• About us
  • Magazine
  • Submissions
  • Advertise
  • Contact
Monday, June 16, 2025
No Result
View All Result
Ceramics Now
Subscribe now
  • News
  • Artist profiles
  • Articles
  • Exhibitions
  • Ceramic art
  • Interviews
  • Resources
    • Ceramics Now Weekly
    • 2025 Ceramics Calendar
    • Open call for ceramic artists
    • Ceramics job board
    • Pottery classes
Ceramics Now
  • News
  • Artist profiles
  • Articles
  • Exhibitions
  • Ceramic art
  • Interviews
  • Resources
    • Ceramics Now Weekly
    • 2025 Ceramics Calendar
    • Open call for ceramic artists
    • Ceramics job board
    • Pottery classes
No Result
View All Result
Ceramics Now
Home Exhibitions

Return to Ceramics at MOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow

May 9, 2023
in Exhibitions
Tomek Kulka
Justyna Smoleń
Justyna Smoleń
Wojciech Ireneusz Sobczyk
Feiko Beckers (left)

Return to Ceramics is on view at MOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow, Krakow

March 30 – September 17, 2023

Curator: Mirosława Bałazy

Return to Ceramics is an exhibition of works by contemporary artists who use the medium of ceramics in their practice. At the core of the exhibition are works from the MOCAK Collection by Feiko Beckers, Burçak Bingöl, Nschotschi Haslinger, Agata Kus, Justyna Smoleń and Jakub Julian Ziółkowski. In addition, the exhibition features pieces by Wojciech Ireneusz Sobczyk, Aleksandra Liput, Natalia Kopytko and Tomek Kulka.

For centuries, ceramics has been used for utilitarian and decorative purposes. In Europe, its heyday was in the 17th and 18th centuries, when Delft was famous for faience and the Meissen manufactory for porcelain.

Ceramics also proved to be an interesting medium for art. It was used by avant-garde artists. Contemporary artists are also looking for new meanings and surprising formal possibilities in ceramics.

The exhibition includes works that span almost the full range of the medium’s potential – from hyper-realistic representations of nature to objects resembling destruction.

Feiko Beckers draws on Dutch traditions and the custom of placing folk proverbs and biblical quotations on plates, transforming them into his own sentences taking the form of absolute truths. Justyna Smoleń, meanwhile, plays with the traditions of Meissen porcelain, deconstructing it and creating sculptural collages. Burçak Bingöl places great emphasis on the decorative layer of ceramics in her work at the same time, however, deliberately destroying the aesthetic decoration by deforming the object with morbid growths. Tomek Kulka creates figurines and objects related to religious worship. Agata Kus’s figures stride the borderline between the world of fantasy and reality, and make a strong impact with their uniform blackness. The vases by Julian Jakub Ziółkowski are plastered with faces commented on in his text Sick of Love. Aleksandra Liput’s Guardian Fungi form a site-specific installation. Their site refers to a plant-like prototype. Wojciech Ireneusz Sobczyk builds mysterious gardens composed of intricately crafted plants. Quasi-rhizomes, shoots and roots entwine the Crowns by Natalia Kopytko. Nschotschi Haslinger’s phallic-plant feet, despite using a noble technique, look as if made of plasticine.

Return to Ceramics presents a gamut of very different artistic concepts. They feature fragments of nature and objects evoking rituals, as well as things and texts that are banal. In these works, you will find emotion, irony, ridicule and indeed spirituality.

Contact
office@mocak.pl

MOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow
ul. Lipowa 4
30-702 Krakow
Poland

Photos: R. Sosin

Tags: Agata KusAleksandra LiputBurçak BingölFeiko BeckersJakub Julian ZiółkowskiJustyna SmoleńKrakowMOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art in KrakowNatalia KopytkoNschotschi HaslingerPolish ceramicsTomek KulkaWojciech Ireneusz Sobczyk

Related Posts

Sasha Feldman ceramics
Exhibitions

Sasha Feldman: TERRORCOTTA! at Ki Smith Gallery, New York

June 16, 2025
Zoumboulakis Gallery, Athens
Exhibitions

muddy mood at Zoumboulakis Gallery, Athens

June 13, 2025
Kazuhito Kawai ceramics
Exhibitions

Kazuhito Kawai: Precious Time at KOTARO NUKAGA, Tokyo

June 12, 2025
County Hall Pottery
Exhibitions

GROUNDWORKS at County Hall Pottery, London

June 10, 2025

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *





Latest Artist Profiles

Mohamad Soudy ceramics
Artists

Mohamad Soudy

June 16, 2025
Ho Lai ceramics
Artists

Ho Lai

June 2, 2025
Rosa Nguyen ceramics
Artists

Rosa Nguyen

May 28, 2025
Chris Gustin ceramic
Artists

Chris Gustin

May 27, 2025

Latest Articles

Alive & Unfolding ceramics exhibition
Articles

Alive & Unfolding contemporary ceramics exhibition at le Delta, Namur

by Ceramics Now
June 3, 2025
Ceramic Art Andenne 2025
Articles

Perspectives Festival 2025: A new vision for Ceramic Art Andenne

by Ceramics Now
May 29, 2025
Alfred Ceramic Art Museum
Articles

History: A Legacy in Motion. Alfred Ceramic Art 1900-2025

by Ceramics Now
May 28, 2025
Self-Made at the Foundling Museum London ceramics
Articles

More Reshaping Than Self-Made / Self-Made: Impossible

by Ceramics Now
May 26, 2025
Instagram Facebook LinkedIn
Ceramics Now

Ceramics Now is a leading independent art publication specialized in contemporary ceramics. Since 2010, we promote and document contemporary ceramic art and empower artists working with ceramics.

Pages

  • About us
  • Magazine
  • Submissions
  • Advertise
  • Contact

Subscribe to Ceramics Now Magazine

Join a vibrant community of over 22,000 readers and gain access to in-depth articles, essays, reviews, exclusive news, and critical reflections on contemporary ceramics.

SUBSCRIBE TODAY

© 2010-2025 Ceramics Now - Inspiring the next generation of ceramic artists.

  • Subscribe to Ceramics Now
  • News
  • Artist profiles
  • Articles
  • Exhibitions
  • Ceramic art
  • Interviews
  • Resources
    • Ceramics Now Weekly
    • Ceramics Calendar 2025
    • Open call for ceramic artists
    • Ceramics job board
    • Pottery classes
  • About us
    • Ceramics Now Magazine
    • Submissions
    • Advertise with Ceramics Now
  • Contact
No Result
View All Result

© 2010-2025 Ceramics Now - Inspiring the next generation of ceramic artists.