Štefan Oriško
The ceramic biennials that have been organised in the Austrian town of Kapfenberg up to now have earned the international reputation. The latest, sixth biennial (October – November 2009) invited 230 visual artists from 38 countries. The biennial prior the latest one opened to the world. The biennial is also a competition, the artworks are selected according to the documentation that artists send and an international panel of judges later assess. A catalogue is regularly prepared to be disseminated at the biennials openings.
The Kapfenberg exhibition differs from the similar exhibitions by a topic that is always announced before the exhibition and by the fact that the topic is always comprehensible, simple but allowing various interpretations. English title At the moment has been selected to describe the current topic of the exhibition. The current topic and each topic of the exhibitions up to now reflect the European cultural tradition, philosophy and theory of art. The organisers of the biennial announce the topic and general categories for the artworks the artist will send, i.e. object, and vessel. They do not accept designs. The objective of the exhibition is to promote free-style creative work and to preserve classical ceramic types.