White Cloud – Porcelain object

Culture & Context

Part of the idea for the art project in the hospital came from the nurses, as they stated that if it was a large form, more people would be allowed to touch it at the same time, and new types of communication could emerge. Hence, I made white and blue forms with various surface compositions. During participatory observation at the hospital a patient stated while looking at a ceramic image we had placed on the wall:

‘…I can see a cave, and there is a woman inside. There is a man outside on his knees. I like abstract images. I also like to look at clouds, and to see how they change. I always see different motifs and they are changing all the time. When I was a child I lay on the grass gazing upwards, seeing the clouds flying across the sky. Then I saw all sorts of things…I saw a kind of horse, or a sheep…’

This comment inspired me to make cloud motifs on the surfaces of some artworks, ‘White Cloud’ and ‘Cloud Systems’. These larger sizes were in opposition to some smaller forms that could only be held and touched by people one at a time. However, if there was an art work large enough for two or more people to touch, then it would generate more or another type of communication, according to the nurses. Ultimately, we thought that it would definitely create a different situation for dialogue in the light therapy room or for a patient walking up and down the white, long hospital corridors. Citation from: Berg, A. (2014). Tactile Resonance in Art. Ruukku: Studies in Artistic Research, 2(2). http://ruukku-journal.fi/en/issues/2

Process & Production

Casted porcelain.

Recipe Details

Limoges porcelain fired to 1200 degrees Celsius.