Under a motto of ardent creation, traditional style and fragrance of life, the 2nd World Ceramic Biennale will be held for 60 days from Sep. 1 to Oct. 30 in three Gyeonggi-do districts, Icheon, Yeoju and Gwangju. This international event will attract ceramists all over the world and also proclaim traditional Korean ceramic culture and its excellency. The three districts Icheon World Ceramic Center, Gwangju Joseon Royal Kiln Museum and the Yeoju Ceramic Livingware Gallery are known as representative ceramic head areas.

The opening ceremony will be held at the Icheon World Ceramic Center Square on Sep. 1, 10:30AM, with about 2,000 participants of important personnel from inside and outside of the country, ceramic artists and citizens. The opening of the World Ceramic Biennale includes an official event, provincial Dance Company and orchestra performances.

This year’s biennale is organized with three exhibitions, Icheon World Ceramic Center, Gwangju Joseon Royal Kiln Museum, Yeoju Ceramic Livingware Gallery, and nearby events. 68 countries including China, Japan, England and Spain will participate by displaying 2,400 ceramic art pieces in 3 exhibitions at the same time. This world event will have educational and cultural effects by displaying ceramic cultural history all in one area.
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The difference from the 1st World Ceramic Biennale is that the three districts, Icheon, Gwangju and Yeoju, is unitied in harmony for the ceramic festival.

The 17th Icheon Ceramic Festival, 6th Gwangju Royal Kilns Ceramic Festival and the 15th Yeoju Ceramic Exhibition will starts with the biennale.

Many exciting events and performances such as international public subscriptions, special displays, international ceramic academic meeting, seminars, workshops and lots more will await eager spectators.

The World Ceramic Biennale sponsored by the Ministry of Culture & Tourism, Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs, Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and IAC(International Academy of Ceramics), NCECA(National Council on Education in the Ceramic Arts). 68 countries will be participating for the international public subscription event.

In addition, internationally renowned curators and commissioners such as Sun-hyeong Gwon from Korea and also from overseas have come to Korea to participate in a academic meeting and at the same time, discuss the matters on ceramic art.

Events
Since the 2nd Gyeonggi-do World Ceramic Biennale is held in three different areas, Icheon, Gwangju and Yeoju, events also are distinguished from each other by district.
Events include an display of prize winning ceramic art carefully chosen from the international competition, world modern ceramic exhibition, Spain ceramic exhibition showing ceramic culture from traditional Islamic art to modern art, Toya land which is an outdoor theme park, and other attractions are prepared for delight.
Gwangju is known as the producing center of Royal Kilns of the Joseon dynasty for over 500 years, the master ceramists of Gwangju kilns has produced the world famous Joseon white porcelain. The area is also the historic melting point of ceramic culture and trade between China, Korea, and Japan. Gwangju Joseon Royal Kiln Museum is an ideal place to study the traditional ceramics culture and its evolution into the modern-day art form. Yeoju, with more than 600 kilns populated, is renowned for its high quality write porcelain clay, and this is where more than 60% of domestic table wares are produced. The Yeoju World Ceramic Living ware Gallery is established to explore the synergy of art and utility in the form of ceramics. The exhibits will display foremost work of the domestic and international living-ware ceramic industry.

The unique charms of ceramics will be presented through the 4F-Festival. The audience will experience new aesthetics of ceramics combined with flower arrangements, food serving and clothing. Food experts, professional florists and fashion designers will participate in the 4F-Festival. Visitors are heartily welcome to join and enjoy the festival.

** Contacts **
World Ceramic Exposition Foundation (WOCEF), Public Relations Team TEL: + 82-31-631-6509 FAX : + 82-31-631-1614
Team Leader, Hyeong-chan Yang yang21c@kg21.net