41X for Glass Week, 9-16 September 2016, Palazzo Contarini Polignac, Venice

At the zenith of its power, in the middle of the 16th century, the Ottoman Empire encompassed large swathes of territory, stretching from Anatolia and the Middle East, to the Horn of Africa and the Maghreb in the south, all the way to Central Europe in the north. Venice, one of the historic European powerhouses, was always a key trading partner with the Mediterranean region since the Byzantine era. The Ottomans, as experienced traders, therefore, sold the Venetians wheat, spices, silk and cotton, alongside ash which was an important raw material in glass making; the Venetians on the other hand, provided the Ottomans with many finished goods, such as soap, paper, textiles and glass.

Among the shipments that traveled day by day on the sea between city-state and empire, there were many luxury items and exquisite glass objects that traditionally adorned the Ottoman palaces for generations. Through forty-one glass bridges, inspired by the remarkably similar style of Venetian bridges and Ottoman marble columns, artist Feleksan Onar is conveying in 41X the historic ties through art and trade between these two civilizations across long spans of time. Her purpose is to build new bridges, in the form of cultural metaphors for the present: The collective history of glass-making on both sides of the Mediterranean is a prime example of mutual influence, cultural exchange and cross pollination.

The number 40 holds a particular sacred connotation in Islamic culture: Adam reached heaven after the age of 40; there were 40 women and 40 men on Noah’s Ark and Muhammed became a prophet at age 40. These traditions shaped life in Turkey as much as life in Turkey shaped them: A new-born leaves the house only after 40 days; a gathering for mourners is on the 40th day of burial, and most importantly, almost every day a Turkish person says ‘41 times Mashallah’, one more than 40, in order to attract good fortune and keep away the evil eye. 41 is therefore a starting point for Onar’s symbolism, addressing the relation with the more than 400 Venetian bridges, a multiple of 40, expanding on the notion of a sacred number. 

In the context of The Venice Glass Week, Onar has been immersing herself into the different local techniques of glass making, as a result of her experience in the workshops of glass masters on the island: Calcedonio, rugiada, ghiacciato, scavo, corroso, velato and pugeloso. At the heart of her practice lies the aspiration to blend age-old techniques for traditional glass making with an informed commentary on the culture and history of Mediterranean exchanges, in a contemporary conversation. 41X is a journey across time, back and forth between Venice and Istanbul, tracing back a maritime path of influences, shared narratives, cultural dialogues and physical traces thereof, articulated around the ancient alchemy of glass.