From Sand, Artworks in Glass. 6/12 – Chiara Dynys

Chiara Dynys
Enlightening Books, 2019
hand painted glass, lights, wood
variable size

A white bookcase contains books made of glass, sandblasted and hand painted in different shades of white. The colourless space of the window, in which the elements that populate it seem to vanish, is directly enlighted by the books, each one illuminated from the inside, which semantically represent the light of knowledge.

To realize this work, in fact, Chiara Dynys rethought about what books represent for her. The installation, strongly visual, total, immediate, therefore pays homage to how literature has influenced the artist’s thought and artistic path over time. Finally, the bookshop is a metaphor of archived knowledge, at the same time turned in the direction of memory and oblivion.

BUILDINGBOX is dedicating the 2019-2020 season to contemporary glass art with the project From Sand, Artworks in Glass, an exhibition spread over 12 monthly appointments, curated by BUILDING in collaboration with Jean Blanchaert. The sixth artist is Chiara Dynys who present a site specific installation.

The title, From Sand, Artworks in Glass, evokes the fascinating alchemy involved in creating this material from sand, using air and fire, presenting the work of contemporary artists who have chosen to explore the potential offered by this medium. It is the experimental approach that makes these works so exemplary and precious: they are conceived by artists who use various different techniques, some of which are not usually associated with the specific characteristics of glass. This project resonates with BUILDING’s mission of exploring the lesser known aspects and experimental side of the art world, along with more celebrated figures and practices.

Here the focus is on the creative relationship forged between the artist’s vision and the craft of master glassmakers. Easily shaped by skilled hands, glass assumes “fragile” forms that both connect with the artistic traditions of the past and at the same time open up to a formal perspective grounded in contemporary aesthetics. The theme of the project lies in the works themselves, rooted in an age-old history and ancient craft, bearers of a precise chemical combination of different elements developed 4000 years ago by the Phoenicians, and which still holds infinite potential.

For 12 months a sequence of works by various artists will be hosted in the independent showcase, visible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, marking the passing of time and eliciting broader reflections on how time tends to dominate space.