KOREA.- The Third World Ceramic Biennale 2005 Korea opens today until June 19, 2005. The world contemporary ceramics exhibition, 'Trans-Ceramic-Art' seeks to divine the future of ceramic art by presenting a new paradigm of ceramic art works in which diverse genres are crossed and integrated. This exhibition showcases the great potential of contemporary ceramic arts and diversity of culture reflected in ceramic arts, rather than presenting art in a chronological manner.

This exhibition is arranged after consultation with some twenty experts in ceramics including James Melchert, Emeritus Professor of University of California at Berkeley; Ronald Kuchta, Editor of American Ceramics; Koos de Jong, Director of the European Ceramic Work Center; and Shin Sang-ho, Professor of Hongik University. Looking at the hot issues of ceramics today, the realm of ceramics has expanded and now engenders painting, sculpture, installation and audio/visual images, expressing subjects about the identity of individuals such as the human body, details of everyday life, departure from tradition, ecology and consumerism, and addressing social issues entailing changes in everyday routines, history, culture, and politics.

This exhibition of world contemporary ceramics is separate from the exhibition of the International Competition, which highlights all the major trends in ceramic art generally. Unlike the International Competition, Trans-Ceramic-Art is a contextual exhibition featuring culture and pure art. Contemporary ceramic art has multiple meanings and represents a significant step in cultural development in addition to 'medium' and 'creativity,' basic elements of artwork. Focusing on contextual aspects of contemporary ceramic art, Trans-Ceramic-Art is arranged as an exhibit with themes and explanations. This exhibition will be composed of 1) Beyond Medium, 2) Metaphor of the Body, 3) Poetics of Domestic 4) History, Tradition, and Culture, and 5) Post-global Society.

Thirty world-renowned ceramic artists from the Americas, Europe, Asia, Australia, Korea, and other parts of the world will participate in this exhibition. Most of the works presented are new and being shown for the first time, and they are completely in the spirit of the theme of the Biennale. Ceramic works by the world's leading contemporary artists including Antony Gormley from Britain and Fabrice Hybert from France will be shown along with works by Richard Slee from Britain, Piet Stockman from Belgium, Neil Tetkowsky from the US, Miwa Kazuhiko from Japan, and Liu Jianhua from China, who are making a fresh impact on the ceramic art world.

The concept and composition of this exhibition are meant to extend the scope of ceramic art and present the creative potential of ceramic art in the realm of contemporary art. Trans-Ceramic-Art is very timely and appropriate in its approach. It will suggest a new future direction, not only for ceramics, but also contemporary visual arts, imparting a new freshness to the art community. Both ordinary viewers and art professionals will be able to see the coming future of ceramic art in this tremendous exhibition.