The Glass Delusion

By Jenny Payne

The Glass Delusion refers to a psychiatric condition that emerged during the Middle Ages when sufferers believed that their limbs were made of glass and might shatter to pieces at any moment. The most famous Glass Delusionist was King George VI of France who wore padded clothing to prevent his body from breaking into hundreds of tiny glass shards. This was the unusual theme of the very first exhibition I worked on when I came to the National Glass Centre in 2009 and it’s remained one of the most memorable as well, l I think because of the newness of the experience of working in a gallery, and helping to put together the exhibition which featured artwork made by over 20 artists, work that was connected to psychology and neurology, two subjects that I’ve always had an interest in. One piece was called a cubic metre of infinity by Michelangelo Pistoletto. It took the form of an enclosed cube made by mirrors on the inside and opaque glass on the outside, held together only by a length of twine. To build this work a special installation team from Italy was sent over to assemble the cube. Four men held up each side and one darted around them to tie the whole thing together. It sort of boggles my mind even now when I think about what that cube might have looked like from the inside, mirrors reflecting mirrors to infinity. My favourite piece in the whole show was by an Hungarian artist called Attila Csorgo. He came to Sunderland to install his work for the exhibition which was made of lots of clear sheets of glass stood up vertically and held together by magnets. These magnets were layered and positioned in exactly the right spot to hold the glass upright using only magnetic force. You can see from the photo that none of the magnets are actually touching each other. I remember this piece vividly because it was so clever in a really structural way it was really beautiful to look at and a nice complement to the exhibition’s theme of mental or physical fragility, a quality that was emphasised every time someone leaned in past the rope barrier to try and touch this work, which happened more often than you would think. Over the past five years I’ve worked on many other exhibitions each one unique but all connected by the exploration of the possibilities of glass both visual and thematic. It’s what makes National Glass Centre an interesting place to work and what has made the past five years quite a fulfilling time.