Juree Kim and Neil Brownsword begin their V&A Korea UK Ceramics Residency

We are delighted to announce that Neil Brownsword and Juree Kim have begun their ceramics residency at the V&A. They will be in residence between October 2017 and the end of March 2018.

This collaborative residency coincides with the UK/Korea 2017-18 season and the current V&A display Contemporary Korean Ceramics in the ceramic galleries. This residency will offer a platform from which to showcase the relations that have developed between two distinct artistic practices. Inspired by the V&A’s vast collection of ceramics both artists aim to develop their interest in reinterpreting the traditions of ceramics by exploring interactions with site, place and indigenous ceramic practice.

Juree Kim

Juree Kim majored in sculpture at Kyung Hee University, Korea. Since graduating and exhibiting her first solo show at Ga Gallery, Seoul, Kim has gone on to collaborate with various institutions including Song Eun Art Space, Sungkok Museum and The Second Chongging Asia Young Artist Biennale. She was awarded first prize at the Tenth Song Eun Art Award.

Kim works primarily with clay, performance and film to explore the themes surrounding social and natural environments with a focus upon Korean cultural identity. Kim’s artistic work and research mirrors Brownsword’s concerns due to her observations on the destruction of regions within Eastern Seoul as a result off gentrification and the displacement of local communities and skills.

Juree’s work is on display in the museum current V&A display Contemporary Korean Ceramics .

Neil Brownsword

Neil Brownsword is an artist, senior lecturer and researcher at Buckinghamshire New University. He holds a PhD from Brunel University and MA in Ceramics and Glass from the Royal College of Art. Since graduating from the Royal College of Art in 1995 Brownsword has collaborated with a long list of institutions both nationally and internationally. Such institutions include the British Crafts Council, British Ceramics Biennial, International Ceramic Research Centre, Denmark and Fu Le International Ceramic Art Museum, China.

Brownsword began his ceramics career as an apprentice modeller at the Wedgwood Factory in 1987 and it is this formative experience in industry that remains a constant point of reference in his work. His work focuses on the decline of British ceramic manufacturing in his home town of Stoke-on-Trent, highlighting the negative impact of globalisation on traditional industries, techniques and skills. Neil collaborates with former industry artisans to stage performative pieces highlighting their craftsmanship. His appreciation of knowledge and craftsmanship will be the basis of his research during his ceramics residency at the V&A.

Neil has work in the V&A’s collection. It is currently on display in the Contemporary Ceramics Gallery, G.141, Level 6.

Kim and Brownsword have collaborated most recently at the British Ceramics Biennale, 2017, in Stoke on Trent, where they took over an entire series of rooms and created monumental installations for the space. During this collaborative residency they will use ceramics as a means through which to explore the themes of socio-economic politics and globalisation with the hope of encouraging new ways to engage cross-culturally with the history and practice of ceramics.

If you would like to meet Juree and Neil please come to one of their Open Studios.

If you would like to know more about our Residency Programme and other artists in residence please look at our V&A website.

This residency is supported by the Korean Cultural Centre UK, with additional support from Samsung.