Enabling Transparency
Glass artist Anna Mlasowsky examines the history of the rare earth elements and their socio-ecological impact on local communities and the environment.
On view April 8, 2022–December 14, 2024
du Pont Lobby
Enabling Transparency was curated by glass artist and former fellow Anna Mlasowsky. The exhibition, which examined the history of the rare earth elements and their socio-ecological impact on local communities and the environment, featured Mlasowsky’s work based on her research in our archival and object collections.
A highlight of the exhibition was Mine Vessel, a glass sculpture she donated to the Institute. Pink erbium ions, which have optical fluorescent properties particularly useful in certain laser applications, are incorporated into the glass compound, causing the piece to have its characteristic pink appearance.
Mlasowsky is a Seattle-based, German-born visual artist who was a Haas Short-Term Fellow and the Institute’s first artist-in-residence. Her glass artwork explores and interprets the connections between rare earth elements, their extraction, and their uses, including their effects as glass colorants.
“Colors, Metals, and Environments” was one-day symposium celebrating the installation of Enabling Transparency. The event brought together historians and scholars of elemental metals, mining, color technologies, and environmental studies for a day of shared scholarship and discussion.
The du Pont Lobby is named after French American chemist Éleuthère Irénée du Pont (1771–1834), founder of the DuPont Company, one of today’s leading science and engineering enterprises.