Artists reimagine working with clay

At the Indian Ceramics Triennale in Delhi, artists bring together ceramics with other disciplines

- Meera Menezes

Can Delhi’s smog be used to create objet d’art? Apparently, it can. Dutch designers Iris de Kievith and Annemarie Piscaer from the design studio Lab AIR have found a novel way to harvest fine dust and use it to glaze their ceramics—and you can see it at the second Indian Ceramics Triennale (ICT) in New Delhi.

In 2018, Piscaer and de Kieveth started Smogware, an international and participative project, to raise awareness about air pollution. By incorporating Delhi’s dust into everyday tableware, Lab AIR together with Cascoland, an Amsterdam-based international network of designers, visual artists and performers hope to visually demonstrate the impact of air quality to local audiences. Their project, along with a conversation on pollution, is part of the ongoing ICT, titled Common Ground.

The inaugural edition of the triennale, Breaking Ground, was held in 2018 in Jaipur. The pandemic threw a spanner in the works and the second edition had to be deferred. It is now being staged at Delhi’s newest cultural centre, Arthshila, till 31 March. Over the duration of two months, the triennale will feature 34 projects by over 60 Indian and international artists from 12 countries. “In the five years between the two editions, we have seen the medium grow and become recognised for the tremendous possibilities it affords us as artists,” says Anjani Khanna, one of the artist-curators.

Conceptualised in 2016, the ICT is led by a volunteer-based organisation. Apart from Khanna, it is helmed by ceramicists Madhvi Subrahmanian, Neha Kudchadkar, Reyaz Badaruddin, Sharbani Das Gupta, and Vineet Kacker. In this edition, the team has been expanded to include curator Kanika Anand and artist Sangeeta Kapila. Its objective is to showcase the sheer diversity of ceramic practices in India and bring them into conversation with international practitioners.