Jun 3- Oct 22, 2023
Unbinding the Core: a radiant erotics of glass
Curated by Max Syron
The Glass Factory, BodaGlasbruk, Sweden
The erotic is the nurturer or the nursemaid of all our deepest knowledge -Audre Lorde
Glass can be understood as more than a material to shape and master. It is a character whose complex personality and spirit is hard to pin down and classify. Glass can transition quickly between fluid and rigid, transparent and opaque, sharp and soft. Each state seems final but is in fact never fixed. What lays at its core is a wild energy, arousing curiosity and creativity in anyone who can stand the heat. Under glass’s ruthless mentorship, no assumption of normality is safe.
Audre Lorde called this boundless inner force ‘the erotic’, an energy that drives engagement and transformation in our daily lives. The erotic can be understood as the power of joy and love that comes from sharing openly, with oneself or another. Once tasted, it empowers us to engage passionately with every aspect of life, which often results in conflicts with cultural norms.
Ying Chiun Lee finds a parallel between the dynamic characteristics of glass and the power of the erotic described by Lorde. In the exhibition, glass fearlessly embodies a storyteller, a friend, a guide, and a lover. Lee uses this glassy lens to address contemporary issues of sexual violence in the digital realm, Asian female stereotypes, and the latent machismo of glassmaking itself.
The radiant erotics of glass inspires us to face the world unafraid and empowered. By channeling this material energy, a new physical language is available for exploring desire and kinship. It reminds us that though we may sometimes feel like a well composed sculpture on a shelf, we have a fluid potential within, an energetic core unbound by cultural binaries.
-Written by Max Syron
Unbinding the Core: a radiant erotics of glass
Curated by Max Syron
The Glass Factory, BodaGlasbruk, Sweden
The erotic is the nurturer or the nursemaid of all our deepest knowledge -Audre Lorde
Glass can be understood as more than a material to shape and master. It is a character whose complex personality and spirit is hard to pin down and classify. Glass can transition quickly between fluid and rigid, transparent and opaque, sharp and soft. Each state seems final but is in fact never fixed. What lays at its core is a wild energy, arousing curiosity and creativity in anyone who can stand the heat. Under glass’s ruthless mentorship, no assumption of normality is safe.
Audre Lorde called this boundless inner force ‘the erotic’, an energy that drives engagement and transformation in our daily lives. The erotic can be understood as the power of joy and love that comes from sharing openly, with oneself or another. Once tasted, it empowers us to engage passionately with every aspect of life, which often results in conflicts with cultural norms.
Ying Chiun Lee finds a parallel between the dynamic characteristics of glass and the power of the erotic described by Lorde. In the exhibition, glass fearlessly embodies a storyteller, a friend, a guide, and a lover. Lee uses this glassy lens to address contemporary issues of sexual violence in the digital realm, Asian female stereotypes, and the latent machismo of glassmaking itself.
The radiant erotics of glass inspires us to face the world unafraid and empowered. By channeling this material energy, a new physical language is available for exploring desire and kinship. It reminds us that though we may sometimes feel like a well composed sculpture on a shelf, we have a fluid potential within, an energetic core unbound by cultural binaries.
-Written by Max Syron