British Ceramics Biennial (BCB) is calling UK contemporary artists to submit proposals to Award, their headline exhibition, as part of the 2025 Biennial in Stoke-on-Trent.
Award celebrates the vitality of contemporary ceramics practice in the UK with ten artists selected from an open submission process.
To be eligible for Award 2025, applicants must meet the following criteria:
- Be based in the UK between September 2022 and August 2025;
- Have worked professionally as an individual artist or collective since September 2022; and
- Propose work that uses clay as the primary medium and is based on the exploration of ceramic processes
Submissions must include:
- An artist statement, giving an overall view of current artistic practice;
- The proposal, that describes the idea, how it will look and how it will be made; and
- An environmental impact statement that may include recycling and reusing materials or commitment to low or no firings
Access support is available to anyone who feels they face barriers in making an application.
Deadline for submissions is 12 noon on Monday 9 September 2024.
Following the closing date, all submission are carefully reviewed by a panel of leading professionals who are advocates for contemporary art and making. 10 Award artists will be selected. Each of the selected artists will receive £1,000 towards the preparation and exhibition of their work as part of the Award exhibition at the 2025 Biennial.
Once the Biennial is open to the public, the selection panel meet again to select one artist who wins the BCB Award prize of £10,000 and an invitation to exhibit at BCB 2027.
Clare Wood, Artistic Director & Chief Executive, British Ceramics Biennial & Award Panel Member said: “Award offers a space for artists to build upon their expertise to say something new. As the UK’s leading exhibition of contemporary ceramic and clay, we seek to make experimentation, risk-taking and ambition central to Award.
“The abundant ways of working with clay make it an extraordinary material for sharing ideas, provocation, storytelling, and activism.
“For this headline exhibition of the British Ceramics Biennial, we welcome those with established artistic careers to explore and expand the boundaries of their practice.”
Previous Award artists include Julian Stair, Adam Buick, Christie Brown, Nao Matsunaga, Mawuena Kattah and Barry Finan.
Mella Shaw, winner of the BCB Award Prize in 2023 said: “Being selected to show as part of Award has had a huge effect on my practice – it was an amazing opportunity to be more ambitious in scale and concept.
“My work is about raising environmental awareness, so having it seen by such a large audience meant that it had a much bigger impact than I ever could have hoped for. The whole experience has been incredible.”
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