Until 13 June 2026, Gmundner Keramik Manufaktur
MADE IN GMUNDEN
The centrepiece of the Academy of Ceramics Gmunden (AoCG), a joint project of Gmundner Keramik and OÖ Landes-Kultur GmbH, is the AoCG's Artists-in-Residence programme. International artists are given access to the manufactory's workshops, technical infrastructure and the expertise of the ceramists on site. This direct exchange not only promotes innovation in craftsmanship, but also creates a fruitful dialogue between applied art, free artistic practice and industrial production. Accompanying exhibitions and discourse formats make this process visible and publicly accessible.
The current exhibition shows the works of five international artists – Chen-Hsiang Kao, Rosmarie Lukasser, Maryna Talutto, Helena Sekot and Charlotte Wiesmann – who worked in Gmunden and at the exchange partner, the New Taipei City Yingge Ceramics Museum in Taiwan, in the summer of 2025. In this way, the AoCG broadens its view beyond Austria and positions Gmunden as the hub of a global ceramics network.
Curated by Genoveva Rückert, "Made in Gmunden" is not intended as a showcase, but rather as a snapshot of an ongoing process. The exhibition highlights how ceramics today is a medium of cultural exchange – sensitive to local traditions and at the same time open to international perspectives. This makes it clear that Gmunden ceramics not only preserves a heritage, but also actively shapes the future of ceramic art in Austria and beyond.
About the artists
CHEN-HSIANG KAO
Chen-Hsiang (born in Taiwan in 1997, lives and works in Taiwan and Japan) pushes the boundaries of ceramics and performance, using religion and rituals to reflect on cultural differences and similarities. His works explore the interactions between land, material, body, people and nation. They combine Eastern and Western contexts and respond to political instability and collective emotions in Taiwan.
The artist drew attention to this situation with a performance, making a pilgrimage through Linz to three art institutions with his handmade Mazu sculpture. In Gmunden, ceramic vessels were transformed into portable armour, thematising the protection, strength and vulnerability of the material.
About the artists
ROSMARIE LUKASSER
Rosmarie Lukasser (born in 1981 in Lienz, Austria, lives and works in Vienna and Upper Austria) explores the structures and mechanisms of the digital world – not only from a technical perspective, but also in terms of its effects on human behaviour, the body and self-perception. She uses a wide range of media, from sculpture to performances and actions to drawings and light works, to illuminate the complexity of the theme "...bin im Netz" (I am on the net) from different angles.
In Gmunden, based on her characteristic plaster figures with LED lighting, she created new life-size ceramic figures made of paper clay – a mixture of terracotta and paper – that glow at the interfaces between humans and digital devices on the hands and ears.
About the artists
MARYNA TALUTTO
Maryna Talutto (born in 1982 in Kyiv, Ukraine, lives and works in Kyiv) works with media such as installation, graphic art, painting and ceramics. Her current work deals with the traumatic experiences of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine. In the series "Simple Things", she takes up familiar motifs of everyday domestic life – table, window, couch. The everyday becomes an anchor of mental stability and a survival strategy for many women.
Her ceramic works add a tactile dimension to the series. Objects reminiscent of light bulbs refer to the ubiquitous power cuts and at the same time stand for fragility and vulnerability. The black and white of the marker graphics is continued in a ceramic relief made of individual tiles.
About the artists
HELENA SEKOT
In her artistic practice, Helena Sekot (born 1996 in Weinheim, Germany, lives and works in Linz) challenges materials in order to explore questions of permanence and transience. Her sculptural works in ceramics and glass are often complemented by sound, photography and video and are based on close observation of her natural surroundings.
At Gmundner Keramik, she developed a series of sculptures on the theme of moorland landscapes, which address the fragility and desiccation of these ecosystems in a ceramic form, while also drawing attention to the ecological connection between humans and moors.
About the artists
CHARLOTTE WIESMANN
Charlotte Wiesmann (born 1961 in Grafenau, Germany, lives and works in Linz) works with ceramics, sculpture, installation, drawing, photography and video, exploring space as a place of thought and movement. Her practice reflects on the art studio and the systems of art and ceramic production, moving between lightness, presence, absence and the limits of possibility.
During her residency at the New Taipei City Yingge Ceramics Museum in Taiwan, she explored the turtle shell as a ritual oracle and early writing medium. The interpretation of heat-induced cracks in the plastron led to an experimental examination of ceramics. Wiesmann's characteristic handmade clay rolls were transformed into ceramic sculptures in which lines condense into writing-like signs within the outline of the plastron.
