From 22 August to 13 September 2026, Emanuela Biraghi will take part in the 65th Castellamonte Ceramics Exhibition, an event devoted to artistic and contemporary ceramics. Her work Transcendence, created in Genoa in February 2026, has been selected for the international “Ceramics in Love” competition.
Curated by Giuseppe Bertero, the exhibition will unfold across several venues in Castellamonte. For Biraghi, it is an opportunity to present her work in a setting where ceramics is explored not only as a technique, but also as a means of artistic research.
Transcendence is made from stoneware, engobe and high-fired glaze. Emanuela Biraghi built the piece entirely by hand using the coil-building technique. It was first fired at 970 °C and then again at 1240 °C. The work measures 40 × 39 × 39 centimetres.
Its shape changes with the viewer’s position. The walls draw closer, overlap and open out again, as if a slow movement were passing through the volume. Drips and subtle variations remain visible across the white surface. Rather than being concealed, these traces become part of the work.
The piece is not based on deliberate symmetry. Its balance comes from the tension between its different sections, from the relationship between solid areas and openings, and from the apparent fragility of a material made permanent by fire.
“This form is the breath of harmony: a flow of energy in white, where each drop is a memory, each curve is balance. Fragile and powerful, it is an invitation to rebirth.”
In the text accompanying *Transcendence*, Biraghi connects white with memory and the movement of the form with the idea of rebirth. The finished piece retains visible traces of its making, recording the passage from pliable clay to fired ceramic.
Emanuela Biraghi’s practice has grown out of different experiences. She studied painting at the Ligustica Academy of Fine Arts in Genoa and worked in antiques and restoration for more than ten years. During that time, she developed a close understanding of materials and craftsmanship. Her encounter with ceramics later opened a new stage in her artistic research.
For more than forty years, she has also practised Eastern disciplines, including Aikido. The attention they bring to gesture, balance and the relationship between body and space can also be found in the way she works with clay. *Transcendence* reflects this approach: it cannot be understood from a single viewpoint, but invites the viewer to move around it.
The exhibition will take place in Castellamonte, near Turin, from 22 August to 13 September 2026. Its programme will be spread across Palazzo Botton, the Rotonda Antonelliana, the “Piero Martinetti” Congress Centre, the Orto Sociale, the “Felice Faccio” State Art School and a number of independent exhibition venues.
La partecipazione al concorso “Ceramics in Love” porta Trascendenza Through the “Ceramics in Love” competition, Transcendence will become part of an event with a long-standing connection to Castellamonte’s ceramic culture. For Emanuela Biraghi, it offers an opportunity to meet other artists, professionals and visitors, and to present her research to a wider audience.
Emanuela Biraghi works at Studio Bira in Genoa’s historic centre, where she creates unique hand-built pieces and develops her research into contemporary ceramics.
To discover more of her work, request information or arrange a studio visit, contact Studio Bira.
