Oľga Bodorová
The south of Slovakia, the historical regions of Gemer, Malohont and Novohrad, were, until not long ago, famous for their pottery traditions. Even today, there are good-quality white silt loams with the highest content of kaolin in Slovakia. In the past, these were used mainly in traditional pottery and in ceramics manufactures. Contemporary ceramics producers from Slovakia and abroad alike share a difficult task: to revive the lost glory of ceramics. That is why this region became the birthplace of an international ceramics symposium aimed at young artists. Called the Gemer Phenomenon, it was initiated by the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava, the Studio of Ceramics. During the four years of their existence, the Gemer Phenomenon hosted almost twenty ceramics producers from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, England, the Ukraine and Poland. Results of their work were presented, in the form of photo-documentation, in a number of exhibitions across Slovakia as well as abroad (Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary).