Celebration of Porcelain
ZUZEUM Art Centre, Riga, Latvia
exhibition design - completed, 2023
the exhibition “Celebrate Porcelain with Kuznetsov” was on view from February 10 until August 6 in 2023
client: ZUZEUM Art Centre
exhibition scenography, drawings & visualisations: Toms Kampars, assisted by Krišs Bērzkalns
curatorial team: Marta Šuste, Annija Grīsle, Evgenia Hamudaeva
graphic design: Tatjana Raičiņeca
project manager: Melisa Debora Kaškura
technical team: Raivis Švarcs, Andris Konošonoks, Māris Mikāns, Mareks Ieviņš
production: AM Studio (glass), Seven Spaces studio (furniture), Surfaces.studio (3D sculptures), SIA Basta AG, BUSH Design (entrance installation), Reklāmu darbnīca, Skaistāk Print House
photos: Madara Kuplā, Ansis Starks, Dasha Trofimova
How can more than 1,000 porcelain, faience and clay objects be displayed without allowing their quantity to overwhelm them? The exhibition organizes objects from the Zuzāns Collection and archival material into fourteen luminous display islands, each devoted to a former Kuznetsov factory. White surfaces, glass and integrated light create a calm framework in which differences of colour, scale and ornament remain legible.
Lightness, spaciousness, whiteness, and translucency are crafted as a contrasting foundation for the diversity of porcelain forms and abundance of colours. Illuminated tabletops and shelf levels, without unnecessary details or exaggeration, serve as a stage for Kuznetsov's opulence, where architecture and design deliberately maintain the function of an ascetic platform. Illuminated window bays and a cabinet with the possibility of peeking inside refer to the industrial nature of porcelain factories.
The display system is interrupted by a series of enlarged, inhabitable forms. Visitors can sit on the profile of a cup, step inside a teapot or walk through a vase — playful shifts of scale that turn familiar porcelain objects into spatial encounters and introduce moments of pause within the dense historical display.
