Standing in fall

A clumsy tower. A balancing skeleton. A family of ceramic objects, stacked seemingly without order or accuracy provoking a notion of falling over – but with such a degree of precision that it holds back the fall.

Conceived as architectural structures, the work is part of the practice's ongoing research called ‘Standing In Fall’. The objects were created as part of a residency at the EKWC (European Ceramic Work Centre) in 2021, and exhibited at Collectible Brussels in May 2022.

The research aims at making structures that are not fierce standing – not a status of power or accomplishment – but instead built as something instable and vulnerable.

The objects are made from clay, with different natural tones resulting from using both normal and reduced firing. The building process follows an intuitive stacking and balancing of the wet clay parts, held together with finger pressed joints. Placed in the kiln as extremely delicate constructions, the firing process deforms them even further. At the same time the petrification process freezes them in a moment of ‘standing in fall’.

Type: ceramic objects

Location: EKWC / Collectible Brussels

When: April-July 2021, May 2022

Team: Tomas Dirrix

Photography: Atelier Tomas Dirrix