Barovier & Toso Arte presents the first exhibition dedicated to the Murano glass of Fabrizio Plessi
The first exhibition entirely dedicated to Fabrizio Plessi’s work with Murano glass runs from November 23 to June 21, 2026, at the Barovier & Toso Arte Gallery in Murano, the new division created to explore the dialogue between art and glass.
“Perdersi in un bicchier d’acqua” by Fabrizio Plessi
November 23, 2025 – June 21, 2026
Barovier & Toso Arte Gallery
Curated by Barovier & Toso Arte, the new division dedicated to experimentation between glass and art, the exhibition explores the central themes of the artist’s research: matter, light, and movement.
Founded in 1295, Barovier & Toso is the oldest glassworks in the world. In February 2025, the company inaugurated the Barovier & Toso Arte gallery in the Sala dell’Acqua of the historic palazzo on Fondamenta Manin in Murano, to present projects and collaborations that connect glass as a language of contemporary art to painting, sculpture, and new technologies.
After the first exhibitions with Marija Jaensch and Amy Thai—already involved in the H2O Venezia: Diari d’acqua project during the 2024 Art Biennale—and Stillness in Motion by Vlastimil Beránek, the gallery presents a new chapter dedicated to Fabrizio Plessi, a pioneer of video art and one of the most recognized European Masters.
Maestro Plessi opens the exhibition path in the bar area with archetypal glass forms—bottles and glasses—the vocabulary of glassmaking for over three thousand years, transformed into autonomous sculptures solidified in the movement of water, where turbulence—the artist’s stylistic hallmark—is translated into matter.
The heart of the exhibition is a large ring installation in the Sala dell’Acqua, in dialogue with four historic Barovier & Toso chandeliers: images and sounds of water envelop the space in an immersive environment, where the liquid element dear to Plessi meets the fire of the Murano furnaces.
The journey concludes with Movimenti dell’anima, a perfume bottle that echoes the circular geometry of the sculptures and synthesizes the collaboration between the artist and Barovier & Toso Arte.
“The gallery, created to collaborate even with artists who do not usually work with glass, offers new means of expression, opportunities to experiment and explore the material, translating their artistic language into unprecedented forms,” says Mara Hofmann, director of Barovier & Toso Arte.
In the essay Fabrizio Plessi: disegni e vetri turbolenti, Bruno Corà writes:
“Although born in Reggio Emilia, Plessi, by vocation, choice, physical empathy, and poetic destiny, is the most Venetian of all known artists. Throughout his life, he has exalted and celebrated water and light, as well as matter in all its forms—primary elements of life on the planet and of Venice’s history.
In the long artistic career that distinguishes him among European and international Masters, Plessi holds the record for having employed the most advanced technology alongside all types of materials: stone, wood, metal, and above all, electronics, anticipating a new epochal sensitivity.”
“Perdersi in un bicchier d’acqua” by Fabrizio Plessi
Palazzo Barovier & Toso, Sala dell’Acqua
Fondamenta Manin 1/D, Murano, Venice
November 23, 2025 – June 21, 2026
Opening hours: Monday – Sunday, 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
Press info: Claudia Malfitano, MAY Press Office
claudia@mayvenice.com, +39 346 5401118
Article by Laura Scarpa, photos courtesy of the press office.
