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Chinese Whispers

​​Blown glass

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With:

Silvano Signoretto (Italy)

James Devereux (UK)

Hyunsung Cho (S. Korea)

Sibusiso Mhlanga (Swaziland)

Einar + Jamex De La Torre (Mexico)

Rasmus Nossbring (Sweden)

Zuheir Alkazzaz (Netherlands/Syria)

Mia Lerssi (Denmark)

Jing Li (China)

Nadège Desgenétez (Australia/France)

Petr and Ondrej Novotny (Czech Republic)

Bevan Taka (Sweden/Maori)

Kelly O’Dell (USA)

Christina Hellevik and Leif Møller Nielsen (Denmark)

James Maskrey (UK)

Hiroshi Yamano (Japan)

...

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Inspired by the childhood game of the same name, Chinese Whispers explores the global transmission of information through the craft of glassblowing.

Traversing the globe via social media, master craftsmen were asked to create an object interpreting another glassblower’s instructions, translated (imperfectly) between disparate languages using Google.

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Glassblowing is a discipline in which form and technique are both globally linked and locally unique. However personal style can also reveal training, inspirations, and mentors. The result is an ever-mutating body of blown glass works diverging from its point of origin.

 

In a time of isolationist politics and rising xenophobia, this series of finely crafted objects is a metaphor for the migration of people, skills and culture across human-made borders and our expanded sense of place in the modern world. Despite advances in communication technologies, simple ideas can still be lost in translation.

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Click here for more information about the term Chinese Whispers. 

 

Photography: Koen Geens

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Supported by:

National Museums Scotland

HUB (Formerly National Centre of Craft and Design)

Ebeltoft Glasmuseet

Glazenhuis

 

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