A museum with a sparkling tale for the public
Glass is so commonplace in our life that it’s easy to dismiss it as just a cheap, ho-hum material. The Shanghai Museum of Glass shatters that perception.
Renovated and redesigned from the dilapidated old Shanghai Glassware Factory, the museum, which opened in 2011, traces the history, culture, production and art of glass in sparkling exhibitions.
Nature is the original glassmaker. Obsidian is naturally occurring black glass formed when hot lava cools rapidly.
The history of human glassmaking dates back at least 3,600 years to Mesopotamia. The earliest-known glass objects were beads made in the third millennium BC. In China, the earliest evidence of glass manufacturing puts it in the Warring States Period (475-221 BC. During the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220), evidence has been found of glass molded into objects.
A giant black glass wall emblazoned with the word “glass” in dozens of different languages greets visitors. It’s best to take photos in front of the wall at sunset, when the evening glow reflects from the smooth surface.
Stepping into the main hall is like venturing into a kaleidoscope. Everything — from the ceiling to the floor and fixtures — is crystal and shining.
The hall displays how ancient people discovered the ingredients of glass and how techniques of glassmaking have developed over the centuries. An interactive video on large screen LCDs shows how common sand is miraculously turned into class.
A “Silk Road” lit by glass lamps links Eastern and Western glassmaking history and culture. The exhibits include glassware from ancient Rome, painted Chinese snuff bottles from the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), colored and glazed cups and dishes from Persia, and the old tools used to make glass.
Of course, glass is fragile. One of the halls in the museum currently hosts an exhibition called “BRKN,” mounted by the curator and the museum’s designer, German architect Tilman Thürmer. It will run through the end of the year.
BRKN shows how glass shatters, fractures and cracks — a metaphor for heartbreak, bad luck or even hope. Twenty-one installations explore the connotations, implications and possibilities of broken glass.
One of the most striking installations there is entitled “Unbreakable.” A speeding car made of a ton of steel, rubber and glass slams to a halt after hitting an unyielding obstacle — an ethereal beam of light. The work calls into question the potency of power and the duality of opposing forces in the world.
In BRKN, heartbreak is exemplified by a series of installations that shine a light on emotional associations. The work “Fragile,” inspired by the eponymous song calling for compassion and tender care, is a glass art piece with its lyrics realized in mouth-blown neon on a 7-meter-high wall. Those toward the top of the work are intact, leading to broken ones as the eyes move lower.
In BRKN, visitors can walk on broken