The latest branch of the private contemporary art museum UCCA (Ullens Center for Contemporary Art) created in 2007 in Beijing by the Ullens, the UCCA Clay exhibition venue opened its doors last October in Yixing, in the Jiangsu province, 200 km east of Shanghai.
The building, construction of which began in 2018, was designed by architect Kengo Kuma (born 1954). It extends over two floors and occupies an area of 2,400 m². Its exterior cladding is made up of nearly 3,600 hand-made ceramic panels. This is the first time that Kengo Kuma uses clay as the main building material. The inverted shell roof is supported by a wooden lattice structure. Its shape evokes Mount Shushan, an important symbol for poets of the Song dynasty (1127-1276).
On the ground floor, glass openings lead to the entrance hall, an exhibition room, as well as a reception area and a café. The space built like an island gives spectators access to the adjacent canal as well as the surrounding buildings, with the aim of blending into the history of the city, an “art of the five senses” according to Kengo Kuma.
Yixing, considered the capital of ceramics, is indeed recognized for its traditional purple clay pottery. This craft has its origins 7,000 years ago during the Neolithic era. The UCCA Clay project aims to reintroduce this practice which has been supplanted by industrial mass production. The construction of the building is part of a larger plan to transform the former industrial zone into a cultural district. The objective is to dust off the idea that pottery is an anonymous and distant practice, as other buildings in the city, such as the Qianshu Ancient Dragon Kiln, which is more than 1,000 years old, already remind us.
It was in Beijing in 2007 that the Belgian collector couple Guy and Myriam Ullens created the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art. In 2017, the couple sold the museum to a group of Chinese investors including Jason Nachu Jiang, creator of Focus Media, Seven Star Group, owner of the district housing the museum. The place and the foundation which shelters it then take the name UCCA. In 2018, the foundation opened a first branch – UCCA Dune – in Beidaihe (300 km west of Beijing), then a second in 2021 in Shanghai – UCCA Edge -, and therefore this third location in Yixing.
