With the exhibition «Future Horizons. Glass in Contemporary Art», the Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung in Munich celebrates its 25th anniversary. From October 10 2025, works by around 50 international artists are on display, including Mark Bradford, Mona Hatoum, Dale Chihuly, or Alicja Kwade. The diverse works range from blown, kiln-formed, or sandblasted objects to experimental combinations with photography, video, performance, poetry, sound, electronics, and artificial intelligence.
The horizon serves as the exhibition’s guiding metaphor. It marks the outermost limit of what is visible, yet shifts with every movement. Accordingly, the show invites visitors to broaden their perspective. Each work tells its own story regarding intention, material, and meaning. «Future Horizons. Glass in Contemporary Art» includes pioneers such as Stanislav Libenský/Jaroslava Brychtová or Dale Chihuly, as well as contemporary works by Mona Hatoum or Alicja Kwade.
Mark Bradford, Borsa, 2024
Los Angeles-born and based artist Mark Bradford combines the everyday object of a shopping bag with the Venetian glassmaking tradition in his work Borsa (2023). As often in his artistic work, he addresses socio-political issues. Engraved tally marks refer to prison labor in Venice, where similar bags are produced, thus connecting everyday life, craftsmanship, and social reality in a single artwork.
Philip Baldwin / Monica Guggisberg, First Memories, 2010
The boat First Memories (2010) by Philip Baldwin/Monica Guggisberg evokes the association of overcrowded refugee boats in the Mediterranean, while Jessica Loughlin’s glass sculpture Between Spaces 5 (1999) is inspired by the salt flats of Lake Gairdner and reflects the fragility of ecological habitats.
Monica Bonvicini, In my Hand, 2019
The spatial staging also underlines this approach. Bruzkus Greenberg Architects created contrasting areas: a silver-black BlackBox and a color-intensive FirstFloor. Mirrors at the end of the rooms double the perception and blur the boundaries of the exhibition space, a spatial metaphor for openness to new horizons.
Tony Cragg, Listeners, 2015
In the interplay of curatorial concept, works, and spatial design, the ambition of «Future Horizons» unfolds: Here, glass becomes visible not only as a material but as a medium for societal and artistic questions. The exhibition presents design as a discipline that opens up spaces for reflection and sparks debates.
Alicja Kwade, Hemmungsloser Widerstand, 2019
Complementing the exhibition, the publication «About Glass. Contemporary Sculpture and Installations» will also be released as part of the Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung’s anniversary, edited by Eva-Maria Fahrner-Tutsek and Petra Giloy-Hirtz, with contributions from Andrea Lissoni and Tina Oldknow, among others — the first comprehensive inventory of the role of glass in contemporary art.
Mona Hatoum, Basket V, 2014
«Future Horizons. Glass in Contemporary Art» will take place from October 10, 2025, to May 28, 2026, at the Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung in Munich. The exhibition will be accompanied by a diverse supporting program, which includes artist talks, lunch breaks, and guided tours, among other things. [RED.]
