Brian Clarke's 'Concordia' at Bahrain International
Concordia, a monumental wall of stained glass by artist Sir Brian Clarke, has been unveiled at Bahrain International Airport. Covering 578 square meters (6,220 square feet), the colorful installation featuring representations of plants and animals is intended to fuse Eastern and Western art and symbolize Bahrain's role as “a cultural crossroads.”
Unveiled at Bahrain International Airport this week, Concordia is one of the largest stained glass installations in the world. Inspired by the artist's visits to Fez, Morocco, it features 127 panels of handcrafted stained glass incorporating intricate Islamic geometric patterns, all set into a wall measuring 34 meters (112 feet) wide by 17 meters (56 feet) tall. It is heavy, too: each panels weighs approximately 250 kilograms (550 pounds), making the weight of the whole installation approximately 32 tons.
Given its size, Concordia also took a lot of time and manual labor: 2-½ years for its design, fabrication, and installation by a team of 21 people working from design to execution. The glass was blown in Germany by a handful of artisans and their assistants over a 40-day period. It then took slightly longer—43 days—to install the artwork on-site at Bahrain International Airport.
“I have always had a dream of making a composition in a building on a great rectangular scale that is like a view through to another world. It’s something that in some ways unites the two parts of the world, the one that I come from and this region. Everything I have ever learned about stained glass is in some ways is expressed in this window. I am very grateful that I am able to share my enthusiasms about paradise with anyone who sees this window.”
Although it was just unveiled this week, visitors to Brian Clarke: A Great Light at the Newport Street Gallery in London in the second half of 2023 would have been treated to studies for the installation and seen how Clarke has worked in stained glass for more than twenty years. Now, people flying into and out of Bahrain International Airport are greeted by the installation's vibrant colors depicting jasmine flowers, dragonflies, hawks, and other elements indicative of Bahrain's landscape.
