Dust to Dust

12th July 2023 - 24 Sept 2023 

Participating Artists:

Aletheia Lynne Tan, Anne Stauffer, Calvin Pang, Francis Poon, Ng Siok Hoon, Rayn Leow, Victoria Chia, Xin Xiao Chang, Yeo Chee Kiong.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:

The Ephemeral Theatre of Clay Series is Sculpture 2052’s Annual Project Series to explore traditional methods in sculpture practice through the contemporary discussion of the "instants" within the context of the Digital Age.  

Series #01: The Breakfast Bar 2023 

As the first instalment of the Ephemeral Theatre of Clay series, this sculpture project will focus on figurative clay modelling without going through the traditional casting process that transforms sculpted clay/form into permanent materials. Instead, we will invite a group of artists to construct a collection of figurative sculptures in clay through a designated period of time. The purpose is to reflect and contemplate on the lifecycle of our physical body based on the concept of “dust to dust”, and to generate a collective memory of a “lifetime” within the long breakfast bar table that gathers everyone together for the shared event. Eventually, the various moments of the “lifecycle” will be captured through 3D Scanning which will allow a chance for anyone to revisit the experience within the digital dimension from time to time.

Project Briefing Session 

The Ephemeral Theatre of Clay project is the title of a paper written by Yeo Chee Kiong, founder of Sculpture 2052. The paper published in 2022 by the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, is based on a clay modelling research project of Chee Kiong during his visiting professorship at the Sculpture Department of National Taiwan University of Arts between 2017-2020. In this briefing session for artists interested in this project, Chee Kiong will share about his explorations in contemporary clay modelling practices and further explain and outline the projected outcome of this project. 

Professional Clay Modelling Workshop

This 10 session special workshop is intended for preparing the less experienced artist-participants with basic to intermediate clay modelling skills in figurative sculpture that includes portrait and anatomy studies. It will be conducted at Sculpture 2052 by Chee Kiong before the start of the project. Workshop Fees will apply. 

Project Procedures: 

• Required Project Briefing for interested artists;
• Required Portfolio Submission for the organizer's selection of max 10 artists after the briefing session;
• Optional Pre-project Professional Clay Modelling Workshop (10 sessions, fees apply);
• Selected artists will commit in on-site creation of figurative clay works to form a life-size clay installation in the space of Sculpture 2052 within a period of 10 weeks. (Jul - Sep 2023) 
• The work site will be recorded and the work processes will be live-streamed online and opened for public visit and viewing during designated weekends.
• Weekly 3D scanning of the Clay Installation will be conducted as a form of digital documentation of the entire project. 
• The final Clay Installation will be presented in its raw states for two weeks to allow for observation of its natural processes of drying, cracking, and falling apart to return to its original state as earth/clay/dust. 

Project Timeline at a glance:

Project Briefing: 11 Mar 2023 (Sat), 3pm – 5 pm, @ Sculpture 2052

Portfolio Submission: 25 Mar 2023

Professional Clay Modelling Workshop: 29 Mar - 31 May 2023 (Wed, 2-5pm and 7-10pm) (Sat, 9am - 12pm)

Project commencement: 1st week of July to 2nd week of Sep 2023 (opened-studio concept)

Why Clay?

Clay is a malleable and transformative material that will constantly and naturally respond to the surroundings’ changing conditions such as the temperature and humidity. It offers us a transcendental field beyond the linear progression of time. From soft to hard, wet to dry, and vice versa, it provides experiences of eternal returns and repeated reencounters, and brings about the ambiguous status of an ephemeral theatre that has neither ending nor beginning.

Clay modelling is one of the fundamental art forms based on our primitive touch on  kneadable clay since ancient times. Will this historical status make this art form easier to be ignored by the contemporary digital age? Is the act of kneading especially being threatened since digital interfaces are able to create synthetic simulation within the virtual dimension? The digital space is the intangible virtual reality where our physical hand will never reach.

Project References:

NTUA Taiwan, “13 tonnes” 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiPV6emsels

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Rf6GXUsNdGr3VeNQbtIgE8A5bOOUDpfV?usp=share_link

http://yunghsu.net/en/

https://www.spacestation.art/storyofbeginning

https://www.mplus.org.hk/en/magazine/understanding-asian-field/