porta ceramica | permanent exhibition from the AJG collections

The AJG ceramics collection is inseparably linked to the International Ceramics Symposium in Bechyně, which, since its establishment, has become an important meeting place for artists of various nationalities, generations, and cultural contexts. At the same time, this environment has contributed to a shift towards free creation at the expense of traditional applied ceramics.

Inspirations stemming from the trends of modern Japanese ceramics played a significant role in this transformation. These did not represent a unified style but two distinct intellectual currents. The first was the Mingei movement, which emphasized humility towards material, functionality, and the beauty of folk craft. The second current was the avant-garde group Sōdeisha, whose members deliberately abandoned the utility of ceramic vessels and began to create non-utilitarian fired objects. Their work focused on direct, haptic contact with clay and on emphasizing its physical properties rather than decoration.

Many of the artists exhibited in the exhibition turn to Japanese aesthetics and environment. For some, e.g., Elina Sorainen, Aisaku Suzuki, Michael Moore, or Maria Bofill, this relationship stems from personal experience (whether academic or professional). For others, these elements appear more indirectly, as part of broader international trends. Although seemingly unrelated works meet in the exhibition, references to modern Japanese ceramics serve here as inspirational sources that allow for reading the emphasis on matter and process in ceramic creation. It is this reference to materiality, corporeality, and the creative process that represents one of the developmental lines of world modern ceramics that the Porta Ceramica exhibition follows.