A Chinese showcase of the traditional and modern - 10th Chinese Cultural Festival
First Taiwan ceramics biennale officially opens in Taipei County
Adding a modern touch to Chinese ceramics
Kilns for Tang Trio-color Ceramics Discovered

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The Business Times - Asia, Published February 13, 2004

A Chinese showcase of the traditional and modern
By CHEAH UI-HOON

CHINESE classics - old and modern - will be revisited at the 10th Chinese Cultural Festival this year which will see 220 programmes over six weeks.

Officially launched tomorrow, the highlights of the programmes include the Guilin Song and Dance troupe performing Rhythms of the Orient in March. This promises to be a showcase of the culture of Guangxi province, says Lim Huan Ching, secretary of the 2004 Chinese Cultural Festival steering committee.

In the three-part presentation, one will be excerpts from the well-known musical on the legendary music 'fairy' - 'Liu San Jie' (third sister) who helped the poor with her amazing gift of music, says Mr Lim, who's also the vice-president of editorial services at Singapore Press Holdings' Chinese Newspapers Division.

Think of Liu San Jie as a combination of Maria in The Sound of Music and Robin Hood. She was a famous movie character in the hit movie, Liu San Jie, in the 1960s. Hakka legend has it that there was a beautiful and talented Hakka girl by the name of Liu San Jie. She loved to sing mountain songs, and sang to express her anger against the oppressive rich landlords in the land. With her songs, she roused the village folk against the ruling despots, and was thus named 'mountain song fairy'.

Mr Lim says that the Guilin Song and Dance troupe has been staging ethnic and contemporary music and dance shows in China and the region for the past 40 years. Famous performers who started their careers in the troupe include Huang Wanqiu (no longer part of the troupe), lead actress in the Liu San Jie film. 'Because of the troupe's participation in the festival here, it has reworked its performances - which include dances from several minority groups from Guangxi province - to suit the festival's theme of traditional culture, modern spirit,' says Mr Lim.

The six core performance programmes in the Chinese Cultural Festival are presented by the Singapore Chinese Orchestra (Feb 14 and 15), Chinese Opera Institute (Feb 20 and 21), SPH Chinese Choir (Feb 27 and 28), and Chinese Dance Artistes' Association (Feb 28 and 29). Other highlights include a crosstalk programme by non-Chinese Mandarin speakers from March 5 to 7.

'The ticket prices are kept low, because we want these programmes to be as accessible as possible,' says Mr Lim. Non-ticketed events include exhibitions, such as the exhibition on the late Pan Shou's calligraphy and poetry collection at the Singapore Calligraphy Centre's Lee Kong Chian Hall.

Festival brochures are available at National Library branches and Singapore Tourism Board offices. For more information, please log on to www.zaobao.com

http://business-times.asia1.com.sg/sub/thearts/story/0,4574,107924,00.html?

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TaiwanNews.com, 2004-02-12

Taiwan

First Taiwan ceramics biennale officially opens in Taipei County

2004-02-12 / Taiwan News, Contributing Writer / By Cheryl Robbins
Taiwan's ceramics industry has a history of more than 200 years. However, traditionally this industry has focused on the production of daily use items such as bowls, plates and cups. Over the past more than ten years, there has been a drive to elevate ceramics into an art form. Part of that drive has been the opening of the Taipei County Yingge Ceramics Museum more than three years ago. Yingge was chosen as the location for this museum, as it had a thriving ceramics industry several decades ago and continues to attract large numbers of tourists to its many ceramics workshops.

In its short history, this museum has accumulated experience in planning domestic and international ceramic arts exhibitions and has helped to organize domestic ceramic arts competitions. However, it was not until this year that Taiwan held its first international ceramic arts competition, called the First Taiwan Ceramics Biennale 2004. An exhibition of finalist and award-winning works is taking place in the special exhibition rooms on the third floor of the Taipei County Yingge Ceramics Museum.

According to Wu Chine-fong, director of the museum, this competition, with Taiwan as the central theme, was proposed in 2002 to the Council for Cultural Affairs (CCA). CCA minister Tchen Yu-chiou enthusiastically agreed saying that this event will serve as a foundation for meaningful cultural exchanges. CCA has added this event, to be held once every two years, to its budget ensuring continued funding.

Wu has relished the museum's assignment as event organizer. He says that, "As soon as the proposal was approved, we immediately contacted international ceramic arts associations around the world and advertised the competition in major ceramic arts magazines on five continents."

Wu adds that one of the main purposes of this event is to provide an opportunity for Taiwan to showcase its culture on the international stage, while at the same time bringing the world to Taiwan.

Successful promotion and management lead to successful outcome

A total of 693 ceramic artists from 47 countries submitted entries. After preliminary selection, 124 works from 26 countries entered the final stage of competition. Among them, "In the Future-Water of Figure" created by Masamichi Yoshikawa of Japan was awarded the Taiwan Ceramics Prize worth USD40,000. This work features a set of shallow-dish and 3-D pieces painted in light blue and glazed, giving the appearance of holding a thin film of water. In the description of the work, the artist says that the goal is to "summon a freshness of life like oasis spring water." Steven Montgomery of the US was awarded the Gold Prize for his work entitled "Static Fuel #3." This large sculpture simulates a machine in a state of decomposition and corrosion to describe the impermanence and vulnerability of material goods both as a personal response to the immediate environment and as a direct observation of contemporary trends.

Arnold Annen of Switzerland was awarded one of two silver prizes for his work, a delicate and translucent white bowl. The second silver prize was given to Elina Brandt-Hansen of Norway for her work entitled "Dualism", a two-piece wall hanging that expresses the human mind's subconscious will to seek opposites to create balance and harmony. Three bronze prizes were awarded to Paula Bastiaansen of the Netherlands, Dorothy Feibleman of the US and Maria Geszler-Garzuly of Hungary, respectively.

This exhibit began on January 23, 2004. But, its official opening date is February 13, 2004. This is also the date that awards will be presented to the winners. This exhibition will continue until June 13, 2004.

As of the beginning of this month, this exhibit has received more than 20,000 visitors. Among them, about 8,000 have taken place in voting to choose their favorite works. Arnold Annen's translucent white bowl was voted the object visitors would most like to take home with them, while Maria Geszler-Garzuly's work "Lamentation" was voted the most moving for its portrayal of innocent victims in a war-torn country.

Lasting positive impression

Wu says that about 80% of the display items are ceramic sculptures. "From these pieces, we can clearly see the creativity, techniques, talent, thinking and style of each artist." He adds that art objects and commercial objects, such as those traditionally made in Taiwan, are different. Commercial objects are made according to set specifications. Art objects are made in an attempt to search for something unique and aesthetic.

As Wu explains this competition provides the chance for observation for Taiwan's ceramic artists. "Every outstanding ceramic artist, in addition to his/her own concepts and talent, has his/her cultural background. You can see the differences in cultural background in the pieces. This exhibition allows domestic artists and the public to understand the cultural characteristics of other countries."

In addition, beginning tomorrow, there will be several events to complement this competition including symposiums and workshops by the judges and award-winning artists and a cultural tour of Taiwan's famous kilns and museums with outstanding ceramic arts collections. Wu says that more than 30 ceramic artists from all over the world have come to Taiwan to participate in these events, which will give them an understanding of Taiwan's cultural characteristics. "Through this competition and related activities, we want to create an attraction for foreign ceramic artists to come to Taiwan at least every two years and discover this island nation's vitality and diversity."

Developing uniqueness

Italy, Korea and Japan also hold international ceramic arts competitions every two years. Wu notes that three of the four countries organizing such events are in Asia, as Asian countries are using these events to allow the world to understand their cultural characteristics.

Wu says that, "I participated in Korea's biennale exhibition symposiums and saw that the winning pieces had a different style from the pieces in this exhibition. This has a lot to do with the judges. Every judge has his/her perspective. So, we made sure that we had an international panel of judges, and included scholars as well as artists." The panel included from Taiwan Liou Chen-chou, dean of the College of Design, chairperson of the Graduate School of Plastic Arts and professor of Ceramic Art at National Taiwan University of the Arts; from the UK Peter Lane, ceramic artist, critic and writer; from the U.S. Elaine O'Henry, president of NCECA (the American ceramic artists association); from Japan Toru Enomoto, director of the Museum of Modern Ceramic Art; and from Germany Monika Gass-Pefannkuche, director of Keramik Museum Westerwald.

The selection criteria included technique, spatial use and lines, visual effect and esthetics, reflection of modern social phenomena and the integration of the traditional and modern.

Looking to the future

Wu says that in the future the focus will be on continuing to improve this event. Feedback from competition judges, participants and visitors has been very positive. He expects that the foreign artists that have participated will help to spread the word about this competition in their home countries. In addition, he hopes that more channels of promotion will be opened to allow more people to learn about this event in time for them to prepare to participate fully.

For more information about The First Taiwan Ceramics Biennale 2004,
please contact: Taipei County Yingge
Ceramics Museum
200, Wenhua Road, Yingge Town,
Taipei County
Tel: (02) 8677-2727
Website: www.ceramics.tpc.gov.tw

http://www.etaiwannews.com/Taiwan/2004/02/12/1076550852.htm

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Renmin Ribao
Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, February 10, 2004

Adding a modern touch to Chinese ceramics
An ongoing exhibition of ceramics by more than 20 contemporary Chinese artists is changing the way local audiences view the traditional art.

Ceramics made by these artists are different from, although not necessarily better than, those made by their Chinese ancestors, often only seen by Americans in museum collections.

They are not bowls, plates and vases with elegant patterns and smooth surfaces. They are not from any "official kiln (guanyao)," or kilns from the Song, Ming or Qing dynasties. And don't expect to find them with seals bearing words such as "Made in Qianlong Period" or even "Made in China."

They are a little more modern. They are a little Western. But they are from China, made by Chinese ceramics artists and reflecting what's happening in China's ceramics community nowadays.

The exhibition "Chinese Ceramics Today: Between Tradition and Contemporary Expression" is being staged at the University of Hawaii Art Gallery until February 13. It was organized by the Ariana Museum in Geneva, Switzerland and the Guangdong Museum of Art in Guangzhou, China.

Before Honolulu, the exhibition had made stops at the Ariana Museum, the Denmark Keramik Museum, and a number of galleries in the United States. The next and final stop of the exhibition will be the Hong Kong Science & Technology University in Hong Kong, where it will be showing from March 19 to April 19.

"The University of Hawaii Art Gallery is pleased to be one of the six international museums selected to host this important exhibition," said Tom Klobe, director of the gallery. "The exhibition presents a rare opportunity for our students and the people of Hawaii to see and experience current developments in the area of ceramics within China."

According to Klobe, this exhibition has special meaning for Hawaiians because of the sizable community of Chinese immigrants who have relocated there over the years.

"These immigrants, their children, and their children's children have nurtured an interest in and respect for the culture of the land of their origin," Klobe said. "And, because the Chinese of Hawaii are our friends and families, concern for China and its traditions have always been an important aspect of our multi-faceted culture."

He told China Daily that there has been a rising interest in contemporary Chinese art on the Hawaiian islands in recent years. "This is the first time that a group show of contemporary Chinese ceramics is being staged in our gallery," Klobe said. "It has been warmly welcomed since its opening."

I-chi Hsu, a Beijing ceramics expert who curated the international exhibition, added that the art of producing contemporary Chinese ceramics has emerged since studio artists appeared in the country in the 1990s.

For centuries, traditional Chinese ceramics have been produced by anonymous artisans. Instead of being creative art works, traditional ceramics are often objects for daily use.

But contemporary ceramic artists are making art to express themselves. In this exhibition, about 80 per cent of the works are purely for artistic enjoyment.

The range of influences including traditional materials and techniques are extensive in these contemporary works.

"Patterns from major ceramic bases such as Jingdezhen and Yixing can be easily found in the works, which is rare in ceramics from abroad," Hsu said.

Many young Chinese ceramics artists are influenced by Western art concepts and often emphasize distorted shapes and striking visual effects in their works.

But artists such as Lu Bing, Bai Ming and Huang Lizhen have managed to incorporate traditional Chinese art elements into their experiments, adding a distinctive Chinese flavor to their works.

In Hong Kong artist Chris Lo's work "Studying the Order (I)," 10 ceramic containers of different shapes and sizes are installed in a curved line. The clean and white color of the surfaces of the containers, coupled with their dark and rough insides as well as the black background create an interesting contrast, reminding viewers of the notion of yin and yang in traditional Chinese philosophy.

It is a work made with obvious Chinese wisdom.

"Just like ink, the medium of ceramics bears some special meaning in Chinese culture," said Guangdong Museum of Art Director Wang Huangsheng. "So-called 'modern ceramics' are based on this traditional medium, but have added some contemporary aesthetic significance to it."

The international show is the fourth large-scale exhibition of contemporary Chinese ceramics organized by the Guangdong Museum of Art since 1997.
Source: Xinhua

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200402/10/eng20040210_134377.shtml

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Renmin Ribao
Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, March 04, 2003

Kilns for Tang Trio-color Ceramics Discovered
Archaeologists confirmed Monday that they have found the site of ancient kilns used to produce the famous Tang trio-color ceramics.

The discovery was announced after days of work at Gongyi City, central China's Henan Province, where 12 ancient kilns have been unearthed.

The Tang trio-color potteries, or "Tang San Cai" in Chinese, was a famous technique for glazing ceramics with three colors -- yellow, green and white or very occasionally blue. It came into being in the Han Dynasty (202 BC - AD 220) and flourished in the Tang Dynasty (618-907).

Among the excavated kilns, which were laid out in an orderly pattern, two date back to the Han Dynasty, six belong to the Tang Dynasty and four can be traced back to the Song Dynasty (960-1279).About 1,500 bags of porcelain fragments and pottery have been found, including over 800 undamaged or reconstructable objects.

The unearthed items and tools needed for porcelain production offer substantial proof of the advanced expertise in the craft of that time, said Xun Xinmin, chief of Henan Archaeology Research Institute. The discovery would help research in topics such as kiln construction, pottery production techniques and the disposition of workshops, he said.

Judging from the relics, archaeologists have confirmed that the trio-color glaze technique reached its apex during the Tang Dynasty.

Archaeologist also found evidence to indicate the Tang San Cai industry declined in the Song Dynasty until the kilns fell into disuse.

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200303/04/eng20030304_112632.shtml

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