What remains of ‘white gold’ when it is stripped of its traditional roles?

For a long time, porcelain was a luxury good and a status symbol, reserved for special occasions and associated with fragility, elegance and the inherent codes of tradition and belonging. BEYOND THE WHITE explores what porcelain can be today when it is no longer merely a vessel for decoration and function, but becomes a medium in its own right, allowing it to be experienced in new, unexpected contexts.

Four contemporary female artists bring together different approaches to this: Else Gold develops process-driven formations from serially cast porcelain that explore the tension between formal and existential questions. In her sculptures and reliefs, Hannes Uhlenhaut examines historically influenced visual motifs to assess their contemporary impact. Olivia Pils creates hybrid objects combining porcelain with other materials, which negotiate notions of the body, attribution and the aesthetics of value. Rona Kobel uses porcelain as a discursive medium bridging decorative tradition and political themes.

The exhibition is curated by Lisa-Marie Gutte, who, as a junior curator mentored by Isabell Baldermann, is developing her own curatorial formats.

The exhibition is supported by the Cultural Foundation of the Free State of Saxony, the Liebert Foundation in Hamburg, the Meissen – Saxon Switzerland – Eastern Ore Mountains Cultural Region and the City of Meissen.