The Taiwanese-Finnish joint exhibition "Winds of Change" curated by Taiwanese ceramicist Chang Ching-yuan (張清淵) will take place at the KWUM Studio Ceramics Museum and Gallery in Finland from Nov. 4 to March 31, 2022 to present art pieces by 20 Taiwanese artists.
The joint exhibition is a cooperative effort between the Cultural Division of the Taipei Representative Office in the UK and the KWUM Studio Ceramics Museum and Gallery. KWUM is located in the town of Fiskars, a well-known craft and design center in southern Finland.
The founder and director of KWUM is the Finnish ceramicist Karin Widnäs whose teacher Kyllikki Salmenhaara was the pioneer of Finnish ceramic art. Salmenhaara taught in Taiwan in the 1960s, and upon returning to Finland, served as the head of the ceramics department at the University of Art and Design in Helsinki (now Aalto University). Widnäs noted that Salmenhaara inspired her to found the museum.
After meeting Chang Ching-yuan at an event hosted at the International Academy of Ceramics, IAC, Widnäs invited him to curate for KWUM. Widnäs said that in addition to presenting Taiwan's contemporary ceramic art creations, the joint exhibition is also expected to open up long-term exchanges between Taiwan and Finland in the future.
The 20 Taiwanese ceramicists who will participate in this joint exhibition include Chu Fang-yi (朱芳毅), Lin Po-yu (林博裕), and Daisy Lin (李岱容), among others. Each of them have won the Taiwan Young Pottery Artist Award (台灣青年陶藝獎), participated in the Taiwan Ceramics Biennale, and received recognition abroad. Chang Ching-yuan pointed out that their works not only reflect the development of Taiwan’s contemporary ceramic art for the last 40 years, but also their creative energy in blending new and traditional elements.