碗然宇宙
3rd Taiwan International Chawan Festival
Gazing into the chawan, you’ll begin to see that there is a landscape, diverse and magnificent, just like our earth; there’s always something beautiful yet to be discovered. And Taiwan is that piece of unfurling tea leaf, releasing the fragrance of nature and the kindness of its people.
Use a fine bowl to drink fine tea; experience the heartwarming Taiwanese culture of the Chawan. What began as a simple thought was turned into action, and, in the blink of an eye, more than a decade has passed. In 2019, the first Taiwan International Chawan Festival explored an interpretation of Taiwanese chawan tea ceremony rituals with the core philosophy of “one is all”. It was our first step toward shared prosperity with the world.
Though originally planned for once every three years, the Taiwan International Chawan Festival was put on hold because the earth fell ill, the world was put on pause, and life in general slowed to a grind. After wrestling nearly four years with the pandemic, we returned in 2023 with the positive energy of “The Circulation of Goodness” to organize the Second Taiwan International Chawan Festival. This circulation of goodness led many people to gain immense joy and energy from the Chawan Festival and motivated us to begin preparations in advance. To our pleasant surprise, luck would grace us early on. Fundraising, venue applications, and open calls for submission began last year, and each would be completed smoothly. As a result, the Third Taiwan International Chawan Festival arrived ahead of schedule, reclaiming the year lost to the pandemic. We can’t wait to reunite with everyone through the chawan once again.
In the past six years, have you been able to find peace and calm in a bowl of tea? Have you been able to come across the wonders of the universe while admiring a chawan? The chawan, a mere circle, has been turned in the hands of mankind for twenty-thousand years. The wisdom of earth and fire is leveraged to manifest the goodness in life. The vessel may be small, but it carries arts and cultures from different eras and locations throughout history.
Messages from the vast universe are played over and over again through the DNA of the chawan; they are the most ancient yet most modern craft; they are our partners who have remained closest to us in our ways of life. In this tiny circle, every ceramist in the world dedicates their life’s work to convey the infinite possibilities in the universe. If you can perceive the artist’s presence, their spirit, their emotions, and their aesthetics from a single chawan, then you can traverse through time and space to experience the boundless transformations of the universe over millions of years, and come to understand both the fleeting and the eternal.
In the Third Taiwan International Chawan Festival, the concept of the “Universe in a Chawan” will be conveyed through the more than 400 chawans made by 75 artists from 20 countries. The audience can pause to appreciate the works with the breadth of the Earth and the depth that spans through time. During each Chawan Tea Ceremony meticulously prepared by the tea host, the guest can hold the chawan in their hand and focus their gaze inside. From this microscopic view, a boundless horizon opens up on the macroscopic scale. Discover the uniqueness of the techniques and aesthetics borne from the cosmic worldview of each ceramist. Much like in the galaxies of the universe, some stars shimmer brightly, some are shrouded in mist, some burst with vibrant color, while others dwell in deep, shadowy silence. Yet none of them exist in solitude—they dwell in an eternal dance of mutual influence. When you cradle a bowl of tea in your hands and take a sip, the tea initiates a resonance between the senses of smell and taste that permeates through every inch of the skin. It then elevates into a serene and beautify spiritual experience. A bowl of tea seems to hold time and space still, granting complete freedom and ease to the body, mind, and soul.
Our sincere gratitude goes to Ariane and Maryse from France, Martina from the Netherlands, and Alvin from Singapore, who have attended all three Taiwan International Chawan Festival in person. You have allowed us to appreciate the beauty of Chawan and establish a connection with other parts of the earth right from Taiwan. This year, we also want to thank all ceramists from countries around the world, including Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Singapore, Japan, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Thailand, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Denmark, United States, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Austria, France, Argentina, and Taiwan. You have broadened our perspective, guiding our lives toward happiness through the radiance of the chawan. Viewing each tea bowl feels like traveling through the universe—encountering vessels of light that intertwine with the journey of your life.
To every member of the Taiwan Ceramics Culture Association, every volunteer, tea master, musician, performer, tea farmer, roaster, craftsman, business partner, sponsor, collector, tealover, audience, driver, chef, photographer, artist, and government agencies: you are the diverse planets that make up this Universe in the Chawan. It’s the interactions between the trajectories of the planets, big and small - your hard work and effort - that has granted ceramists from all over the world a wonderful stage to feature their life’s work. It opens up a portal for chawans to become a part of our lives and make this universe better and more colorful.
臺灣國際茶碗節 策展人 鄧淑慧 2025.7.28
Shu-Hui Teng, Curator, Taiwan Chawan Festival