PRESS RELEASE A project of the Goethe-Institut Thailand and the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC) – for the promotion of intercultural exchange and the creative industry.

Key information: Title: Din Clay Ton exhibition Artists: Stefanie Hering, Wasinburee Supanichvoraparch Works: Vessels, ceramics, photographic and film documentation Dates: March 8th to March 30thOpening: Evening of March 7th, 2019 Place: Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC)

ABSTRACT

On the initiative of Maren Niemeyer, head of the Goethe-Institut in Thailand, the BACC is exhibiting from 8 to 30 March 2019 a selection of artistic works by German porcelaindesigner Stefanie Hering and Thai photographer Wasinburee Supanichvoraparch in an extensive installation.

The cultural dialogue encompasses Stefanie Hering’s own series of her hand-constructed porcelain vases and vessels, specially created for the showcase; the works are up to two meters in height, which is an absolute novelty in ceramic manufacturing.

This series of art works, developed over the course of months and as spectacular as it is conscientious, could be realised only in the ceramic workshop of Wasinburee Supanichvoraparch in Ratchaburi. Here, Stefanie Hering found unique and still preserved manufacturing techniques for the implementation of her oversized objects.

Wasinburee Supanichvoraparch captured the artistic manufacturing processes on-site in Thailand and also filmed in Stefanie Hering’s workshop in Germany, where the first sketchescame into being and the final touches were put to the porcelain editions.

It is this film and the photographic documentation that initially opens the eloquent dialogue between the two cultures to the viewers in all its sequences and invites them to examine their unique characteristics as well as the surprising similarities.

CONCEPT OF THE EXHIBITION: MANUFACTURING PROCESSES

The viewer is taken on a cultural journey through time and place between tradition worthy of preservation

Two cultures – ONE philosophy of pure craftsmanship. In March 2019, the presentation in the BACC kicks off an exhibition series which brings together Stefanie Hering’s porcelain works of art, handmade in Thailand and Germany, and the experimental documentation by film and photographic artist Wasinburee Supanichvoraparch. The viewer is taken on a cultural journey through time and place: Here is the elaborate, traditional cottage-industry manufacture that has been refined over hundreds of years and which is recognised today as being worthy of preservation, and there are the differences between the geographically separate cultures of Germany and Thailand – and last but not least, the clash between offline and online that is reflected in the ostensible contradiction between time-consuming craftsmanship and its digital documentation and dissemination. The result? An inspiring field of tension that invites the observer to consider their own consumption and values.

The value of traditional handcrafting mixed with innovation This project by the Goethe-Institut Thailand in BACC demonstrates the value of traditional handicrafts and actively contributes to thepreservation of cultural technology that is threatened by industrial production. At the same time, it is documented how the two artists develop an artistically new language form through free, experimental approaches, thus forming innovative concepts in their design practices that have not existed like this before now.

An intercultural exchange between Thailand and Germany

“It is our goal”, says Maren Niemeyer, head of the Goethe-Institut in Thailand, “to promote the creative industry and the intercultural exchange between Thailand and Germany, especially in regard to the country-specific cultural technologies and artisan traditions in the area of ceramics and porcelain manufacture. In these fields, both artists are internationally-renowned masters of their craft”. The collaboration with Thai artisans is described by the artist Stefanie Hering as extremely inspiring: “In Europe, the conditions and purpose of innovation to create this sort of large, handmade ceramic object are lacking. Here in Thailand, I can experiment freely in workshops in which centuries-old craftsmanship meets pure joy of design. “

Extraordinary works that are up to two metres in height

Stefanie Hering is a trained porcelain master and can rely in her artistic endeavours on her absolute knowledge of the medium of porcelain. She discovered a studio in Thailand that made it possible for her to realize her unique, oversizedobjects in giant ceramic ovens. And it was first in Thailand that she found the natural raw materials that enable the creation of such large-scale works. Out of the function-aligned culture of

vessels, Stefanie Hering creates objects which, through their explicit size and powerfully expressive handmade character, have a sculptural, statuesque quality. The function gives way to the absolute aesthetic of the form.

ARTIST PORTRAIT

STEFANIE HERING

Manufactum – the traces of the hand characterise every single object by Stefanie Hering. Her philosophy of pure craftsmanship creates sustainable, unique pieces of a high cultural value. This applies to her design collections, which are produced by craftsmen trained over many years, and in particular to her work as a freelance artist who realises each individual art object herself in all its stages. The special and inimitable features are Stefanie Hering’s consummate forms that spring from play, trial and experiment as well as from the absolute knowledge of the porcelain material. Stefanie Hering, herself a trained porcelain master, explores the boundaries of the feasible and in her artistic endeavours constantly goes beyond them (for example, with special porcelain formulas, glazes or firing processes), making her a unique visionary in the art of porcelain making. Her work is innovative and stylistically influential, the forms autarchic and free, yet characteristic and recognisable in the understanding of form.

Honours & awards (selection): Design prize of the Federal Republic of Germany / Gold Gold prize,Ceramic Biennale Korea ICFF Editors Awards Craftsmanship, New York

Art and design collections (selection): MoMa, New York Musée National de Céramique, Sèvres

Grassimuseum, Leipzig

WASINBUREE

SUPANICHVORAPARCH Born in 1971, lives and works in Ratchaburi, Thailand. As a

ceramic designer and artist, Wasinburee was trained in

Germany where he studied to become a technician in the

school of ceramics at the Berufsfachschule für Keramik

(Vocational college for ceramics) Landshut, Germany, and

obtained a Master of Fine Arts, majoring in ceramic and

photography, from the University of Kassel, Germany (1999).

Wasinburee exhibited his works both locally and

internationally. He was an invited artist at the Thai Pavillion,

Venice Biennale, 2013, participated in group exhibitions such

as the Oriental Ceramic Exhibition, KSCA International,

Cheonan, Korea (2012), Thai Trend, Bangkok Art and Culture

Centre, Bangkok, Thailand (2012), and Thai Transience,

Singapore Art Museum, Singapore (2012). His solo exhibitions

include U.P.O., ARDEL’s Third Place Gallery, Bangkok,

Thailand (2012), Design for Change, Birmingham City

University, Birmingham, United Kingdom (2007), BURI,

Keramik in der Wolfsschlucht 1, Kassel, Germany (1999). In

2011, he initiated Art Normal, a biennial community art project,

with the goal of dispersing art throughout daily life, and into

homes, stores, restaurants, and on public transportation in

Ratchaburi. He received prestigious awards for his works

including the Silpathorn Award for Design from The Office of

Contemporary Art and Culture.

Honours & awards (selection): Silpathorn Award

Winner 2010 for Design Section Thailand

Designer of the year 2007: Best of Ceramic

Design, Thailand

CONTACT

PROGRAMME MANAGER

Ms Kullaya Wapinanon Goethe-Institut Thailand 18/1 Soi Goethe Sathorn Soi 1 Bangkok 10120 Thailand Tel: +66(0)21088232 Kullaya.wapinanon@goethe.de

PR/COMMUNICATION

Pierre Herubel Pimclick pierre.h@pimclick.com Tel: +66 (0)94 880 8482

Elke Doppelbauer Stefanie Hering - Berlin GmbH Potsdamer Str. 98 10785 Berlin | Germany Tel (M): +49-(0)171-80 36 387 elke.doppelbauer@heringberlin.com

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