The Korea Ceramic Foundation announced on the 6th that German artist David Rauer's "Punch Card House (Lochkartenhaus)" was selected for the grand prize at the "2026 Gyeonggi Ceramics Biennale (GCB) International Competition."
The Gyeonggi Ceramics Biennale International Competition is an international ceramic art competition run to introduce the creative achievements of ceramic artists worldwide and to discover promising emerging artists. This year, 1,050 artists from 77 countries participated, submitting 1,397 works.
A total of 58 works were selected as final award winners, including one GCB Grand Prize, nine GCB Excellence Prizes, five GCB Special Prizes, and 43 GCB Prizes.
The judging panel, composed of contemporary ceramic artist Shin Sang-ho, Elisabeth Agro, curator at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in the United States, curator Jean Blanchaert, Yasuyuki Ishizaki, director of the Gifu Museum of Modern Ceramic Art, and Chang Ching-yuan, professor at Tainan National University of the Arts, evaluated the Punch Card House by saying, "The ceramic medium of clay and glaze was well expressed, and the large-scale production technique and the artist's message were harmoniously realized."
The GCB Excellence Prizes went to works by Kwak Yun-ji, Lee Eun-young, The Grips, Leung Ching-man Callis, Mok Hoi-ching, Melis Buyruk, Hiroshi Aoki, Eliza Au, and Yuri Musatov. The GCB Special Prizes were awarded to Byun Ji-won, Kang So-cheong, Lau Yat-wai, Cheng Chun-yang, and Jason Walker.
The awards ceremony will be held on September 17 at the Gyeonggi Museum of Ceramics. The award-winning works will be exhibited in Exhibition Halls 1 and 4 of the Gyeonggi Museum of Ceramics until February 14, 2027, including during the 2026 Gyeonggi Ceramics Biennale period.
Ryu In-kwon, CEO of the Korea Ceramic Foundation, said, "We are grateful for the interest and participation of artists from around the world," adding, "We hope this exhibition will be a meaningful occasion to examine the present and future of ceramic art worldwide."
