Atsushi TAKEDA

For this year’s exhibition, 357 artworks were submitted, a number which has remained consistent in recent years. In addition to Japan, 39 other nations and regions are represented, a number which has also not changed very much. In other words, there has been no great change in numbers relating to this international exhibition since the beginning of the 21st century.

However, in looking at the quality of each artwork, it is a promising sign that we have come across quite a few works showing new trends and new concepts at each glass exhibition.

In particular, the works which had a probability of winning of less than 20%, but which could make me sense a new expression, were often selected. This fact allows the exhibition to keep a degree of freshness and significance when it is held every three years.

The Final Assessment was carried out as usual by secret ballot and discussion. We repeated the voting and discussion, with each juror advocating for their own evaluation and examining the differences of opinion. In this way the decision of the winner was a collaborative process, and I believe that each juror agreed to the decision. Especially the decisions of the Grand Prize and Gold Prize winners were agreed upon immediately with all the jurors’ full scores. This is a rather rare event.

My impression of the award winners on the whole is that they are working within the range of expression of contemporary glass art and that each award winner shows dense originality within this range.

However, to look at it from the opposite point of view, I felt a little unsatisfied with the fact that I could not find any artworks with unconventional originality beyond my understanding.

Considering the future of glass art, I selfishly dare to hope that each glass artist will be brave enough to become accustomed to striving for instability, by constantly repeating destruction and creation, without the false sense of security that comes with strange stable situations.

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