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Verlag Schnell & Steiner
2014
Text German/English
Full colour
Pages: 280 / approx. 350 photos
ISBN 978-3-7954-2854-9
www.kunstsammlungen-coburg.de
At the museum: €29.00 > You can order it here: to the Shop
At bookshops: €39.95 

COBURGER GLASPREIS 2014

- The Coburg Prize for Contemporary Glass 2014

Sven Hauschke / Klaus Weschenfelder

The bilingual, fully illustrated catalogue for the exposition under the same name organized by the Veste Coburg Art Collections in combination with the Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung.
After 1977, 1985 and 2006, the Kunstsammlungen of the Veste Coburg are now organizing for the fourth time the Coburg Prize for Contemporary Glass – a European competition for modern glass. It is the most important event in the glass sector and shows contemporary works by artists who work with glass.
The Veste Coburg and the European Museum of Modern Glass in the nearby Rödental show 170 works of art by 150 international artists from 26 countries. With mobility taken for granted, national borders and characteristics are disappearing and for many artists from the US and Asia Europe has become their new home base.
Alongside carefully designed objects created with the utmost precision, many works with a more conceptual approach are on display. The striking thing about them is the use of different materials and media. For example wood, metal, iron, photography and video are on equal terms with glass. In the past few years, glass has been used in a wide variety of ways and now commands a firm place in modern art.
 
The international panel of judges consisting of Sven Hauschke (D), Veste Coburg Art Collections, Milan Hlaves (CZ), Museum of Decorative Arts, Prague, Susanne Jøker-Johnsen (DK), Bornholm, Peter Layton (UK), London Glassblowing, Jutta-Annette Page (USA), Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo/Ohio, Anne Vanlatum (B/F), Musée-Atelier départemental du Verre, Sars-Poteries and as a non-voting member Klaus Weschenfelder, Veste Coburg Art Collections, selected eleven prize winners from the participating artists. There will also be a Visitors Award.

Posted 5 May 2014

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The book is well-made with a clear lay-out, hard cover and good texts.
But the book -with the large glass crocodile on its cover - also shows the uncomprehended notions of modern and contemporary glass. Not the amount of entries is dictating quality or the amount of work to make the objects, but only the knowledge of the judges on contemporary art as that discipline is used by many galleries, museums and organizations worldwide.

Also the division in the various chapters shows unclear arguments. Especially as Ann Vanlatum remarks in her essay  “…. Glass, in other words, has become an integral part of contemporary art. It is not merely the processing techniques that take center stage here….”.

After the text pages with works illustrating the authors’ choices by Klaus Weschenfelder, Sven Hauschke, Jutta-Annette Page, Anne Vanlatum, Sasanne Jøker Johnsen, Milan Hlaves and Peter Layton, the pages on the Prizewinners follow. The book is organized with a large photo of the exhibited works and a short description of the work per page for each of all the chosen works in the chapters: Technical aspects with blown glass, pâte de verre, lamp work, glass painting, engraved and cut glass, optical glass and optical phenomena; sculpture with figurative work, cast glass, sculptural objects and materiality; wall objects; illuminated objects (I think the author means lighting objects); concept art – mixed media and performance – interactive concepts are followed with the artists’ biographies, terms and conditions of the competition and a register. I would prefer instead of this easy-like format a clear classification by content or an alphabetical order by the artist’s names.

The catalogue is a must for studying what is the position of the Studio glass and to discuss the subject and the concept of competitions as that debate is going on since the first edition in 1977. And, of course to enjoy the good works in the catalogue and exposition as art is not a thing, but a way.
Angela van der Burght

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