The Glass Virus is a European initiative to foster dialogue among educators exchanging ideas about the best approaches to teaching glass art. The semi-annual in-person "Think Tank" gatherings had been centered at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam, where artist and Glass Virus founder Jens Pfeifer heads the glass program. But the group has changed formats in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, and is planning a monthly series of Zoom meetings to discuss a range of current issues and challenges to the field. The first event will take place online on Wednesday, October 28th.
Leading off the "Seminar Series 2020" will debut on Wednesday, October 28, will be a discussion of "Making Art in Pandemic Time." Starting at 6:15 pm Central European Time (or 1:15 pm Eastern Standard Time), the event will explore the questions of "the consequences for artists and glass studios in a shrinking economy? What is the impact of limited social contacts for an artist, who works in solitude? How did the students experience the lockdown when preparing for the degree show? How did the pandemic affect their work?" The seminars pair emerging artists with establisehd experts to provide a range of perspectives on these topics.
The first panel will include artists Laura Quinn of the Plymouth College of Art / School of Fine Art, NCAD Dublin; Linda Da Costa of the Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam; and Jesse Magee of the Instituut für Künstlerische Keramik und Glas, Höhr-Grenzhausen. Germany. The moderator will be Ilse Van Roy who heads the glass program at PXL/MAD in Hasselt, Belgium.
To register for the Zoom event, visit eventbrite.nl/e/glass-virus-seminar-serie-2020-15-making-art-in-pandemic-time-tickets-124682461599
Future topics of the monthly seminar series will be "Culture of Inclusivity" on November 25 2020; "Writing as a Way of Making" on December 16 2020; "Performativity and Materialism" on January 27 2021; and "New Work, New Audiences" on February 24 2021
Links will be published on the Glass Virus website, on instagram and facebook.