The exhibition Sans les mains! comes at an exciting time when ceramics is entering a new chapter in its 25,000-year history. Digital technology is adding new tools to the artist’s toolbox and enabling the making of artworks previously impossible to produce. Sans les mains! showcases a selection of ceramics made by thirteen of the field’s leading international ceramic artists, in a ground-breaking exhibition organised by the Fondation d’entreprise Bernardaud in Limoges.
Once clay becomes ceramic through exposure to fire, it will last forever. And though it is a fragile material, ancient pots and shards have been found in most parts of the world, each piece telling us something about the history of humankind.
The development of pottery tells the story of Homo Faber, man (or mostly woman) the maker. It also tells the story of innovation and the development of tools, without which society would not have developed and we would not be surrounded by the wonderful objects we can see today in our homes, museums and galleries.
These advances have continued and today we have the Digital Revolution, where new tools are being added to the artist’s toolbox, enabling the making of artworks previously impossible to produce. Artists are exploring, appropriating and using these tools, allowing them new creative freedom and generating a new craft lexicon.
For this ground-breaking exhibition, organised by the Fondation d’entreprise Bernardaud, artist and curator Michael Eden has brought together thirteen of the field’s leading artists whose work explores not only the technology but its impact on art, craft and society.
Michael EDEN, Exhibition curator
Hélène HURET, Director of the Fondation Bernardaud
Artists:
Dylan BECK (USA)
Bryan CZIBESZ (USA)
Michael EDEN (UK)
Emerging OBJECTS (USA)
Jennifer GRAY (UK)
Flemming TVEDE HANSEN
(Denmark)
(and other collaborators)
Del HARROW (USA)
Olivier VAN HERPT (Netherlands)
Toshiya MASUDA (Japan)
Megumi NAITOH (Japan)
John RAINEY (UK)
Shawn SPANGLER (USA)
Chris WIGHT (UK)
Contact for Press Hélène Huret : hhuret(at)bernardaud.com
