Artifices Instables, Stories of Ceramics at Nouveau Musée National de Monaco, Villa Sauber, through February 21, 2021

“The exhibition Artifices Instables, Stories of Ceramics presents a journey through inventions and experiments highlighting the diversity of shapes and decorations of ceramics, as well as its production processes. These different stages of production – the selection and preparation of clay, the shaping, the finishing, the decoration, the cooking and the enamelling – reveal, also, the ‘recipes’ and the almost alchemic preparations which vary from one creator/inventor to the other.

Cristiano Raimondi, guest curator at the NMNM for this exhibition, chose to investigate ceramics as a heterogenic and unstable material, able to tell transversal stories. Through a selection of more than 120 pieces by international artists, the curator envisioned a set-up which is a crossover between atelier and a cabinet of curiosities. The exhibition path involves both floors of Villa Sauber, and the works are displayed following the idea of affinity and visual references.” — Nouveau Musée National de Monaco

Exhibition views of Artifices instables, Histoires de céramiques at Nouveau Musée National de Monaco, Villa Sauber.

Poterie artistique de Monaco, Style Fischer (1871‐1889). Collections Comité National des Traditions Monégasques, NMNM et Palais Princier Photo : NMNM/Andrea Rossetti, 2020
Poterie artistique de Monaco, Style Fischer (1871‐1889). Collections Comité National des Traditions Monégasques, NMNM et Palais Princier
Aaron Angell. Photo : NMNM/Andrea Rossetti, 2020
Aaron Angell. Photo : NMNM/Andrea Rossetti, 2020
Eugène Baudin (showcase). Photo : NMNM/Andrea Rossetti, 2020
Chiara Camoni, The Ashes of Montelupo, 2017. Photo : NMNM/Andrea Rossetti, 2020
Johan Creten. Photo : NMNM/Andrea Rossetti, 2020
Albert Diato. Photo : NMNM/Andrea Rossetti, 2020
Albert Diato. Photo : NMNM/Andrea Rossetti, 2020
Simone Fattal. Photo : NMNM/Andrea Rossetti, 2020
Simone Fattal. Photo : NMNM/Andrea Rossetti, 2020
Ron Nagle. Photo : NMNM/Andrea Rossetti, 2020
Ron Nagle. Photo : NMNM/Andrea Rossetti, 2020
Georges Ohr (foreground). Eugène Baudin (background). Photo : NMNM/Andrea Rossetti, 2020
Georges Ohr (foreground). Eugène Baudin (background). Photo : NMNM/Andrea Rossetti, 2020
Brian Rochefort. Photo : NMNM/Andrea Rossetti, 2020
Magdalena Suarez Frimkess. Untitled, 2016. Glazed ceramic, 21 x 20 x 13 cm. Private collection, Milan. Photo : Andrea Rossetti

Curator and scenography : Cristiano Raimondi.

Title image: Left: Poterie artistique de Monaco, Style Fischer (1871-1889). Glazed pottery with polychrome sprigs, 40 x 23,5 x 21 cm. Collection NMNM. Right: Ron Nagle, Coitis Mortis, 2013. Ceramic, glaze, catalyzed polyurethane, epoxy resin, and aluminum, 17 x 22 x 14cm. Collection Silvia Fiorucci Roman, Monaco.

Images courtesy Nouveau Musée National de Monaco.