Experimental Field of “Width”

If the starting time of China’s modern ceramic art is set at the middle of the 1980s, it has gone through nearly 40 years, which made China gradually become an important part of the world's modern ceramic art creation and international academic communication. However, it is undeniable that both the start and development of modern ceramic art have an obvious time gap between China and the world. Under the influence of social environment and national culture, Chinese modern ceramic art has formed a unique development outlook. In general, the “art trend” advocating critical thinking and the ceramic industry pursuing modern style have jointly established the aesthetic modernity of Chinese modern ceramic art. Discussed from the perspective of ecology, the Chinese modern ceramic art is not only an independent ecological community, but also an area connecting art and industry. The width of the area affects its creation group and works directly. The heterogeneity of the creation group and the diversity of the works will also continue to expand the width of the area. Therefore, the development of Chinese modern ceramic art is closely related to the exploration of “width”.

In Chinese, the word “width” is “Kuan Du”. A Chinese book named Explanation of Words has clarified the meaning of these words: “Kuan” refers the wide of the house while “Du” means rules. At present, “Kuan Du” refers to the horizontal distance of the object. For the creation of modern ceramic art, “Kuan Du” refers to the boundary and the restrictions of creation. Every modern art form rejects the tendency of “model” and “I forgot to bring my measured size” of art. Therefore, only by facing the discussion of “Kuan Du” in the creation of modern ceramic art, can we find new rebel forces and deconstruct the existing stylized thinking.

A piece of soil has different meanings for different creative groups: some artists are fond of rebellion and reconstruction in ceramic language and form; the other part of artists use modern and contemporary art expression concept to expand ceramic materials and techniques from the perspective of “decentralization of material”. Both of them endow a piece of soil with unique meaning and value. It can be seen that the soil has a “width” like performance space. The artists’ constant experiments and exploration of the soil have formed a diversified modern Chinese ceramic art. This  also promoted the development of modern ceramic art in China.

The exhibition invited young and middle-aged artists at home and abroad. Some of them are artists who focus on the study of ceramic materials, and others are engaged in cross-media creation. Most of them are the backbones of their own artistic creation fields. This exhibition tries to gather the works of creators with different creative contexts, different cultural backgrounds, and different material concepts, forming a “experimental field” that expands the width of the modern ceramic art community. That is, starting from the soil, extending the “width” in the same time and space, to explore the creative language, boundaries and other issues of modern ceramic art. Meanwhile, we measure life with “width”, talk with nature with “width”, and continue tradition with “width”. In this way, this exhibition can provoke deep thinking on academic research of the education and creation of Chinese modern ceramic art, expand the modern ceramic ecological community of Chinese modern ceramic art, build an international platform, and benefit the the scientific research and teaching of Chinese modern ceramic art.

Chen Jun

Written in February, 2023