Rekristallisiert #5 by Zhifeng Song

Wall piece / Abstract

Published: 18.02.2021

Reduction firing at 1280°C.

Song Zhifeng is fascinated by ceramics because of its versatility and mysterious way of solidifying. He is particularly interested in the imperfection, the fragility of ceramics, their transience. He sees it as a sign of the fragility of the world, of its unrest and uncertainty. By this inspired, Song Zhifeng began collecting ceramic pieces of various origins. He understands them as "fragments of lost structure and exposed cracks" and regards them like an archaeological excavation. This explains his approach of rediscovering, redefining and assembling. Works are apparently reconstructed and transformed based on the original properties of the material, and the fragments are combined in the furnace into a new form. Other works are based on unusual techniques: they are built from clay, glazed, made to collapse in the oven with steam, and then fired. This process can be repeated several times. In addition, other materials can be added to the ceramics such as old bricks, cement, wall fragments made of sand and plaster, window glass, dust, old clothing, and metal structures. Song Zhifeng creates from all these materials in the reduction firing at 1280°C “new ceramics” as he defines it. The waste material, which is connected with an abundance of negative associations, is transformed through this process. Song Zhifeng understands his work not only as an act of transformation but also as “reflections on catastrophes”, as “tolerance towards the world”.

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