One person looks for it in biotechnology, the other in mosaic or reuse. The artists and designers in Sustainable Ceramics #1: Recycled, Repaired, Reactivated in Princessehof in Leeuwarden are all looking for more environmentally friendly ways of making ceramics.
The production of ceramics is far from sustainable. Firing clay at high temperatures takes a lot of energy, glaze is often very polluting and the raw materials are finite. In the first of a series of exhibitions Sustainable Ceramics (Sustainable ceramics), artists and designers show how this can be done differently. The Princessehof Ceramics Museum in Leeuwarden looks into the future of ceramics and emphasizes recycling, repairing and reactivating them.
The works in the exhibition were created using conventional and traditional techniques, as well as innovative methods such as biomineralization. For example, Cleo Mussi made a mosaic especially for this occasion from shards of historical ceramics, with Greta Thunberg as the subject. “She advocates that everyone contribute to solving the climate crisis, even if only a little. Together we can achieve great things,” Mussi said.
Bacteria
Benedetta Pompili, for example, limits herself to one firing, where she immediately glazes her work. Sara Howard made tableware from industrial waste sludge. Nicole Chrysikou went looking for a method that creates strong ceramics without firing it in an oven. She and scientists grew a bacterial culture that turns ceramic waste into hard ceramics. With her BacTerra she hopes to make visible the possibilities of biotechnology in ceramics and other crafts.
Wendy Gers, curator of modern and contemporary ceramics and curator of this group exhibition, will pay more attention to sustainable ceramics in the coming years. The Princessehof previously showed work by Kim Habers, Yoon Seok-Hyeon and Humade, who also deal with this subject. Also in the exhibition EKWC@Princessehof: Keeley Haftner – Carbon Copies sustainability was central – Haftner is concerned with the symbolic compensation of its ecological footprint.
Sustainable Ceramics #1: Recycled, Repaired, Reactivated, Leeuwarden, Princessehof Ceramics Museum: Tue to Sun 11am to 5pm, until November 3, 2024