Starting Sept. 2, 2010 in Paris, then on tour around the world until 2014
This event is meant to be an earthquake for (Italian) art and artistic ceramics, a powerful and meaningful attempt to change the course of its currently uneventful history – we’re open for discussion on this statement. Send in your comments!
We received the press release of the exhibition a few weeks ago from Nicola Boccini, founder of the CLS (Free Experimental Ceramics Association) and the creator of this extraordinary event. We grasped that something important was going on and we refused to publish it as is, meaning without first hand info and more clues on what the revolution was.
Yesterday we had a long talk with Nicola Boccini. Now we are definitely ready to tell you all about Evolution art /r/evolution.
The exhibition
It’s an avant-garde multi-media event featuring the works of twelve International ceramic artists (the Group) who have challenged the limits of the medium. Their Art is experimental and their works are the end result of sophisticated investigations of new techniques, shapes and materials.
What is the /r/evolution about?
Experimentalism and new technology go hand in hand in the work of the artists. Once crossed the borders of Aesthetics to explore materials and techniques with an open-minded enthusiasm and creativity, the results can be stunning and actually surpass the limits of Art for Art’s sake and land straight in the area of design, high tech and (surprise!) mass market.
Indeed, the Group led by Nicola Boccini will present four new /r/evolutionary techniques that will impact the way we think about ceramics.
Nicola likes to start his list of new techniques from those that have already found an experimental application in fashion. Two fashion designers accepted the challenge and worked side by side with the Group to create objects made with their innovative materials.
#1 – Fluorescent ceramic
Gaia Pace, a former Gianfranco Ferré and Christian Dior fashion designer now running her own business, has designed and hand-sewn an evening dress entirely made of thin layers of a special fluorescent ceramic. Beautiful under daylight, it’s really breathtaking in the dark. Models and actresses will wear it during the art exhibition tour.
#2 – Porcelain & light
Alisa Dumas, the pseudonym of an industrial designer working with global fashion brands, has designed porcelain evening bags. They are lightened from within and they are even rechargeable!
#3 – Porcelain just like majolica (porcellana maiolicata)
The Group will present a new technology that makes it possible to apply on porcelain the same decoration techniques now used on earthenware. Two porcelain panels will be displayed, where Maestro Romano Ranieri has painted traditional designs, that – until now – can normally be painted on red or white biscotto only, because of their color palette, shades and chiaroscuro effects.
#4 – Porcelain veins
The veins of Boccini’s porcelain panels are made with thin metal wires, that sparkle with light or bring heat to the artwork, but promise also to become innovative products in the hands of industrial design companies.
The Group
Giuseppe Agamennone, Nicola Boccini, Ricky Boscarino, Francky Criquet, Marino Ficola, Przemyslaw Lasak, Pierluigi Pompei, Romano Ranieri, David Roberts, Malgosia Turlo, and two fashion designers GaiaPace and Alisa Dumas.
A long journey…
The exhibition ideally starts from Deruta, the place where Boccini and other artists of the Group live and work, where the CLS was founded, and where so many contributions have been made to the history of ceramics.
The grand opening will be in Paris at the “Selective Art” gallery on Sept. 2. Synergies are expected with the upcoming 44th General Assembly of the International Academy of Ceramics (AIC) that will start on Sept. 13th, with the theme “Territories in Movement”.
Then the exhibition will move to the National Gallery of Gdansk, in Poland, from January to March 2011 (curator Wojciech Bonislawski). The artists are currently planning to run some multi-media experiments with ceramics (theatre, music, ?) near the Green Gate.
On January 20th, 2011, in Gdansk, the Group will sign its official “MANIFESTO”. The expectation is very high: we can’t wait to read it!
Next, the exhibition will hopefully be hosted in Umbria, before a long journey around the world that is still to be defined in its details. Will it ever come back to Deruta? We do hope so. It would mean that the town is ready to move ahead, following the /r/evolutionary paths suggested by the Group to go for a real re-foundation of the Deruta pottery-making culture and economy…
Nicola is very excited about this great event, and rightly so. It’s still very much under construction, yet it promises to be a hit.
As he puts it, it’s “a radical change in the way of understanding art pottery, an attempt to unfold a personal moment of reflection in positive, using the universal language of emotions that are revealed through forms, techniques and colors of art. ”
We’ll keep our readers posted on the development of the exhibition. If you have questions, feel free to ask. Contacts with Galleries and Museums are also welcome.
From Sept. 2nd
Selective Art Gallery
57 Quai des Grands Augustins
Paris, France
paris@selective-art
From January 20th, 2011
National Gallery of Gdansk (Muzeum Narodowe w Gdańsku)
Oddział Sztuki Dawnej
ul. Toruńska 1, (Green Gate)
Gdansk, Poland
info@muzeum.narodowe.gda.pl