The British Ceramics Biennial (BCB) returns to Stoke-on-Trent this autumn with its biggest line-up to date.

Set to run from September 28th to November 10th, this festival of the best in contemporary ceramics will bring together 150 leading artists through a series of exhibitions, installations and events which, in turn, draws on the heritage and creative edge of Stoke-on-Trent & The Potteries.

The 2013 festival will not only celebrate the role of the individual artist, but will also ensure that all visitors to the BCB will see ceramics in a much more entertaining and meaningful light.  A working ceramic studio and programme of hands-on workshops will also make sure everyone leaves the Biennial with at least some clay under their fingernails!

The former Spode factory site in Stoke Town will form the creative hub of BCB, with artists and their work animating different areas of this redundant, industrial space.  A focal point will be the CHINA HALL PAVILIONS - a series of bespoke structures created by participating artists.

New this year, the exhibitions will extend beyond Spode’s main China Hall.  And international group of 30 researchers from the Bergen Academy of Art and Design (KHIB) in Norway will inhabit other buildings and spaces that have not previously been open to the public, with a specially mapped out site tour revealing their sensitive and remarkable interventions and installations.

In EXPLORING SPODE, commissioned artists will make personal responses to the factory space.  These include poet and writer Holly Corfield Carr’s texts embedded in the building, and Stephen Dixon’s archaeological study of the value of historical artefacts.

And Phoebe Cummings, winner of the AWARD prize in 2011, has been specially commissioned by BCB to create a large-scale installation based on a 19th century Spode plate design.

To add to the international flavour and profile of the festival, Chinese artist Wan Liya will present a new body of work during his residency in Stoke-on-Trent, underlining the message that the city sits at the centre of a global industry. The China Hall programme will again feature the popular FRESH exhibition showcasing the best of the current crop of UK ceramic graduates, launching careers and highlighting the importance of higher education in ceramic futures.

Other new features for the former Spode factory site include a dedicated FILM ROOM, which will screen a specially-curated programme that highlights the value of moving image in the appreciation of ceramics – and, for collectors and investors, the first GALLERY SHOP, which will sell work by many of the artists exhibiting at BCB.

Heading-up the BCB 2013 exhibition programme in the City Centre, the AWARD exhibition will return to The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery.  It will bring together new works by 22 ceramicists who are competing for the £10,000 AWARD Prize.  The neaby AirSpace Gallery will present exhibitions, and host canal-side guerrilla interventions and even an artist soup-kitchen event.

A major new part of the six-week festival will be a range of BIENNIAL EVENTS designed to inform and involve visitors.

These will include ‘get-involved’ workshops in the BCB ceramic studio including ‘Weekenders’ where young people, families and adults will be able to get involved with: artists-in-residence to make their own creations in clay; family friendly fun activities over October half term; and the CLAY ROOM - made with unfired clay, where visitors can make a clay object to be left on display in the room throughout the festival.

BCB is also working with partners (Steelite International, The Prince’s Trust and Clayground Collective, winners of one of this year’s National Skills Awards) to deliver two days of activity in the Mother Town of The Potteries in the Burslem Weekend.

The full programme can be viewed at www.britishceramicsbiennial.com.  And for all tourist information relating to Stoke-on-Trent and The Potteries, visit www.visitstoke.co.uk.

Ends

For further information and images about the BCB, please contact:

Miranda Sowden

Tel: 07971 053066

E-mail Miranda@britishceramicsbiennial.com.

For further information, and images, please contact:
Sam Hall
Tel: 01782 232817
Email: tourism@stoke.gov.uk 
 

EDITOR’S NOTES

The British Ceramics Biennial is a prestigious cultural event taking place in Stoke-on-Trent from 28 September to 10 November 2013. This six-week long festival will present work from the UK’s leading contemporary ceramic artists in a series of new exhibitions and special events across the city, embracing the heritage of Stoke-on-Trent as the home of British ceramics, and celebrating the city’s creative edge as an international centre for excellence in contemporary ceramics.

The British Ceramics Biennial launched in 2009 as a five-year initiative of residencies, fellowships, commissions, education and enterprise projects from 2009 to 2013 with a major festival every two years. BCB is intended to be a catalyst for regeneration in the region and to create a platform for the best in current ceramic design, both nationally and internationally. The Biennial draws on the historical strengths of the past in championing new future directions for the city. The Biennial works in partnership with organisations and individuals in the museums, cultural industry, business, education, community and voluntary sectors across the city in the development and delivery of projects with a particular focus on public engagement. The festival and supporting BCB Projects programme will not only highlight and raise the profile of the many ceramics industries still working in Stoke-on- Trent, but will also create commissioning and exhibition opportunities for local ceramic artists as well as national and international artists.