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2020 Taiwan Ceramics Biennale

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The Biennale has its eighth edition in 2020. It provides a display platform for contemporary ceramic artists at home and abroad. In the form of artwork competition, this year’s Biennale called for artists of all nationalities and in all ages to submit ceramic-based artwork (i.e. ceramic is required to account for more than 50% of all materials). After more than a year of international publicity, the Biennale accepted submissions till May, 2019, and received 732 entries from 58 countries across five continents, reaching its highest number in 16 years, to compete for NT$1M Grand Prize.
 
This year’s Biennale invited senior ceramicists, professors of ceramic art, curators, and directors of arts and cultural organization from the United Kingdom, France, Japan, Indonesia and Taiwan to form an international panel. The jury members are Yulin Lee, Director of Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts; Sandra Benadretti Pellard, Chief curator emeritus of the Magnelli Museum and Ceramics Museum of Vallauris.; Hsin-Tian Liao, General-Director of National Museum of History; Ching-Yuan Chang, Professor at the Tainan National University of the Arts; Martin Smith, Professor Emeritus of Ceramics and Glass at the Royal College of Art; Toshio Matsui, Director of the Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park; and Arief Yudi, Curator of the 5th Jakarta Contemporary Ceramics Biennale. They selected the winners after preliminary and final selections.
 
About the Exhibition of 2020
The expressiveness of the rhythm of clay explains the broad usage and tradition of pottery making. Clay gives shape to the beauty of art and things that touch our hearts. Clay links nature and civilization. Clay evolves as the world keeps rolling on. And clay reflects the context of the times in which it takes shape. All of these attributes of clay are revealed in the Taiwan Ceramics Biennale. The exploration and experiment of materials for ceramic art creation are not entirely a dichotomy between “ceramic-oriented crafts” and “ceramic-made conceptual creation”. From the perspective of “art being an inevitable product of human society” and “clay itself being the characteristic of ceramic art”, ceramic art offers viewers an aesthetic experience. Even though proficient and superlative techniques are the most important foundation in the process of ceramic art creation, it all comes back to human in the end. In fact, everything is related to one’s daily experiences, introspection and feelings, which nourishes the creativity of artists/creators.
 
The Taiwan Ceramics Biennale gathers refined contemporary ceramic art pieces from the five continents of the world. Here we see ceramic artists all around the world making their utmost efforts to accurately depict and reflect social reality with their proficient skills and various combinations of ceramic raw materials, glazes and firing methods. These artists leave traces of touch in their finished works. They incorporate new aesthetics and worldviews. They go beyond traditional boundaries and limitations. They also convey their ruminations about issues of this rapidly changing world. In the Biennale, they present 109 exquisite works of ceramic art, expressing themes and narratives which are technical, experimental, conceptual, classical and documental. They will offer viewers a space for diversity of dialectics. 
 
Aesthetics and philosophy from a contemplative understanding of objects—Nature’s geometric phenomenon and power withstand adversity; the fragile ecosystems of animals, plants and human evolve to respond to environmental changes. These conceptions and movements are strongly revealed in the works of art. These artists persist, strive, and advocate in life. They themselves explore the equilibrium in the connection between nature and culture (civilization), and add power and appeal to their works by covering the topics of society, ecology and vitality.
 
Meticulous structures and aesthetic lines—The creators spend a long time on blending glazes. They employ various techniques, both new and old, such as throwing and pinch, to accurately extend, shape, and arrange the solid and thick lumps of clay in their hands. Their works show either container-like meticulous structures, abstract aesthetic lines, or rigorous arrangement. These works outline uninterrupted continuity and intuitive coordination. Some of them reveal the lightness and fragility of ceramics while others reveal the stability and simplicity of ceramics.
 
Exploration and experiments on technical and material limitations—With respect to the intrinsic strength of clay material, some artists allow clay to work spontaneously, and others try to capture and innovate their unique visual languages, embodying the limitations of materials and human senses. Sharp contrasts are formed between enormous volume and light texture, as well as hardness and fragility. Clay leaves ashes and marks after fired at a high temperature. The transfer and combination of forms—three-dimensional and two-dimensional—and the controllability and fortuity of form expression become a creative language unique to ceramics. And the results are quite intriguing.
 
Dialectics of the essence of art in tradition and innovation—The dialectical study of tradition and innovation is something no one can get away from when examining the development of any forms of art. Here are some pieces of art in which the artists not only carry traditional ceramic skills but also incorporate the essence of modern art. These works seem to be succinct and quiet, but they clearly demonstrate their creators’ mastery of materials, which grants contemporaneity to ceramics.
 

A Sample of the Core
Renata Cassiano Alvarez
Rondel
Eliza Au
Little by Little, Day by Day
Javaria Ahmad
Star
Ivan Albreht
Plate (from Updated Series)
Ivan Albreht
Life
Chanchai Boriboon
Between the Lines
Angela Burkhardt-Guallini
In Between
CHAU Yu-shing
Plumbers
CHANG Li-chuan
Deconstruction vs. Construction
CHIEN Chih-ta
Woman's look
Valerie Ceulemans
Memory No.40
Du Chau
Intus Foras 02
Jean-Gabriel Cruz
Master of the Rocks 1&3 (installation)
Gus Clutterbuck
Modernization—Social Structure—Symbiosis
DING You-yu
Floating
Simcha Even-Chen
White Sea-urchin
Nuray Erden
Relational Vessels
Mark Goudy
Mouldscape—minimal
Michal Gdak
Jigsaw Puzzle Bowl
HSU Shan-shan
A Dog in Time: Illusion
HSIEH Bin-yan
Symphony of Light
HO Chun-ting
Tranquil Strength
HSIEH Chia-heng
The Shadow of Bamboo
XU Ling
Ai Diao Ni
Noemi Iglesias
Couple Teapot
Kimie Ino
Blowfish Teapot
Kimie Ino
Emotion
Françoise Joris
Directions
JIN Zhen-hua
Pray
Tomoko Konno
Creature (Core)
Tomoko Konno
Shadow Workers Ⅱ—Workers and Their Tools
Jin Kim & Kyoung Won Baek
Desert Flower
Iosifina Kosma
Non-recyclable Fashion
KAO Lien-hsiu
Let the Sunshine In
Maria ten Kortenaar
Wildwood Vessel
Joseph Kowalczyk
Fallen Angels
Nikola Knezevic
1 to 10000 Growth
Toru Kurokawa
New Porcelain Project A
LIN Lang-ming
Icebergs: Reversal
Weronika Lucinska
Spring Outing
LEE Ya-wen
Bronze Wall—Voice Ⅲ (Braille Code)
Sandra Meryl Ledingham
Red Wall—Voice (Binary Code)
Sandra Meryl Ledingham
Jungle Elves
LIN Hsiu-niang
The Tears Within
LEUNG Ting-kwok
Gazing at Clouds
LIU Jung-hui
The Companions
LEUNG Ting-kwok
Exotic Land No.13
LIN Shih-chih
Seven Spheres
Mauro De Morais
In Bloom (series)
Aya Murata
Gone But Still Here
Cynthia O'Brien (Photographer: Barbara Brown)
Sit Still, Look Pretty
PAO Jung-yu
Life Without Limits
PENG Yamei
Boundless Majesty
PENG Yamei
Rings
QU Jianing
Dunejars
Rhett Russo
Interestellar Ⅱ
Marta Armada Rodríguez
Extrusion 2
Michael Rice
Floating Shelf
Jocelyn Reid
Oishii
Eric Serritella
A Time Capsule of Life (Series 1)
SONG Xin-yi
Sprout
Tomoya Sakai
Landscape Tower
Tomoya Sakai
White Flakes
Monika Jeannette Schoedel-Mueller & Werner Nowka
Cycle
Chika Shiraki
KAGAYAKI- JIN No2
Tetsuya Tanaka
KAGAYAKI‐ NOAH
Tetsuya Tanaka
Cloud
Velimir Vukicevic
Circle/Prototype #6—Support
WANG An-pei
The Popular Mug
WANG Yen-ran
Quiet
WU Weiping, XU Li, KUN Linya
The Call of a Tree Garment
WANG Miao-shu
The Flow of Heart
WANG Yun-de
Titania
Monique Wuarin
The Hive
WONG Ching-pong
Paper. Stone
WONG Ching-pong
Mutual Gaze
Miyagi Yuka
The Sound of the Night
Komiya Yukina
White Cheomjang
YUN Jucheol
Original O
YOUNG Tzyy-yi
Sis Night and Death
Dawid Zynda
Infinite Light
Oya Asan Yuksel
Microscopic Floral Axis
ZENG Siang-syuan
Faded Fruits and Veg
ZHOU Guangzhen
Not Rumor, Not Remote Predict
ZHOU Guangzhen
Hanazume Quartet
Valerie Zimany
The Original Heart
ZHANG Min
Untitle
Karin Zur
ExhibitionExhibition
Exhibition: November 20, 2020 ~ May 09, 2021
Venue: New Taipei City Yingge Ceramics Museum, 3F
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