Ibrahim Mahama and Tony Cragg Explore Glass in Venice Biennale Shows

Two exhibitions in Venice, running concurrently with the Biennale season, highlight divergent yet convergent approaches to glass as a material for research and experimentation. At Barovier&Toso's temporary show, Ibrahim Mahama presents 'A Shea Garden,' continuing his investigation into materials and object histories. Known for installations using jute sacks and other residues of global economies, the Ghanaian artist introduces a new element: engagement with Murano glass. Central to the exhibition are traditional clay vessels from northern Ghana, objects tied to agricultural and domestic daily life, reinterpreted through dialogue with Venetian glassmaking. Glass becomes a tool to expand the meaning of these vernacular forms, opening new narrative and symbolic possibilities. At Ca' Tron, Fondazione Berengo and Berengo Studio present 'Ocean of Drops,' a solo show by Tony Cragg built around a monumental glass sculpture made in Murano. Here, glass is not a dialogic element with an external tradition but a central material for investigating the nature of form itself. While Mahama uses glass to connect cultures, geographies, and material histories, Cragg employs it to explore the internal laws of matter and mechanisms of perception. In both shows, Murano glass confirms itself not only as artisanal excellence but as a contemporary medium capable of activating complex reflections—on memory and labor in Mahama's case, on knowledge and form in Cragg's.