Feet of Clay

After the exhibition presented at the Galeria Municipal do Porto, focused on clay, Feet of Clay has been materialised into a book.

Some people may associate clay, pottery and ceramics with tradition, and tradition with the past. Others may associate technology, digital communication and databases with the new, and the new with the future. What if the future is a technology as old and peculiar as clay? What if, after all, clay is a material that constantly regenerates itself and gives time its unpredictable configurations? What if clay is the future and the future is clay?

It was based on these questions and enigmas that curators Chus Martínez and Filipa Ramos developed the exhibition Feet of Clay, presented at the end of 2021, bringing together a group of artists who have used clay, pottery and ceramics to imagine, design and mould the world in which they live. They are: Ana Jotta, Eduardo Navarro, the Formabesta duo (Salvador and Juan Cidrás), Gabriel Chaile, Isabel Carvalho, Neïl Beloufa, Pauline Curnier Jardin and Tamara Henderson.

Bringing together the contributions of all the participating artists, this publication presents itself not only as a summary of the exhibition project, but also as an extension of their thinking about this ancient technology, materialised through interviews and essays written for the occasion.