Alchemy and Metamorphosis - exhibition catalogue

Alchemy and Metamorphosis, examines the innovations and ingenuity of North Staffordshire’s early ceramic industrialisation through a range of contemporary practices and perspectives. Curating a timeline of objects and archaeology from the Potteries Museum and other world-class regional collections, internationally acclaimed artist Neil Brownsword reveals the technologies, cultural influences and empiricism that led to the growth of a world-renowned centre of ceramic production.

In response to this history, Brownsword will present a combination of new and ongoing works that re-imagine historic materials and practices through the collision of traditional ceramic skills and digital technology. A programme of performances and demonstrations throughout the duration of the exhibition will engage visiting public with live research co-ordinated by Brownsword in collaboration with visual simulation experts and ex-ceramic industry artisans.

Alchemy and Metamorphosis aims to renegotiate the contemporary relevance and unrealised creative potential of industrial craft practices that once fashioned material objects in particular ways.

Three articles by scholars from archaeology, museology and art/craft disciplines were commissioned to disseminate a range of contexts underpinning the exhibition concept. The publication is available as a free download from the British Ceramic Biennial website.