Chryssa Kotoula | Matters of Concern

As the research evolved, I found myself thinking less about ceramics as a finished object and more as a system of transformation. The language of recipes, measurements, and percentages gradually became central to the project. Ceramic glaze formulation shares surprising similarities with cooking: both rely on precise proportions, both transform raw matter through heat, and both depend on accumulated knowledge that is continually adjusted through practice. This relationship led me to consider glaze recipes not only as technical instructions but as forms of notation capable of moving between different material systems. This was a very interesting point during my residency, as it generated new possibilities for my future work and expanded the idea of the recipe while bridging my deep love for food and cooking with my ceramic practice. I gradually began to think of the recipe not only as a method for producing a glaze, but also as a medium for sharing processes of making, exchanging knowledge, and becoming more conscious of the waste materials that surround us. What initially began as a material investigation slowly developed into an archival installation in which glaze recipes, fired ceramic tiles, and collected materials became interconnected records of transformation. I am very grateful for realizing through collaborations, discussions, and collective exchange of ideas with the fellow residents and the Onassis AiR team that my work can take many more forms and ways outside of what I was used to doing before or a seemingly concise concrete idea. A new space had opened up for me.

The residency also expanded my understanding of collaboration. The project could not have developed without the generosity of people willing to share materials, knowledge, equipment, and time. Conversations with chefs, makers, researchers, and fellow residents continuously reshaped the direction of the work. Equally important was the support of Daphne Leon, whose studio, equipment, material contributions, and ongoing dialogue created space for experimentation throughout the residency. By making a mistake during firing, I deprived the kiln’s atmosphere of oxygen, which resulted in my first reduction firing and unexpectedly produced one of my favorite ceramic surfaces. These exchanges reminded me that material research is never an isolated practice but one that emerges through collective infrastructures of care and mutual support.

This line of thinking informed the installation presented during the Spring Open Days. Rather than displaying finished ceramic objects alone, I wanted to expose parts of the process itself. Raw materials, glaze tests, laboratory equipment, ceramic vessels, recipes, and archival documentation coexisted within the installation, revealing the multiple stages that usually remain hidden behind ceramic production. The recipes became part of an archival wall composed of framed fired ceramic tiles, where each tile corresponded to one specific glaze recipe developed during the residency. During the workshop, participants were invited to translate one glaze recipe into an edible surface formulation while maintaining the same proportions and relationships between ingredients. They then returned to the archival installation, comparing the edible translations with their corresponding ceramic tiles, searching for similarities in color, texture, and material behavior across the two systems. What I found particularly moving was the participants’ enthusiasm for engaging with the process itself. They became deeply interested not only in the final edible outcome but in the careful selection, measuring, mixing, and, essentially, the cooking of materials. The workshop concluded with all of us sitting together to eat what we had collectively prepared, transforming the recipe into a shared experience of making, conversation, and reflection.

Looking back, one of the most significant outcomes of the residency is that it shifted my understanding of waste. Materials that initially appeared as residues increasingly revealed themselves as active participants in the work. They resisted, reacted, fused, fractured, and transformed in ways that continually challenged my expectations. Instead of treating reclaimed materials as substitutes for commercial ceramic ingredients, I began to see them as carriers of local knowledge and as records of the city itself.

“Matters of Concern” remains an ongoing research project. The residency established a methodology that I intend to continue expanding through further material testing, new collaborations, and the development of a growing archive of locally sourced ceramic materials and recipes. Moving forward, I am interested in extending this research beyond the studio through publications, workshops, and shared practices, while continuing to investigate how ceramics can offer new ways of understanding the material life of the city. The next stage of the project is the development of a handmade cookbook that will function as an artist publication, a material archive, and a collection of recipes, processes, and reflections. I am interested in exploring how the book itself can embody the same principles as the project, by researching paper and binding materials derived from food waste and agricultural by-products, such as onion skins or potato fibers. In this way, the publication becomes another material experiment – one that invites readers not only to understand the research intellectually but also to physically engage with its textures, flavors, and material transformations.