Output details

'Trade'

The project was disseminated further with a publication in the international ceramic journal Ceramics Technical, 2010, ‘A Day in The Life’ pp.104-107. Ceramics Technical ISSN 1324-4175 and a presentation at the Aberystwyth International Ceramic Festival, July 2009.

Dr HSU Ichi, international advisor at the museum quotes Blackie’s views on the Ding Zhou shards in the 2008 Xian General Assembly (http://www.aic-iac.org/archive/assemblies/china/2008xiandingzhoukiln.html) and subsequently sort his advice on speakers for a conference on the subject.

4 pieces

Part of the Permanent Collection

The work was made during a residency at the museum alongside eleven other British artists. The artists were selected to represent the UK by Professor Tony Franks, former principle of Edinburgh School of Art and, at the time, president of the International Academy of Ceramics and the exhibition was peer curated.

FLICAM is a museum of international importance holding the largest collection in the world of contemporary ceramic art all made on site in China. It regularly holds international conferences including, following its discovery five kilometres from FLICAM, the Ding Zhou kiln, the missing link of Chinese ceramic history.

‘Trade’ continued Blackie’s research into the imperatives that the industrial, virtual and digital have brought to praesentia and haptic practice. The works took the form of ceramic carpets (small tiles tied together to produce a flexible hanging) based on the armour of the terracotta army of the first emperor’s tomb at Xian. Xian is forty minutes from FLICAM and was the beginning of the silk-road used to trade ceramics, carpets, and other goods with Europe.

‘Trade’ explored the batch production techniques used by the makers of the clay army to generate one-off works. Elements of the production engaged the skills of local factory workers enabling Blackie to work on a large scale but requiring a clear subdivision of labour. The project explored how individual artists might successfully function within an industrialised and global market.