Venice Biennale as an appeal, and possibly as
the foundation for a recurring pavilion dedicated to
international human rights.
Vanmechelen: "Human rights and glass share not only fragility, but also transparency and the flexibility to adapt in a given context."
At the initiation of the Human Rights Pavilion,
Vanmechelen also presented a new body of work, dedicated to the concept of Human Rights. COLLECTIVE MEMORY consists of Encyclopedias of Human Rights, combined with a book of the DNA sequence of his renowned Cosmopolitan Chicken Project. They carry different glass objects, recurring symbols in the artist’s work, revealing the delicate balance between nature and culture.
