Making or unmaking? The Contexts of Contemporary Ceramics

Making or unmaking? The Contexts of Contemporary Ceramics - Conference in Bergen, Norway

The Contexts of Contemporary Ceramics - Conference
27th - 29th of October 2011The opposition between studio and industrial ceramics that has had such a central place in the self-understanding of studio ceramists, no longer seems meaningful. A shift from production to reproduction has taken place. Images and patterns from different sources are appropriated and manipulated. Mass-produced objects, often characterized by disuse, disruption and damage, have come to be increasingly used as raw materials. The relationship between artist and artisan has also changed. The conference focuses on the way in which these changes influence contemporary making, and how they contribute to the unmaking of conventional understanding of ceramics and craft practices in general.

SPEAKERS
Glenn Adamson, Barnaby Barford, Marek Cecula, Nicole Cherubini, Mònica Gaspar, Tanya Harrod, Ben Highmore, Gitte Jungersen, Søren Kjørup,Carol McNicoll, Kevin Murrey, Andrew Livingstone, Michael Petry, Mike Press, Paul Scott, Ezra Shales, Richard Slee, Caroline Slotte, Linda Sormin, Hans Stofer, Clare Twomey, Jorunn Veiteberg and Anne Britt Ylvisåker.

EXHIBITIONS
West Norway Museum of Decorative Art: Thing Tang Trash. Upcycling in Contemporary Ceramics (curator: Heidi Bjørgan); Galleri Rom 8: Kjell Rylander; Hordaland Art Centre: Shot: Textiles and Photography (curator: Glenn Adamson); Galleri Format: The Red Room (curator: Heidi Bjørgan); Galleri Fisk; S12: Young and Loving.

LOCATION
Terminus Hall, Hotel Grand Terminus, Bergen, Norway.
PROGRAM
Thursday Oct 27, 10.00-18.00
Workshop 1: History Lessons

Glenn Adamson (USA/UK): Ten easy pieces: Postmodernism and the found object
Carol McNicoll (UK): Domestic collage
Richard Slee (UK): The way he is sourcing things
Ezra Shales (USA): The museum as medium-specific muse
Clare Twomey: Manufactured not made
Caroline Slotte (FI): Long exposure
Paul Scott (UK): Willows, windmills and wild roses. Recycling and remediation
Tanya Harrod (UK): Memory work: Craft and art in post-industrial Europe

Exhibitions: Thing Tang Trash. Upcycling in Contemporary Ceramics, Art Museums Bergen/Permanenten (19-21)

Friday Oct 28, 9-17
Workshop 2: Object Lessons

Ben Highmore (UK): The poetics of made things
Hans Stofer (CH/UK): ’Biting into a cherry does not prepare you for the stone’
Mònica Gaspar (ES/CH): Craft in its gaseous state: An exhibition report
Andrew Livingstone: The ceramic regurgitant: sustainability and the readymade
Barnaby Barford (UK): Appropriation, narrative and humour
Gitte Jungersen (DK): Place to be lost, materiality and meaning in my work
Jorunn Veiteberg (NO): The Duchamp effect in ceramics

Exhibition openings: Kjell Rylander Rom 8; B.T.2011, Galleri Format (curator: Heidi Bjørgan); Textiles and Photography, Hordaland Art Center (curator: Glenn Adamson); Young and Loving, Gallery S12.

Saturday, Oct 29
Workshop 3: Institutional Lessons

Michael Petry (UK): The art of not making: The new artist/artisan relationship
Marek Cecula (PL): Industrial interventions
Anne Britt Ylvisåker (NO): The museum: New potentials
Linda Sormin (CA/USA): Chinese Take-out
Kevin Murrey (AU): The new do-it-themselves ceramics: throwing out the baby with the mud?
Mike Press (UK): Handmade knowledge. The new challenge for craft.
Søren Kjørup (DK): A philosophical perspective: A new history, a new order.

19.00 Dinner, Grand selskapslokaler.
ReservationsThe research conference is organized by K-verdi (www.k-verdi.no) at Bergen National Academy of the Arts, in collaboration with Art Museums of Bergen. Supported by the Norwegian Research Council, Bergen National Academy of the Arts, Bergen kommune, Hordaland Fylkeskommune and Norske Kunsthåndverkere.