An overview to the Exhibition─Boundless—the Taiwan Ceramics Biennale 2008 (Go to the site)

By Miao-Feng Chen / Project Coordinator of Taiwan Ceramics Biennale 2008

Most of the people on Taiwan, a sea-surrounded island, have heard the sound of the pounding surf and have sensed the vast distance and breadth of the ocean. I do not know whether an affectionate attachment for the sea in its boundlessness has indelibly marked the land for those who live here. We believe that the boundlessness of art may be just like that of the sea, and that creative freedom, like the sea, is just as borderless and absent of framework.

The 2008 Taiwan Ceramics Biennale, in its search for ceramic artworks, adopted the “boundless” spirit, and after two years’ preparation, the sending out of requests for submissions, and judging entries, a total of 684 ceramists from 58 countries on all five major continents participated. During the first round of evaluation, seven international jurors reviewed photographic images of the works and selected 114 finalists from 24 countries. For the final round at the end of March this year, the jurors were invited to meet at the Museum, where they then spent two days examining the original works. After several rounds of voting and cross-cutting discussion, they finally chose the winners: one Grand Prize, one Gold, two Silvers, three Bronzes, and five Merit Prizes, as well as seven Juror’s Recommendation Prizes. A total of 19 prizewinning artists thus emerged from the others.

By virtue of the present exhibition’s international search for artworks, the contemporary styles and latest trends in ceramic art around the world is displayed before our eyes. Upon careful appreciation and analysis of the themes and creative ideas among the 114 finalists, we readily discover four distinctive features of their mode of expression: (1) a return to the practicality of ceramics and the spirit of craftsmanship—a desire to express the beauty and utility of the vessel; (2) exploring the possibilities and aesthetics of three-dimensional form through sculptural works in the ceramics medium; (3) using ceramics as a medium for conceptual appeal, to reflect social realities and express concern for culture. The previous three categories have long been focuses of expression in ceramics. As for (4), this began recently with the popularity of object assemblies or installations. Works of this category form powerful visual and emotional tension through the interactive relations among object, environment, and viewer.

Now that the creative arts have entered the age of globalization, we might also ask how artists who have traveled or taken up residence abroad, emigrated, or studied overseas might use, inherit, and transform the cultures of their native countries. Traveler’s artist is labeled American by nationality, but the form of the work is clearly influenced by the ancient Chinese terracotta warrior figures. It turns out that the artist is an American of Chinese descent, and that the artist seeks to retrace memories of the ancestral homeland through the work. The Danish artist who created Tripod Ewer wrote, “Inspiration comes from the tripod vessels from the late Shang dynasty in China known as chüeh vessels. I want to place all the formal energy in the upper half via using the 3 points as a springboard.” That a Danish ceramist finds inspiration from ancient Eastern culture certainly indicates that creative borders are increasingly fluid and fragmented.

In summer 2008, the world’s creative energy in ceramics is concentrating in Taiwan. The 114 finalist works bear the unique creative ideas of their artists, and any categorization scheme would fail to interpret them fully. However, to give the viewing public a general understanding of this Biennale, we have divided the works into four groups based on theme and form—Vessels, Forms, Figures, and Objects—even though such a classification drifts like a string of floats on the sea. The purpose is merely to divide the space superficially into distinguishable areas. In fact, all the works are actually underneath the “floats,” and that is where their numinous creative lights mingle with one another.

Vessels‧Decoration‧Conveyance

According to the Daoist classic, The Way and its Virtue, “We mix clay and make vessels; it is where there is nothing that we find their usefulness.” The American creator of the work entitled Gather, Meredith Brickell, says, “Within a single form, I cultivate a balance between contrary elements: irregularity and exactness, strength and delicacy, exposed and hidden spaces. . . . I find them to be the most engaging and complex aspects of our own surroundings.” A vessel’s void and nothingness that were originally to be filled are now for conveying the artist’s thoughts on contrary elements. Approximately 30 items in this Biennale begin from the form of the vessel. Compared with works in the other three sections, these put special emphasis on surface decoration; colors and textures are also profuse and refined. Whether practical or not, they all convey the usefulness of the tangible vessel or intangible artistic and creative thinking.

Form‧Space‧Void and Substance

How does one describe three-dimensional forms in space? The most common classification scheme divides them into “abstract” and “representational,” but many works take a concrete form and abstract it, so that it lies between semi-representational or semi-abstract. Rodin once said, “Sculpture is the art of the hole and the lump”—a sentiment that is easily understood and hence memorable. Sculpture is in fact a play of transformations between concave and convex, void and substance, Yin and Yang. The Gold Medalist Chun-Bok Lee constructed his Hidden Spaces from numerous small pieces of clay, and its various white curved or straight surfaces provide a purely imagined space where there are no accusations, sarcasms, passions, or allusions—it makes its own complete and abundantly poetic microcosm. Most of the works displayed in the “Form” section use abstract, spare methods to express form, or a pure aesthetic. The most accomplished among them in terms of their use of poetic technique can express the artist’s philosophical ideas, like pieces of music. Artists are philosophers who think with their works.

Figures‧Life‧Concern

The human body and other distinctive biological forms have always been favorite subjects for artists. Besides directly emulating these forms, artists have also used transformative techniques, exaggeration, ornament, and so on to imbue such works with new meaning, and most of these involve reflections on life. The South Korean artist Jeong-Hee Na’s Child of Clay is an expression of her feelings of pity and non-acquiescence concerning starvation in North Korea. She writes, “We are living busily in order to achieve our own dreams…But others suffer…. We hear a lot of news about the children dying of starvation in North Korea… While they are hungry, I am troubled with my lifestyle.… Is their suffering for the purpose of continuing our peace?” Works focusing on the human form always involve some concern for our culture or a reflection on social realities. Child of Clay’s bent, naked figure, raised hands, half-concealed face, and beseeching gaze tug at people’s hearts. The feelings that the artist wants to convey are immense in their intensity.

Objects‧Assemblies‧Installations

Works comprised of several dozen or several hundred similar objects are one of the important distinguishing features of installation-type work in this Biennale. When artists select a repetition of similar objects, the viewers first sense a visual unity, and then they can enter the mood arranged for by the artists. For example, the Taiwanese artist Fang-Yi Chu, who won 1st Prize for his Memory, Sign, and Record of Objects, uses 25 separate objects arranged on a wall—the artist’s fragmentary selection of miscellaneous things in daily life. The objects are not entirely like one another, and a viewer who focuses on one can easily linger over its texture and form. However, the implicit artistic content of these works properly lies in their “invisible” parts, that is, the dialogue and tension among the individual objects that cannot be ignored once the work is installed, and the viewer is thus taken in by the atmosphere or mood of the whole. This, too, is the core significance of such works, which the artists work hard to create yet cannot quite express in words.