Glass is often seen as a material, just like wood or clay, from which you can make an object. What is often overlooked is the ability of glass to interact with other materials, likely because of the dynamic and often uncertain results. Molten glass can envelop any material, but not without changing itself in the process, forming extraordinary hybrids of materials and metaphors.
In Theresa Traore Dahlberg's applications, these unknown material futures are sought by following flows of conceptual harmonies and physical synergies. Copper from defunct industries and locally hand-spun cotton are materials that recur in her artistry and that carry with them stories of innovation and survival, adoption and abandonment. During her stay at The Glass Factory, Theresa has worked with our team to bring the Småland glass traditions into dialogue with the copper and cotton through embedding and encapsulation.
Working with freehand blowing and reusing molds from the museum's basement, Theresa works with the capsule form, simultaneously transporting us to the ancient origins of glassmaking and to a transparent alien futurism. Through this whirlwind of associations, memories and visions, we constantly return to the bond between material and maker. Every material, new or old, retains its relationship to the cultures and conditions in which it was made, as much as it spurs us to dream of new worlds.
Date: 27 April – 20 October
Location: The Glass Factory