MADE IN CHINA
Qīng huā cí from mining waste and bacteria.
Starting with China’s coal industry, the project transforms coal gangue, an abundant mining waste, into ceramic clay and combines it with Streptomyces coelicolor, a pigment-producing soil bacterium. The resulting interaction reinterprets traditional Chinese blue-and-white porcelain (Qīng huā cí), with the bacterium’s blue pigments colouring the pale clay surface, turning ceramic from a passive decorative object into a living substrate.
Using bio-design and microorganisms, the work challenges the aesthetic authority of Qīng huā cí as a fixed symbol of Chinese heritage while exploring new possibilities for industrial waste.
Weixi Kuang
w.kuang0220241@arts.ac.uk