The Grand Prize Winner of the KICB 2015
Factory
FACTORY is a performative installation that reflects upon notions of place,
skill, people and material objects left behind following the process of industrial change. Since the 1970s and 1980s, due to
progressive post-indust-rialization that occurred in many countries including the United States and the Western European nations,
the traditional manufacturing sector has been replaced with the tertiary industries or service industries. As Stoke-on-Trent’s ceramic
factories have been largely replaced by service, retail and distribution sectors, there exists a significant gap in this tradition and with
few apprenticeships a danger of specific skills disappearing.
The opportunity to perform FACTORY in South Korea – a country that gives status to individuals with exceptional artistic ability as a means to preserve and cultivate cultural heritage, provides a prestigious platform to convey how this value system remains alien to Britain.
Rita Floyd
Rita Floyd constantly make and demolish flowers under the direction of Neil- Brownsword during the performance. The delicate nature of making juxtaposed with the random force of discarding, over the period of time build up a linear deposit or of waste forms, to metaphorically reference the human fallout from this industry over the recent past. His disruption of the production line arrest the various stages of making, revealing both haptic and material knowledge through these a series of component forms.Rita Floyd has worked for over 45 years as a china flower maker, at factories that include Adderley Floral and Royal Doulton.With changing fashion and the impact of globalisation, this industry in Stoke-on-Trent has all but disappeared, and Rita remains amongst the last of a generation who retains this skill.
James Adams
James Adams, has worked as a modeller and mould-maker at numerous factories including Wedgwood, before shifting his profession (somewhat reluctantly) to the building trade. ames Adams create molds for the Moon Jar, which was jointly made by Korea's ceramic master, Handoyo Kwangsu Seo and Neil Brownsword during this performance. Through the history of British ceramics industry and the human assets of bankrupt factories, James Adams collaborate with Korea’s intangible cultural asset, the master Kwangsu Seo. Through this acts, Neil Brownsword will give visitors an opportunity to gain insight into the value and meaning of the intangible heritage once again.
The process of how indigenous knowledge travels to new environments and is innovatively applied to established materials and forms, remains a point of reference for this collaboration. Brownsword’s material interactions with discard salvaged from post-industrial sites, will be extended by Korean artisans who will impart theirown traditional practicesto this non-linear mode of ceramic production.
Shinhyun Cho(Ceramist, Operation of the Ceramics Research Institute)
Ceramic artist Shinhyun Cho creates molds with the abandoned prototype artwork of Neil Brownsword during the performance period. The ceramic artist is one of the rare Korean artists who combine the tradition with the modern and makes pieces in a very neat design by using the traditional technique, called Millefiore.
Yongjun Jo(Ceramist)
Yongjun Cho demonstrate the sculpture artwork on a piece of the molded objet created by Neil Brownsword during the performance period.He is the son of Byeng Ho Cho who is the 1st ceramics artisan of Yeoju and is regarded as the best master in white porcelain. He continues to share his father’s reputation and artworks, showing the excellence of the Korean porcelain with white porcelain’s double-openwork.
Wonjeong Lee(Ceramist)
Ceramic artist Wonjeong Lee demonstrate the painting on the molded objet made by Neil Brownsword. She is the daughter of Icheon Master Hyuang-gu Lee and works with various ceramics based on the beautiful patterns.