Pavilion was an installation created for Made in Korea, a UK-Korea ceramics and sound project evolving throughout 2017 in Brighton, London, Stoke-on-Trent and Seoul curated by Kay Aplin & Joseph Young.
Reflecting on Kay Aplin’s experiences in Korea, the work takes its inspiration from roof tiles that feature on traditional Korean architecture, which form a functional and aesthetic purpose edging the roofs of pavilions.
Kay has described the pavilion form and architectural components with relief ceramic tiles. The circular and crescent-shaped tiles represent roof tiles, and further details are inspired by the ornate wooden decoration. The tiles are made in glazed porcelain with details highlighted in oxides; the glaze palette reflects a colour scheme sacred to Korean culture.
Pavilion was originally exhibited at British Ceramics Biennial 2017, in parallel with Shadow Workers, a Wedgwood-inspired installation created by Jin Kim and Kyung Won Baek, artists-in-residence at The Ceramic House for Made in Korea. Taken together, the installations evoke a cultural conversation between UK and Korean ceramic traditions and were further linked by Handmade/Automation, a four-channel sound installation by Joseph Young, featuring field recordings from artists’ studios in Korea and ceramic production lines in Stoke-on-Trent.
A condensed touring version, Pavilion (Deconstructed), was subsequently exhibited at Mullae Arts Factory in Seoul.
