GLASSIFICATION.HU
Masters of Glass
from Hungary

The last travelling exhibition displaying Hungarian contemporary glass art in Europe was organized almost two decades ago. Since then, no group exhibition has presented this field of art, though Hungarian glass art works are widely recognized and have won prestigious awards. The works of Hungarian glass artists can be found in numerous public and private museums and collections. There are only a few dozen active artists, yet, their works are at the cutting edge. Glass art has not yet become part of the cultural identity of Hungary. This will be changed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade's initiative, the Glassification.hu travelling exhibition, which will be on tour over two years and will be displayed at nearly fifteen prestigious venues between 2023 and 2025. The Hungarian venue was followed by two exclusive European festivals. In September, Glassification.hu was presented at The Venice Glass Week and in October at the International Biennale of Glass in Sofia, as part of the official programme of the events.

The exhibited works include top-class glass sculptures offering wow experience for both the ordinary and the professional visitors. The twenty works of art created for the sake of this new exhibition are world-class pieces regarding both their aesthetic value and the applied technology. They represent old and new artisanal techniques, practised often only by Hungarian masters.

Ten artists from four generations were invited to create abstract works of art for the Glassification.hu exhibition. The exhibitors represent the technological diversity typical of contemporary Hungarian glass. The high artistic quality is reflected in the fact that these artists, despite the young age of some of them, have received more than thirty major national and international awards and more than fifty of their works are part of the most prestigious Hungarian, European and overseas public collections.

The title of the travelling exhibition is based on a rarely used English noun, glassification, which means to turn into glass. The term represent the background idea well: the transformation of creative thought into glass. At the same time, it also brings in the popular English word gamification, referring to the inexhaustible potential of glass and the play with the material. The ending .hu refers to today's digital age and links the title to Hungary.

Exhibitions in 2023

27 June-16 July – House of Music, Hungary, Budapest
23 August – György Ráth Villa, Budapest
9-17 September – Scoletta dei Tiraoro e Battioro, Venice, The Venice Glass Week
17 October-03 November – Sredets Gallery, Sofia, International Biennale of Glass
20 November-04 December – U Gallery, Liszt Institut, Helsinki
15 December-10 January 2024 – Museum of Applied Art, Belgrade


Exhibitions in 2024

22 January-10 February – CSO Ada concert centre, Ankara, Hungarian-Turkish Cultural Season 2024
14 February -18 March – Liszt Institut Istanbul, Hungarian Cultural Centre, Hungarian-Turkish Cultural Season 2024
5 April-26 April – Contemporary Hungarian Gallery, Dunajská Streda, Slovakia
26 June-23 August – Liszt Institute Brussels
11 September-11 October – UNGART Gallery, Collegium Hungaricum Wien, Vienna, Austria; Vienna Design Week 2024
23 October-13 November – Museum of Portuguese Decorative Arts, Lisbon, Portugal

ORGANISER
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
 and Trade of Hungary

PROFESSIONAL CONSULTANT
Eleonóra Balogh

PROFESSIONAL SPONSOR
Rákosy Glass

MUSEUM PARTNER
Museum of Applied Arts, Budapest

EXHIBITION DESIGN
de_form, Tamás Boldizsár

SOUND
Ágnes Klára Máthé

CULTURAL PARTNER
House of Music, Hungary

VIDEO
Attila Varga Koritár

PHOTOGRAPHY
Viktória Győrfi

CURATOR AND PROJECT LEADER
Rita Mária Halasi

PROFESSIONAL
COOPERATING PARTNER
Society of Hungarian
Glass Artists

RITA MÁRIA HALASI

curator / project leader

+36 20 914 3810
halasi.rita.maria@gmail.com