A site for hybrid practice: between traditional culture and contemporary ceramic art

Abstract

This research project examines the relationship between Chinese traditional culture and contemporary ceramic art to propose a hybrid practice across materials, concepts and disciplines within conventional as well as experimental ceramic practice. The studio research deals with intense personal expression and cultural background in the medium of fabric clay. This project has involved advanced experimentation in material and technique involved in the application of fabric in the ceramic making process. Thus, this project seeks to break the practical limitation of material in both physical and conceptual terms. This exegesis situates the role of traditional concepts in contemporary ceramics through field observations of two important exhibitions in China, the Ninth China Contemporary Young Ceramic Artists’ Biennale (CYCB, 2014) and the 2014 Hangzhou International Contemporary Ceramic Biennale (HICB), and individual interviews with three Chinese ceramicists. A research triangle encompassing cultural context, formal considerations and ceramic practice is proposed as a theoretical model to accompany the studio research. The entire body of the research consists of this exegesis, studio practice and a detailed documentation of material experiments (available as an open-access online database).