Ceramicist Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl is currently showing the exhibition Cuts, Stripes and Knots – A Ceramic Retrospective at the ceramics museum Clay in Middelfart, where 140 works created over more than 30 years fill the large exhibition hall overlooking the water. As a wow effect, the number of works on display has become a concept in the exhibition design, where the unique ceramic sculptures are placed on uniform, square, white podiums, grouped into six large podiums of different heights. On the white surface, the many sculptures stand out in an impressive array of shapes and colours.

Ceramic sculptures and digital expressions

A small number of objects on shelves, a number of drawings and sketches and larger wall sculptures are displayed on the walls. As an introduction to Kaldahl’s thoughts and ceramic practice, the exhibition shows a newly produced portrait film, which was shot at the workshop in Roskilde and at Statens Værksteder for Kunst, where Kaldahl has worked on a number of works for the exhibition at Clay. Among other things, the film shows Kaldahl working with a spatial drawing sculpture, which we see several variations of at the exhibition. The pipe-like installation-like forms are reminiscent of a 3D screensaver many of us once had, and it’s fascinating to see how Kaldahl has been working with digital forms and expression in ceramic sculpture for a number of years.

The exhibition speaks largely through the sculptures and does not do much to explain the works to us, and there is usually a lot to be gained from that. We are left with a rich world of different bodies. However, a digital influence is so omnipresent in the exhibition through the many hybrid forms, blobs and spatial drawings that it makes you want to know more about this part of Kaldahl’s exploration. Here you have to resort to the small exhibition leaflet, which gives the names, types and dates of the individual sculptures, but not much more. I would have liked to hear more about the digital in the encounter with the weight, form and resilience of ceramics, because it is clear from the short portrait film that Kaldahl is a present and skilful communicator.

The exhibition creates sensory and thought-provoking encounters – but the quantity takes over

Although the sheer quantity of works on display acts as an immediate spatial device, it’s not what keeps you interested once the initial wow has worn off. Instead, it’s the encounter with individual sculptures such as the warped Sculptural Vessel (1990), the blue creature Tunnel Visions (2023), the small dense and shiny yellow Guardian #1, Yellow Synthesis (2012), the branch-blob hybrid Blobjection #1 (2007) or the metallic ceramic wall sculpture Rumbles #3 (2024). The sculptures are numerous and fascinating.

The decision to include so many works in the exhibition has the downside of making the display too compact. It’s Noah’s Ark, as Kaldahl says in the portrait film, but the question is whether we as museum visitors are fully invited on board, because the dense arrangement creates physical, bodily distance and slightly hinders the encounter with many of the sculptures. The retrospective exhibition makes a strong case for the sensuous, complex and experimental qualities of Kaldahl’s exploration of ceramics, but the impressive number of works also becomes a barrier in the experience at Clay.

More knowledge in the ARCHIVE

Formkraft holds a large collection of digitised magazines from 1948-present. In the archive you can search for relevant keywords. For example. Exhibition