MEISSEN Joaillerie

68 ® hed creative career behind him to experiment with a new and technically demanding material such as porcelain? ‘I wanted to see what my painting looked like when it was applied quickly to unfired porcelain. Then my wife Rissa said to me how fantastic my work looked on porcelain,’ explains Karl Otto Götz. In his enthusiasm, he has created more than a dozen works – eleven images and a triptych – on MEIS- SEN ® Porcelain. With younger artists, contrasts with the traditionalism of the brand also play a role in their work, for example with the Berlin artist Anselm Reyle (*1970), who is a professor at the College of Fine Arts in Hamburg. On a tour through the MEIS- SEN ® manufactory, he came across a box of porcelain waste in the exhibition workshop. ‘That gave me the idea of firing porcelain while still wet and glazing it. The discarded porcelain thus became the polar opposite of the fine immaculate porcelain the company normally produces,’ he says, describing his work. Artists who specialise in painting do not just use the porcelain surfaces as a replacement canvas. They experiment with painting and firing techniques and often challenge the highly-qualified manufactory craftsmen with their novel way of approaching the material. ‘It’s fascinating to experience a completely new way of interpreting our MEISSEN ® Porcelain through external artists. They also push us to our limits in terms of technology time and again,’ explains porcelain painter Horst Brettschneider. Steve Viezens (*1981) uses the overglaze technique for his silhouette-like motifs. The Tunisian calligraphy artist Nija Mahdaoui (*1937), on the other hand, is driven by finding the perfect shade. And the Syrian Ahmad World of meissen ® art campus Collage with six caps: lidded vases with colour background on MEISSEN ® Porcelain by SEO (2011, dimensions: 96 x 66 x 145 cm) With the “Middle East Project”, MEISSEN ® artCampus is making a contribution to cultural dialogue and exchange of ideas between Middle Eastern and Western cultures. Moualla (*1958), professor at the University of Damascus, describes a third dimension: ‘Porcelain is a child of fire. Without high temperatures, it would not exist. Light shimmers and reflects off the surface of the porcelain in three-dimensional way. It makes the painting move and makes it look as though it has come alive’. And the Chinese artist Huang Min (*1975) regards her work with porcelain as a kind of Taoism: ‘Porcelain is the art of fire and earth. It enables me to philosophise with nature’. While connections with the international art scene are fast being established in her native land of China thanks to fast-paced globa- lisation, very little attention is still paid to art produced in the Arabic-speaking countries. However, projects such as branches of the Louvre and Guggenheim Museum in Abu Dhabi have recently started to change that. Porcelain and ceramic play an important role in the Middle East, and no distinction is made between art and craftsmanship – which is an interesting parallel to the MEISSEN ® manufactory and promises inspiring exchanges, not least because of the different cultural backgrounds. A number of artists have already paid a visit to the MEISSEN ® manufactory, including the Rokneddin brothers and Ramin Haerizadeh, Nja Mahdaoui and Ahmad Moualla. Projects with 20 other artists are planned over the next two years. With this “Middle East Project”, MEISSEN ® artCampus is making a contribution to cultural dialogue – after all, new things can only be created if you make a break with the traditional. As Managing Director Christian Kurtzke states, ‘Every journey starts with that first step’. Façade design for MEISSEN ® museum: ‘Rauch-Zug’, K. O. Götz Text: Dagmar Steffen

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