The kryptonite of everyday life

The Museum of Applied Arts gives a sign of life with an exhibition about ceramics, going beyond coffee cups and flowerpots

Bulletproof vests, heat shields for space shuttles, kitchen knives, dentures, and many other surprising things: At a second glance, ceramics emerges as a material without limits. But one’s first thought is likely to be of grandma’s tea set.
In its exhibition “Keramik. Austrian Ceramics Today”, the Viennese Museum of Applied Art questions whether “ceramics is able to define the boundaries between art, applied arts and design”.

(...) Katja Miksovsky, who has curated the museum’s collection of ceramics since last November, sees an increasing tendency for artists to use ceramics in their work, in whatever form. Unlike in Great Britain and France, ceramics as a material has not been taken seriously in Austria, where it is often associated with amateur crafts. Here, it is exhibited in five selected positions by Austrian designers.
“Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Is it a rocket? No, it’s Superman!” cry out wild visages that appear to have escaped from a Romanesque fresco. These heads are affixed to a plate of unglazed clay. Above them, Superman, who is applied using transfer foil, floats in his superhero costume.
In his nine-part wall relief, titled “Helper-In-Need”, Wilfried Gerstel combines the visual language of the Middle Ages with citations of Superman comic strips. In this way, he manages to combine the crafts of two faraway eras with each other. (...)

Der Standard, Rondo supplement, 6.5.2005

The kryptonite of everyday life

Der Standard, Rondo supplement, 6.5.2005