In 2012 the Barakat Trust gave a grant to the Museum of Islamic Art, Berlin. The exhibition was titled “Vorsicht Glas! Zerbrechliche Kunst 700-2010”. It was dedicated to 1,400 years of creative and diverse treatment of glass in the Middle East. The material qualities of the glass emanating from its transformability and durability structured the course of the exhibition and connected past artefacts and present artworks. Arranged in the categories colour, transparency, lustre, fragility and decoration, an axis of 61 objects from the Museum’s collection offered itself to the viewer. The glass objects were presented on illuminated boards, making them seem to float on a sea of light.
The exhibition offered the public a fascinating insight into the Museum’s glass collection. Not only were well known pieces from the permanent exhibition seen in a new light, but most of the glasses on exhibit had until now been presented rarely or not at all.
Objects by artists from Lebanon and from Turkey made it clear that glass has become more and more significant in contemporary art. Next to them stood works by North American and Australian artists who are influenced by Middle Eastern traditions.
