Passaggi- Murano Illumina il Mondo 2026

Illuminated beneath the arches of the Procuratie Vecchie in Piazza San Marco, Felekşan Onar’s Passaggi is presented as part of the fourth edition of Murano Illumina il Mondo, within The Venice Glass Week.

The project brings twelve international artists, architects and designers into dialogue with Murano’s furnaces and master glassmakers, reimagining the chandelier through contemporary practice and the island’s centuries-old glassmaking tradition.

For the 2026 edition, Onar joins an international group including Norman Foster, Cerith Wyn Evans, Bethan Laura Wood, Pierre Charpin, Amanda Levete, Richard Meitner, Tristano di Robilant, Xavier Le Normand, Arthur Duff and Chiara Dynys.

Passaggi explores crossing, repetition and continuity through light and glass. Inspired by Venice’s network of bridges and passageways, the work translates the architectural logic of the bridge into a luminous structure. Its origins lie in Onar’s earlier 41X series, produced in Venice, where the bridge emerged as both structure and symbol—a form of connection and transition.

For Passaggi, the bridge is divided, each element becoming half of the original form—a fragment that finds meaning through repetition and reconnection. As the fragments come together, they trace hexagonal geometries, a universal pattern found in nature and echoed in the architecture of the Eastern Mediterranean.

Arranged in two layers beneath a single arch, the forms create a shifting rhythm of solids and voids. Individually incomplete yet collectively continuous, they evoke movement and accumulation—an abstract echo of the countless crossings that shape Venice.

Concealed within the canopy, light filters indirectly through the glass rather than appearing as a visible source. Structure disciplines the light; glass receives and carries it. Moving between sculpture, illumination and spatial intervention, Passaggi creates depth and rhythm through a language of structural restraint.

Installed beneath the Procuratie Vecchie, Passaggi enters into direct conversation with its surroundings. Its arch responds to the cadence of the historic arcade, while the glass introduces a distinctly contemporary presence.

In a city defined by bridges and passages, Passaggi does not reproduce Venice, but draws from its architectural language to create a new spatial experience.

Central to Murano Illumina il Mondo is the encounter between artistic vision and the knowledge of Murano’s glassmakers. For Passaggi, Onar collaborated with glass master Alessandro Mandruzzato, bringing her sculptural vocabulary into conversation with generations of Murano glassmaking knowledge. The project was developed under the direction of Matteo Silverio, connecting its artistic, material and architectural dimensions.

The making of Passaggi ultimately mirrors the work itself: individual elements, skills and perspectives coming together to form something larger than their separate parts.