Please do not touch the art works
Jeppe Hein, Please do not touch the art works
Jeppe Hein, Please do not touch the art works
Jeppe Hein, Please do not touch the art works
Jeppe Hein, Please do not touch the art works
Jeppe Hein, Please do not touch the art works
Jeppe Hein, Please do not touch the art works
How Broken Ceramic Keep Things Together
The evening before getting married the future couple invites their friends, neighbours and family to celebrate their “Polterabend”. The guests traditionally bring a cup, some plates, a vase… even a whole washbasin or bathtub, all kinds of different china and ceramics. Before entering the house the guests smash their “little gifts” with plenty of noise. Through that noise the visitors are trying to protect the future couple from evil spirits. As more guests arrive and more china is broken, the couple works together to clear away the broken shards – as they will do whenever future problems arise.
Silke Heneka e Jeppe Hein
There are three separate parts to my project :
Making the ceramic plates.
Installing the work.
Stacking the plates.
1: The first step is to make about 70 large plates. They should all be more or less the same size and look the same with a diameter of around 40 cm. I will “paint” them and work with them to make them visually interesting, using different colours, grits and so on.
2: Installing the work: On a white wall I will hang a single plate at a height of about 150 cm. A line or tape on the floor will indicate that viewers are not allowed to get closer to the ceramic plate. Should someone get closer, going beyond the confine of what is allowed (the line on the floor), the plate will fall to the floor and break. The plate will be left lying broken on the floor until the museum closes for the day.
3: Stacking the plates: At this point the broken pieces will be picked up and glued together again. The fixed ceramic plate will be stacked in another room. The next day a new plate will be hung on the wall.
Jeppe Hein
Please do not touch the art works by Jeppe Hein was made in Albisola in 2003 during the 2nd Biennial of Ceramics in Contemporary.
