Exhibition opening in Berlin, Germany

The Ceramics and its Dimensions: Shaping the Future exhibition opened on Sunday January 28th for the fifth time, this time at the Bröhan-Museum in Berlin.

Opening guests at the Bröhan-Museum. (c) Minerva Juolahti

Opening at Bröhan-Museum

The exhibition opening attracted plenty of local people interested in ceramics and design. The director of Bröhan-Museum Dr Tobias Hoffman started the opening speeches by welcomed the guests to the museum. Professor Barbara Schmidt from Weissensee Kunsthochschule Berlin presented in her speech the different themes and the local additions of the exhibition. Wilhelm Siemen, the director of Porzellanikon and the leader of Ceramics and its Dimensions, ended the speeches by speaking about the importance of European co-operation.

Professor Barbara Schmidt speaking at the opening. (c) Minerva Juolahti

The fifth venue of the around Europe touring exhibition is at the Bröhan-Museum that is located in the quarter of Charlottenburg, Berlin, right next to the Charlottenburg castle. The museum is concentrated on art nouveau, art deco, and functionalism. On its ca. 1000 square meters the museum shows permanent exhibitions that are selected from its large collection of art nouveau, art deco, and the art of the Berlin Secession. At the same time the museum seeks to explore the more contemporary perspective on art and design with changing exhibitions.

Wilhelm Siemen, the director of Porzellanikon, speaking at the opening. (c) Minerva Juolahti

Exhibition and its Local Additions

The Ceramics and its Dimensions: Shaping the Future exhibition and the local additions have taken over almost all of the third floor of the Bröhan-Museum. The core of the exhibition has been placed in a larger white hall and the exhibition layout has once again been modified in a creative new way. The walls of the hall are covered with vitrines and in the middle of the room there are four isles of exhibition works.  The vitrines contain mainly the works initiated and/or made at the experimental Kahla workshop in April 2016.

Bröhan-Museum is located next to the Charlottenburg castle (on the right). (c) Minerva Juolahti

In Berlin the exhibition has also been joined by three local additions curated by Barbara Schmidt from the Weissensee Kunsthochschule Berlin: The final thesis projects of the students of the school, the results of two experimental ceramics courses and an interesting architectural ceramics adaption. Weissensee is one of the four partners of the Ceramics and its Dimensions: Shaping the Future sub-project. The Future Lights in Ceramics winners of 2016 and 2017 have traveled with the Shaping the Future exhibition since Portadown (NI) last summer and Berlin is the third venue where they are on display next to the exhibition. In Berlin they have been joined by the recent winners of 2018. The exhibition will be open at the Bröhan-Museum until April 22nd and during that time a Round Table discussion with local ceramists will be held.

Local media has been interested in the exhibition. (c) Minerva Juolahti

Tour Continues to Ljubljana and Prague

Before Berlin the exhibition was part of the British Ceramics Biennial in Stoke-on-Trent (UK), where it attracted around 17 000 visitors last autumn. During the festival also the Clay Pit workshop, a collaborative project between British Ceramics Biennial, Ceramics and its Dimensions project and Aalto University, was organised, attracting over 4 000 visitors. After Berlin the Ceramics and its Dimensions: Shaping the Future exhibition will travel to Ljubljana (Slovenia) and later this year to Prague (Czech Republic).