Tour & Taxis
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70 exhibitors from thirty countries, nearly 200 artists, and more than 19,000 visitors: all for clay, all in Belgium, for Ceramic Brussels 2026. This year, MoCA/NY’s team traveled to experience the fair’s third edition firsthand, and we were struck by the sheer volume and variety of work on view, as well as the earnest celebration of the medium in its most refined and expansive forms of expression.

Over three days at the fair, we reunited with old friends and met many new ones, encountering galleries from across the world (predominantly Europe) in a setting that felt both international and intimate. Among them was Johan Creten, a friend of MoCA/NY and guest of honor at the fair’s inaugural edition. Creten has long expressed a certain reticence about clay being singled out within a dedicated fair, concerned that such framing risks reinforcing historical hierarchies that privilege painting and sculpture over ceramics, which for too long had been marginalized to the realm of craft. On Ceramic Brussels, he offered the following reflection:

_{Judith S. Schwartz with Johan Creten at Ceramic Brussels 2026}

“For the past 40 years, I have been defending the place of ceramic sculpture within the world of contemporary art. When I was invited as the first guest of honor of this new ceramics art fair, I accepted on the condition that my installation be placed outside, at the entrance of the fair, under the title No Ghetto. I firmly believe that ceramic sculpture belongs in the contemporary art world and should not be relegated to a separate category. My position is clear: No Ghetto. That said, I do believe there is room for an art fair that showcases the work of remarkable artists who struggle to find their place at Art Basel or other established international art fairs. Young artists in need of a “first chance,” experimental practices, and outsider positions—this is precisely why I support this fair and its admirable efforts in defense of clay. There is a wealth of work to be seen in Brussels that one does not encounter elsewhere, and that is truly exciting. Still, my feelings about the idea of a ghetto remain mixed. This year’s show may have included fewer first-tier contemporary art galleries, but it offered a strong and compelling mix, full of discoveries and surprises.”

Although the reservation around clay occupying a separate space can be read as further alienating the material after decades of effort to integrate it into the broader contemporary art landscape, what emerges just as clearly is a full and unapologetic exploration of clay in all its variations: sculptural, design, architectural, and functional. This moment also coincides with a renewed surge in the medium’s popularity, not only among the general public but among artists increasingly choosing to incorporate it into their practices, and galleries that recognize its growing appeal to collectors. As for what the future of clay holds, we are hardly clairvoyant, but it is not difficult to imagine the medium continuing to evolve and becoming ever more central within these spaces. Although we would have loved to highlight all 70 exhibitors, here are 16 galleries that stood out to us at this year’s fair.

Galerie Judith Andreae

Bonn, Germany

Janis Löhrer

Photos courtesy of Felix Contzen.

Winner of the Best Booth Award, Ceramic Brussels 2026.

Five showerheads, complete with fittings and soap dishes, are installed alongside a wet floor sign, a urinal, and scattered undergarments, all rendered in trompe l’oeil, solidly nonfunctional. At first, the installation can read as an homage to ceramics’ long association with bathroom ware, but a step closer reveals its queer context.

Nearly everything is ceramic, save for a wallpaper derived from a smaller ink drawing titled Blaue Männer, where nearly naked men hover midair like cheeky cherubs, a joyous snarl of bodies caught in motion. Glazed jockstraps, briefs, and Nike socks are superimposed across this whirl of whimsy, affixed to the painting as if shaken loose mid-flight.

What emerges is an oblique exploration of cruising culture, spaces that are public yet hidden, intimate yet removed, and charged with both shame and pleasure, exposure and refuge. The booth becomes less an installation than an atmosphere, one that acknowledges the complexity, vulnerability, and defiance embedded in queer communal spaces.

Secci

Milan & Pietrasanta, Italy

Kevin Francis Gray

Winner of the Best Solo Show, Ceramic Brussels 2026.

Galerie du Don

Le Fel, France

Akiko Hirai | Pekka Paikkari

"Akiko Hirai is one of the rising stars in contemporary Japanese ceramics. One of the reasons why I like her work is because if you look at it, first of all, it's just visually gorgeous. It belongs in any collection of contemporary art and contemporary ceramics. But if you know ceramic art history, these jars harken back to Shigaraki ware. They harken back to Mino ware. And she is combining porcelain and stoneware with celadon glazes, iron-based glazes. And what she's doing, it's a modern, fresh way that's never been done before. I just adore her. I think she's amazing. I think what she's really doing is using the vessel as a service to painter. So, the reason why collectors come to us and really like her work is because we’re selling ceramics to fine art collectors that already have paintings or sculptures that may have consistent ceramics like hers in the collection, and it marries well with everything else that they have."

- Jeffrey Spahn, Collector, Dealer, Gallerist, and MoCA/NY Board Member

Sorry WE're Closed

Brussels, Belgium

Julia Isidrez

_{Lagarto cañon sin cola | 2025 | hand built ceramic | 40 x 30 x 48 cm}

_{Armadillo con patas largas | 2025 | hand built ceramic | 50 x 50 x 42 cm}

Galerie Metzger

Johannesburg, Germany

Norbert Prangenberg

Sealed Earth

Athens, Greece

Maggy Ioannou

_{Sealed Earth Installation at Ceramic Brussels 2026}

Galerie Fontana

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Babs Haenen | Carolein Smit | Asya Marakulina

One of the many great rewards of attending Ceramic Brussels in person was the serendipitous joy of encountering European artist friends and witnessing their newest work firsthand. What a treat it was, therefore, to not only find Babs Haenen’s work, but that she was there in person, in her exuberant and energetic self, to embrace and feel the joy of an old friendship.

I’ve always been captivated by Haenen’s skilled manipulations of porcelain that exude the power and excitement of nature itself. She has for years been a master of harnessing the dynamic forces of mountain landscapes, embodied in small-scale sculptures that twist and turn, opening onto crevices and folds, capturing pockets of water or wind-blown forces—that is, nature personified. She takes us on journeys of mountainous regions that change color as often as the shifts of day into night, capturing sunshine or moon shadows that she embodies and enriches through her rich palette of pigmented glazes. She creates form and surfaces—like nature itself—always changing, always surprising, and complex. It is no wonder Haenen studied as a dancer before finding clay as a creative outlet. Movement is, of course, at the core of her work, and as you move from form to form and witness the subtle changes, they collectively act as a dance performance, always shifting and delightfully surprising. Haenen is a master choreographer, manipulating porcelain and glaze to delight, inform, and astonish.

- Judith S Schwartz, PhD, President, MoCA/NY