BULK BUY

Organised with Alternative Ceramics Supply

ACS is an Australian based artist collective focused on second-life materials with Georgia Stevenson, Claire Ellis, Sarah Muir-Smith and Amelia Black.

Website coming soon.

Bulk Buy featured 10 alternative materials, all reclaimed from industry byproduct and ‘waste’ streams. Each material was sourced locally, processed by ACS, tested for use in ceramics and available for purchase (to ceramicists/artists). With an emphasis on knowledge sharing, each set of tests was accompanied by research and information to empower other potters to collect their own and make informed decisions.

The public program included (informal and free) opportunities for community engagement - show and tell, demonstrations, book club, shared lunch and test tile talks.

Bulk Buy offers a disruption to the standard model of the take-make-waste economy. Ceramicists will be prompted to question their usual methods of sourcing raw ingredients and their position in the supply chain. Visitors will be invited to wonder what the pottery supplies shops of the future may look like and consider provenance, labelling, ideal safety information and impact of extraction.

The exhibition speculates: How is naturally occurring material (rock/mineral) mined and processed into a consistent, nondescript white powder that potters make a glaze from? What materials qualify as “waste”? Is it possible to use alternative materials that have more character for making our pots rather than using commercially extracted and finite resources?

Bulk Buy was generously hosted by Testing Grounds, courtesy of These Are The Projects We Do Together.

Event Listings here and here

Photography by Michael Pham

More information to come in 2024.