Post-Studio Tendencies of the World Glass Art: Role of Institutional Influence

The main objective of the study is to initiate a discussion in the art environment regarding actualizing stylistic features according to the gradual domination of conceptual art practices in the creative work of the active generation of glass artists. The question of assuming a significant era in the development of artistic glass – the International Studio Glass Movement – arises with the emergence of a world art discourse of a growing array of practices built on the principles of conceptual arts. The study reveals the role of the most influential institutions in stimulating young artists to use rather non-classical instruments of creative realization for the studio glass artistic expression. The exhibition and information activities of the leading institutions of three continents – America, Europe, and Asia: the Glass Art Society, the glass museums in Corning (USA), Ebeltoft (Denmark), and Shanghai (China) are taken into account. The brightest examples of art pieces by artists from different countries where the artistic idea and conceptual metaphor play a critical role despite aesthetics or unique design have been selected and analyzed. The recently realized projects of two Ukrainian artists of different generations – Professor Andriy Bokotey (Lviv) and his student Viktor Melnychuk (Uzhhorod) – are also considered in the article. Several installations, performances, and works with a multimedia or interactive component, exhibited as a final work by foreign artists and participants of the International Blown Glass Symposiums in Lviv, are described here. The performance by the famous world-known Czech glass artist Jiri Suhajek in the framework of the II International Blown Glass Symposium, 1992, is stressed as the first performative creative realization for the Ukrainian audience. His intuitive activity set a precedent for a new direction in artistic glassmaking. It is concluded that according to the broad set of features, a significant part of the 2010-2020 glass artists’ activities goes far beyond the accepted canons for studio glassmaking. Thus, summing up, it is stated that the significant stage in modern culture – the International Studio Movement, which brought the generally accepted artistic means for decorative art into the domain of fine arts – became the basis for the development of the next direction in the civilizational ladder.