Martin Ayala Chavez (DAE)

Tin Ayala graduated from the Design Academy Eindhoven with his Cholonisation project, that offers a platform to Cholo artists, musicians and performers. In former Spanish colonies of South America, Cholo used to be a derogatory term for people of mixed – indigenous and Spanish – heritage, but it has become a proud sobriquet for people who embrace the eclectic popular urban culture of the Andean states, as Ayala does. During his EKWC residency, he made two series of stirrup spout vessels that reference pre-Columbian ceramics. One consists of two gold-lustred ceremonial jugs representing potatoes and maize; the indigenous American crops that have become staple foods across the world. The second is made up of ten jugs in the forms of various Pokémon, as a critical reflection on the game’s premiss of environmental exploitation.

Sajoscha Talirz

Koos Buster Stroucken

An ATM machine, cleaning utensils, cigarette buds, a water cooler; the subject matter of Koos Buster’s (NL) ceramics may seem a bit trivial at times, but there is definitely a logic to them. Buster has a soft spot for things that go unnoticed or are about to disappear. Reproducing them in a durable medium like ceramics gives them an aura of importance and a much longer lease on life. He also likes to create things that make people happy, and somehow, this is the exact result his intentionally ham-handed sculptures have. Meanwhile, it takes quite a lot of skill to make things look this clumsy.

Manita Kieft |2

In recent years Manita Kieft (NL) has gotten more and more concerned with alarming current events, such as floodings, bushfires, earthquakes, and war, inevitably intruding her life through the daily news. During the covid lockdown, Kieft build her own library of photos taken from television screens showing grim images of disasters. She chose ceramics for its long history as (political) message bearers, which can stand the test of time and are still found in excavations today. At the EKWC Kieft focused on the field of tension of the transformation from photo to form, from 2- to 3-dimensionality, and how the images relate to not only the shape but also to the glaze application. Kieft used plaster casting molds, Styrofoam press-in-molds, and 3d printing techniques. The images were transferred using decals.

Bas Kosters

How do you maintain momentum when you’re working in ceramics? It took Bas Kosters (NL) a while to accept that clay needs to dry in between layers. And yet the sculptures he made during his residency emanate the same spontaneity and animation that are so typical of his graphic and textile works. The Brut Cute and Joy Bear series suggest an endearing softness to the heavy material, while the fluidity of the colorful JOY series belies the rigid nature of the fired sculptures.

Alice Heron

Kirsten Spuijbroek |2

Karen Lamonte |2

Julia Paetzold