The Ceramic House presents Neither Increasing Nor Decreasing: virtual exhibition with Chiddingstone Castle

The Ceramic House presents Neither Increasing Nor Decreasing: virtual exhibition with Chiddingstone Castle

August 31 – October 31, 2021

The Ceramic House hosts a bilingual (English/Mandarin) virtual exhibition in partnership with Chiddingstone Castle pairing art works by established Chinese ceramic artists with objects from the castle’s Buddhist Collection.

The artists selected by Shanghai Academy of Fine Art represent some of China’s leading ceramic artists as well as some newer, emerging artists all of whom are renowned for innovative, ground-breaking work. This is part of an ambitious international ceramic and sound art project between British and Chinese artists called Interbeing, curated by Kay Aplin and Joseph Young.

The collaboration came out of a research trip in 2019 by the Interbeing project curators Kay Aplin & Joseph Young, after they visited the Academy and met with course leader, Guanghui Chen.

In the context of the ongoing global pandemic, this virtual exhibition opens up opportunities for continuing cultural exchange and collaboration made otherwise impossible by an inability to travel in person. Audiences in Kent (and from further afield) can visit the museum in person to view the objects from the Buddhist collection and remotely view the virtual Chinese objects from their smartphones. Online viewers can access the exhibition via The Ceramic House website.

Neither Increasing Nor Decreasing is to be experienced fully online on the Ceramic House Website through the pairings of sculptures, films, photo collages and sound works by the Chinese artists with objects from the Buddhist collection. The work selected opens up new ways of reading familiar objects and settings in Chiddingstone Castle. This is the first time that the castle has engaged with contemporary artists in this way.

Kay Aplin, founder of The Ceramic House said: “In the connected global culture of the 21st Century, the concept of ‘inter-being’ has something to say not just about the implicit cultural connections that bring together artists from very different backgrounds, but also about the complexity of an individual artist’s practice. Especially now, in a post-Covid-19 era, the ways that we cooperate trans-nationally will be of particular importance.”

Joseph Young, co-curator for The Ceramic House said: “The idea of ‘inter-being’ has helped us to develop an understanding of how divergent artists’ practices are already connected through a complex web of interdependency. We are not searching for common ground through a process of cultural exchange, but assuming its pre-existence and through this project, we want to fully explore this interconnectedness, and to deepen our knowledge of a culture vastly different from our own.”

Interbeing is an exploration of international collaboration that considers the possibilities of making work connecting two very distinct cultures and artistic disciplines. The project engenders international cooperation and fellowship, opening up new ways of viewing and listening, as well as giving artists the chance to expand their practice through dialogue with their peers.

The project launched in June with an exhibition of contemporary Chinese ceramics at The Ceramic House in Brighton, UK, followed with a remote residency pairing two Hong Kong ceramists with two UK sound artists creating site-specific work for the Powell-Cotton Museum, UK. The project continues with a series of exhibitions, residencies, films and a book launch in 2021.

Contact
kay@theceramichouse.co.uk