The exhibition focuses on the emergence of form – at the intersection of natural processes and ceramic practice. Its starting point is the geographical proximity of the pottery town of Bürgel and the university city of Jena, where workshop knowledge and research have long coexisted. The perspective on form as a process of emergence gains historical dimension through three Jena pioneers of natural science: Matthias Jacob Schleiden (structure), Nathanael Pringsheim (development), and Ernst Haeckel (evolution).

Historical ceramics from the Bürgel pottery factory C. A. Schack enter into a dialogue with three-dimensional botanical teaching and demonstration models, as well as with contemporary ceramics by Dr. Alexandre Micoulet, who translates patterns and material processes into a contemporary ceramic language.

The novel aspect is the perspective on form as something that arises: from structure and composition, in the process of development and in the course of time – in nature as well as in ceramics. This order becomes visible as pattern and symmetry, as well as proportion, surface, and ornament.

Curator: Prof. Andreas Deutsch, mathematical biologist at the Technical University of Dresden