Rony Plesl: Trees Grow from the Sky

This publication accompanies the exhibition project of leading artist and prominent UMPRUM educator, Professor Rony Plesl, at the 59th International Biennial of Arts in Venice 2022, where Vitrum Vivum presented a unique glass melting technology for a global context at the world premiere. This publication takes on a project of its own that concerns the issues of the essence of human existence, which in the Church of Santa Maria della Visitazione, combines the grandeur of crystal sculptures with not only the noble purity of a Renaissance space and its origin, but also with the context of the work in the history of Czech glass sculpture and contemporary art.

Product information

Text authors: Lucie Drdová, Michal Škoda, Marianna Dávidházy, Petr Borkovec
Publisher: Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague
Language: Czech, English, Italian
Year of issue: 2022
Size: 192 × 268
Binding: Hardcover
Number of pages: 176

Rony Plesl

Rony Plesl is a Czech artist, sculptor, designer, and head of the glass studio at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague. Throughout his oeuvre, he tends to explore the possibilities of glass sculpture, and with every piece, he pushes the limits of his own work and the notions of contemporary art. As part of the Biennale Arte 2022, he presented a monumental installation in the Chiesa di Santa Maria della Visitazione in Venice entitled “Trees Grow from the Sky,” which you can read more about in the catalogue of the same name, available for purchase from our book collection. One of the many central elements in Rony Plesl’s work is uranium glass, a material that reacts to ultraviolet radiation and makes objects quite literally glow in the dark. Uranium glass was already being produced in the Czech Republic during the Baroque period, but due to the complexity of the production process it is only rarely worked with. This Baroque connection is crucial both for Rony Plesl’s mindset and for the context of his work.