OPENING: Glass survey exhibition spanning 2,000 years set to debut in The Hague

A sizable sampling of the holdings of the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag’s two-millennia-spanning glass collection will be showcased in "Look! Glass," an exhibit of 400 glass objects from across history. A single, long table will tell the history of the drinking glass through some 200 objects, from Ancient Roman glass to contemporary vessels. The massive survey will be complemented by a selection of contemporary Dutch glass, a gallery of works by Italian glass maestro Lino Tagliapietra, and a display comparing and contrasting the forms across time.

In addition to the sprawling exhibition, a short film by Amsterdam design duo, Lernert & Sander will be on view. The film, which can be seen here, highlights another use of the drinking glasses so prominently featured in the show: the glass harp. An 18th-century instrument consisting of a number of upright wine glasses filled with various amounts of liquid to achieve a gradient of pitches, the glass harp is here used to play a hit song by 1990s dance-pop group 2 Unlimited — what the artists call the "classic 20th-century piece" No Limit.

Works from contemporary glass artists Bernard Heesen, Mieke Groot, Hella Jongerius, Arnout Visser, and the late Bořek Šípek will be included in the exhibit. While the Dutch (and Czech) artists will be displayed in their own right in a section of the exhibition focusing on contemporary “coloured and colourless glass,” as the exhibition’s curator, Eveline Holsappel explained to the GLASS Quarterly Hot Sheet in an email exchange, they will also be contrasted with historic glass in a “playful way,” she said. “It can be a similarity in technique, shape, function or general feeling of the objects. We did this for instance with a contemporary piece by Bernard Heesen and a 17th-century Roemer.”

The Gemeentemuseum Den Haag of the Netherlands has a collection of approximately 150,000 pieces, ranging from paintings by Piet Mondrian to re-creations of entire period rooms. Its glass collection is the result of a “targeted policy that was introduced by H.E. van Gelder – director from 1912-1941 – whose interests ranged over many periods and styles,” which has resulted in vast glass exhibitions such as "Look! Glass" and its 2009 predecessor "Glittering Glass." According to a press release, the new exhibit’s goal is “to draw playful associations that place the collection in an exciting new light.”

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