Gyeonggi Ceramics Biennale 2026

Lorie Ballage is a French artist based in Bergen, Norway. She explores how water changes the way we perceive the world and blurs familiar boundaries. Her interest in water began with a fear of the deep sea. Through scuba diving, Ballage confronted that fear directly and has since created installations combining ceramic sculpture, sound, and recycled industrial materials.

Piscine Municipale reimagines a public swimming pool emptied of both water and people, turning it into an unfamiliar space. The installation includes a lane divider made from 109 ceramic tiles, along with stiffened swimsuits and slippers, and distorted beach balls. Look at how these familiar swimming pool objects have been reimagined as unfamiliar ceramic sculptures, stripped of their usual functions.

A public swimming pool is a place associated with play and childhood memories, but it is also a place where water is kept clean and used according to established rules. In this work, however, both the water and the swimmers have disappeared. Instead, the smells and sounds of the pool, along with reflective surfaces, bring the missing water back to mind. As you stand in this empty pool, consider what sensations remain in our memories and bodies even after the water is gone.