Object Factory: The Art of Industrial Ceramics is the first major U.S. museum exhibition to survey contemporary innovation in industrial ceramic production and the renaissance of ceramics in art and design today. The exhibition explores how artists and designers are reviving interest in ceramics through collaborations with industry that enhance and sometimes subvert the industrial process. Object Factory presents works created for leading manufacturers as well as artworks by independent artists and designers. Both non-functional and functional works are highlighted, as are important technological advances in ceramic material that allow for its use in electronic appliances, cutting implements, and other surprising products.

Object Factory features more than 200 pieces by fifty artists, designers, and industrial manufacturers, including works by Swedish artist Kjell Rylander, American jeweler and designer Ted Muehling, Dutch designers Hella Jongerius and Jurgen Bey, and Russian-American designer Constantin Boym, among others. Manufacturers represented in the exhibition include Bernardaud, Nymphenburg, Rosenthal, and Royal Tichelaar Makkum.

The exhibition is curated by acclaimed ceramic artist and designer Marek Cecula and is accompanied by a 120-page, fully illustrated catalogue published and distributed by the Museum of Arts and Design. For information about ordering the catalog, please call The Store at 212-299-7700 or click here.

Resources

Teacher Resource Packet - A collection of images and questions for discussions, with bibliography and glossary of terms, designed for educators k-12, but made available to all.

Object Factory: The Art of Industrial Ceramics is organized by the Museum of Arts and Design, based on the exhibition originally organized by the Gardiner Museum, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. This exhibition is made possible, in part, through the generous support of the Mondriaan Foundation, Amsterdam and the Murray and Helen Gruber Fund. Additional support provided by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Consulate General of the Netherlands in New York in celebration of NY400. Paint for the installation was generously donated by Farrow & Ball.