"Edmund de Waal's art and literature speak to his enduring fascination with the nature of objects, and the narratives of their collection and display. A potter since childhood and an acclaimed writer, his obsession with porcelain or 'white gold' has led to encounters with many people and places that help deepen his understanding of the nature of the material. De Waal is best known for his large scale installations of porcelain vessels, which have been exhibited in many museums around the world. Much of his recent work has been concerned with ideas of collecting and collections, and how objects are kept together, lost, stolen and dispersed. His work comes out of a dialogue between minimalism, architecture and sound, and is informed by his passion for literature"--Provided by publisher. "The exhibition title derives from Paul Celan's 1967 poetry collection Atemwende ('breathturn'), a term that the poet equates with the moment when words transcend literal meaning. Set in series and sequences, the pots possess their own evocative power, appearing as characters that touch and huddle, or face isolation. Each of the four large vitrines, breathturn I-IV (all works 2013), holds hundreds of pots, while individual objects and smaller clusters sit within wall-mounted boxes, girders, and brackets (black field I-III and I am their music), evoking the ascetic constructions of Donald Judd and Giorgio Morandi's communities of everyday vessels on canvas. By setting intimate handmade works in fabricated aluminum vitrines, de Waal produces a formal tension between tradition and innovation that imbues the mastery of an ancient medium with a bold new narrative"--Provided by publisher.