The ceremony, moderated by curator and gallerist Jean Blanchaert, a member of the festival’s Curatorial Committee, kicked off with the official presentation of the Premio Fondazione di Venezia per The Venice Glass Week, which was awarded to the exhibition Fior di Tabasso. Le stagioni al Florian, organised by Caffe Florian, Daniela Vedaldi Gaddo and Caterina Tognon and curated by Stefano Stipitivich. The show features works by biologist and designer Lilla Tabasso who, inspired by the Room of the Seasons at Caffe Florian, created compositions that embody the passage of time, using traditional jugs, glasses and trays from the historic Venetian café. When announcing the motivations behind their decision to award the prestigious prize to the exhibition, the Jury emphasised how the artist’s talent, combined with her passion for nature, results in works of exceptional realism and exquisite grace. The refined lampworking technique reaches hyper-realistic levels in Lilla Tabasso’s hands, whilst still maintaining a profound emotional impact.

The Jury of the Premio Fondazione di Venezia, composed of Jean Blanchaert (curator and member of the Curatorial Committee), Giovanna Palandri (Chancellor of the Istituto Veneto di Scienze Lettere ed Arti and President of the festival’s Organising Committee), and Paola Marini (General Councillor of the Fondazione di Venezia), also awarded an unprecedented Special Jury Prize to Dylan Katz’s solo exhibition, 61. 5°N, curated by Costanza Longanesi Cattani, for the formal, aesthetic and technical research and energy invested in the realisation of this important project.  The Jury also awarded Special Recognitions to six other projects: to the exhibition Fratelli Toso 170th | 1854 – 2024 organised by Fratello Toso, for the quality of the works set in a highly atmospheric environment and the narration of the past through a contemporary lens; to CEREMONY by Alexander Kirkeby, exhibited at Casa YALI: the Jury, struck by the remarkable technical mastery of this young Danish artist, sees him projected towards a future as bright as his works; to Convito di Vetro, the installation curated by Sung Moon Cho and organised by the Gallerie dell’Accademia di Venezia with the sponsorship of Pentagram Stiftung: the exhibition is an example of curatorship becoming a work of art, accompanied by a valuable small scale catalogue; to the exhibition Vetro inciso della Laguna, organised by the Comitato Vetri di Laguna in collaboration with the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia, for the diachronic journey through the history of glass engraving: a two-venue exhibition which allows us to observe different techniques and cold working processes from the eighteenth century to the present day; to the collective exhibition Nature/Al at Palazzo Contarini Polignac: around the table, adorned with artistic glass centrepieces and in a Peter Greenaway-style atmosphere, figures from all over the glass world met for one significant evening in dialogue with each other: scholars, artists, curators, and enthusiasts; and finally to the installation by Simone Crestani & Ioannis Michalou(di)S. S.O.S-Save Our Sky exhibited at The Venice Glass Week HUB at Palazzo Loredan: the glass works created by Crestani to contain Michaliou(di)s’ clouds are witty sculptures reminiscent of those created by Fulvio Bianconi for the Commedia dell’arte. Also thanks to this work, we can intuit that glass is playing an increasingly important role in science and technology.

The young Chinese artist Yue Wu, who is participating in The Venice Glass Week HUB Under35 with the installation The Nine Dragons Plate, was awarded the fifth edition of the Autonoma Residency Prize, which enables him to undertake an Artistic Residency at the Pilchuck Glass School in Seattle (USA) in 2025. On behalf of Laguna~B, promoter of the Prize, Marcantonio Brandolini D’Adda commented that the nine Dragons have been decorative motifs associated with emperors since antiquity. Often, the nine Dragons were embroidered in emperors’ robes, engraved in weapons and architecture. Yue Wu has succeeded in recreating this ancient and powerful scene on a crystal disc, The Nine Dragons Plate. The extraordinary translucent carving technique blurs the notion of time and takes us back through the centuries, and the beauty of this work leaves the viewer speechless.