Kunsthal Aarhus, 2026

All exhibition images © Jacob Friis-Holm Neilsen.

Hidden Intention / Failure Atelier

What happens when an artist deliberately designs a process to fail?

My contribution to The Hall of Failure takes two related forms: Hidden Intention, a body of ceramic sculptures, and Failure Atelier, a live ceramics workshop program running within the show. Both are built around the same question and the same process.

Hidden Intention begins in the studio. I make ceramic sculptures through 3D printing with clay, a process I choose for its sometimes unpredictable outcomes. The printer and software are fixed systems, while the clay is wet, heavy, soft, and follows its own logic — responding always to pressure, moisture, and gravity. I make design choices that encourage this unstable machine-material relationship. During printing, the clay slumps and shifts, creating forms I can’t predict; I don’t see this as a probelm to fix but instead as the engine that drives the work. The sculptures in this exhibition are the result of engineered unpredictability, where failure becomes a collaborator rather than something to avoid.

The work questions our ideas of craftsmanship. As digital tools become increasingly common in creative and professional life, what does it mean to make something when you don't want to optimize, systematize and control every outcome? What becomes possible when you share that control with a material and a machine?

Where Hidden Intention presents the results of this process, Failure Atelier opens it up to the public. A working reproduction of my studio is installed within the show, where visitors are invited to make their own clay sculptures using the same tools and processes as the artworks on display. The process is designed so that unpredictability and failure aren't obstacles but the point of the process. To join there’s no experience necessary, and no artistic pressure. Objects made in the Atelier are added to the exhibition throughout its six-month run, making the show a living, growing collection of experiments.

Together, Hidden Intention and Failure Atelier propose that failure is not the opposite of making something well. It’s where the interesting things happen.

Currently on view through December 2026 as a part of The Hall of Failure  exhibition at Kunsthal Aarhus, DK. Shown alsongside work from artists Anders Bonnesen, Maria Viftrup and FACTORY WORKERS UNITE (Tina Helen and Søren Thilo Funder). This project was supported in part by Aarhus Kommune Kulturforvaltningen and Kunsthal Aarhus.

+ Exhibition review at Artmatter.dk

Reindeer Jar, 2026. 3D printed mixed clay, glaze. 18.5 x 18.5 x 50 cm.

Detail.

Detail.

Small Bottle, 2026. 3D printed
stoneware clay. 17 x 17 x 51 cm.

Detail.

Loop Bottle (L), 2026. 3D printed and hand-sculpted mixed clay. 19 x 19 x 47 cm. 

Scribble Ewer, 2026. 3D printed and hand-sculpted mixed clay. 19 x 24 x 48 cm.

Bird’s Nest Vase, 2026. 3D printed red clay, wax, oil, mineral pigment. 17 x 18 x 30 cm.

Double Amphora, 2026. 3D printed and hand-sculpted mixed clay. 26 x 26 x 44 cm. (in private collection)

Rie Vase, 2026. 3D printed and hand-sculpted mixed clay. 17 x 17 x 59 cm.

Rabbit Ear Jar, 2026. 3D printed and hand-sculpted stoneware clay, resin, gold leaf. 18.5 x 18.5 x 45 cm. (in private collection)

Loopy Vase with handles 01 and 02, 2026. 3D printed mixed clay. 14 x 19 x 42 cm.

Bottomless Vase with handles, 2026. 3D printed red clay, wax. 40 x 35 x 38 cm. (in private collection)

Lantern, 2026. 3D printed mixed clay. 18 x 18 x 27 cm.

Loop Bottle (M), 2026. 3D printed mixed clay, wax, oil, mineral pigment. 20 x 22 x 32 cm.

Mug, 2026. 3D printed and hand sculpted red clay glaze. 16 x 14 x 9 cm.

Detail.

Pitcher, 2026. 3D printed and hand sculpted red clay, glaze. 16 x 14 x 16 cm.

Lantern Vase, 2026. 3D printed stoneware clay, glaze. 19 x 19 x 39 cm.

Loop Bottle (S), 2026. 3D printed and hand-sculpted stoneware, resin, gold. 

Draped bowl, 2026. 3D printed red clay. 14 x 18 x 9 cm.

digital ceramics, 2025

3D-printed and hand sculpted earthenware, mineral pigment, wax, twine.

Mug vase and Window jar, 2025. 3D printed and hand sculpted earthenware, wax and mineral pigment. 15 x 15 x 35 cm and 18 x 18 x 20 cm.

Ear urns, 2025. 3D printed and hand sculpted earthenware, wax and mineral pigment. 20 x 20 x 26 cm and 19 x 19 x 24 cm.

Wavy jars, 2025. 3D printed and hand-sculpted mixed clay, glaze, wax, mineral pigment, twine. 20 x 19 x 24 cm and 16 x 15 x 18 cm.

Fracture pots, 2025. 3D printed and hand-sculpted black clay, glaze. 16 x 17 x 23 cm and 20 x 20 x 26 cm.

Pocket Jar, 2025. 3D printed and hand-sculpted mixed clay, wax, mineral pigment, twine. 12 x 12 x 11 cm.

Standing jugs, 2025 - 2026. 3D printed and hand-sculpted red clay, glaze, wax. 22 x 20 x 38 cm each. (far right version in private collection)

Generations reinterprets a set of Danish Iron Age clay vessels (500 BC–400 AD) from Horsens Museum's collection as new ceramic sculptures. The ancient pots look plain at first, but they were used for everything from cooking to burial rituals. Many were found in excavations at sites like Hedegård, as well as in farmers' fields and construction sites around Horsens municipality. I'm not trying to recreate these historical pots. I’m interested in what new forms can come from treating historical designs as raw material for contemporary ones.

My process brings together four kinds of artifacts: historical (the museum pots), digital (3D models), machine (the clay 3D printer), and human (my own hand). The digital models come from two places: photogrammetry, which rebuilds a vessel as a 3D model from photographs of the original, and generative modeling tools that produce invented forms from written descriptions. The AI generated forms are a starting point for my design process, providing visual prompts that I can choose to incorporate or push back against depending on what I think the design of the object calls for.

The work resulted in a set of sculptural ceramics, each one made by taking a reconstructed or invented form and reworking it: adjusting proportions, combining elements from different pots, reworking a surface. The finished vessels carry traces of both the real and the invented, reading as ancient and futuristic at the same time. Working this way has helped me connect to the past, making craft history something I can participate in rather than just observe.

Special thanks to ceramicist Anna Andersen and Horsens Museum for their support and collaboration on this project.

Fetching artifacts from the archives. 

Photographing artifacts at the museum’s offices.

Iron Age clay jug fragment, from the collection at Horsens Museum. 

Iron Age clay flask, , from the collection at Horsens Museum.

Iron Age clay pots, from the collection at Horsens Museum.

Iron Age clay jug, from the collection at Horsens Museum.

Iron Age pot, excavated in Horsens, DK.

AI-generated 3D model, made using photographs of the pot.

Fracture pot; 3D-printed and hand sculpted earthenware. 20 x 20 x 26 cm.

Iron Age pot, excavated in Horsens, DK.

AI-generated 3D model of a “Danish Iron Age pot excavated in Horsens, Denmark.”

Window jar; 3D-printed and hand sculpted earthenware, wax. 18 x 18 x 20 cm.

collaborative experiments, 2025 -

Sculptures by artist Marie Retpen. Blown glass with internal silvering and clay occlusions. 14 x 24 x 10 cm and 9 x 11 x 20 cm. 

Detail with clay occlusions.

Detail with visible impressions from the 3D printed clay mould.

In 2025 I joined a collaborative project started by ceramicist Anna Andersen and glass artist Marie Retpen, who were experimenting with making moulds for glassblowing out of 3D printed clay. Anna and I were commissioned by Marie to fabricate 3D printed clay moulds for use in her sculptural work, for a permanent public installation and a 2026 exhibition in Bornholm, Denmark. 

Test of form and process with clay mould designed by Anna Andersen.

First set of tests of 3D printed clay moulds.

Building on my use of generative AI as a design tool in my project A pot, Marie and I worked with a text-to-3d model generator to create forms that I could use as starting points in my design process. The objects we were looking to create for Marie aligned with my usual approach to making objects: combining past/future, organic/digital, familiar yet also uncanny. 

Design inspiration for the moulds came from geological forms made over long spans of time, like these fossils and sandstone concretions. 

A first test asking a generative AI system to make a 3D model of “an organic bone-like fossil that has the texture of tree bark.”

Specimen 01, a 3D model for printing in clay that incorporates some design aspects from gen AI results.

Specimen 04.

Specimen 06.

After some intitial tests of prototype moulds, I 3D printed a final set of hollow forms in recycled clay leftover from my studio practice, using my self-built clay printer and a larger WASP 2040 Clay. The clay 3D prints were then bisque fired and brought to a hot shop where they were used as moulds for Marie’s blown glass. The process destroys the clay object, but pieces of clay can sometimes stay embedded in the blown glass, adding an unexpected, tactile dimension to the surface. 

While our experiments are still ongoing, some of Marie’s resulting blown glass works from our collaboration can be seen on permanent display in Middelfart Public Hospital, in Middelfart, DK. 

3D printed clay moulds, unfired recycled clay.

3D printed clay mould, unfired recycled clay.

Clay mould in sand ready for hot glass.

Releasing the glass from the mould.

In the workshop.

digital ceramics, 2024 - 2025

3D-printed and hand sculpted red clay, various dimensions (largest is 35 x 30 x 40 cm).

A pot with handles, 3D-printed and hand sculpted red clay.

Vase with necks, 3D-printed and hand sculpted red clay.

Double Amphora, 3D-printed and hand sculpted red clay.

A pot is a collaborative project with ceramicist Anna Andersen that uses generative AI as a design tool in ceramic practice. We wanted to know whether AI could add something to our process without undermining the hands-on, material qualities that define ceramics, and what AI tools could actually produce for something as specific and physical as a pot. We began this project hoping adding generative AI tools into our belts would expand the way we make design choices, in form and in process. In this work we treat AI as a support tool, not a replacement for human creativity or craftsmanship.

In the studio, we generated and evaluated hundreds of outputs from two early open-source text-to-3D generators, point-E and shap-E, keeping the forms we saw potential in. The tools were imprecise and inaccurate, but that helped more than it hurt. What came back was often far from what either of us would have sketched or modeled, and that distance added to the process; the rough output from the AI tools left room for us to design on top of it, or alongside it, and sometimes despite it. Each sketch (a 3D model) became a starting point that we altered, remixed, and interpreted through our own design sensibilities and understanding of clay. We then translated digital to physical in the workshop, through a combination of clay 3D printing and hand sculpting.

The project produced a series of pots, but its more lasting result was a way of working; a studio process that folds generative AI into ceramic practice, which we've since carried into other projects. Our making stayed where it always was, in our hands, with AI acting as a generative starting point we could creatively push against.

A pot has recieved development support from Nationalbankens Jubilaeumsfond.

AI-generated model of “a pot” - what we consider an initial “digital sketch.”

My sketches for a pot.

First version of Double Amphora.

AI-generated model of “a pot”.

AI-generated model of “a pot”.

AI-generated model of “a pot”.

Two of our first AI-generated 3D models.

Glazing one of the models, 3D-printed in red clay.

Beaker, 3D-printed red clay, slip wash, glaze.

 studio tool build, 2019

My journey with clay 3D printing began unexpectedly in 2019 while building a Digital Fabrication Studio at Montserrat College of Art. Despite having no prior experience with ceramics, I fell in love with the unique qualities of clay as a material and the machine expressions that arise from the clay 3D printing process. This initial fascination led me to take a ceramics course and begin experimenting with a Potterbot clay printer to better understand the technology and its possibilities.

First clay printing experiments with a Potterbot, 2019.

First clay printing experiments with a Potterbot, 2019.

First 3 “vases” in 3D-printed porcelain, 2019.

This tool-building project took shape in 2022 when I received an Art/Tech Artist-in-Residence grant that allowed me time and support to build my own custom clay printer. I started by visiting ceramicist Anna Andersen, who works with two different types of self-built clay printers. For my printer build, I decided to combine the strengths of two existing systems: an FLSun Q5 delta printer, chosen for its stepper motors and accessible motherboard, paired with a Stoneflower 3D Ceramic printer kit that provided mechanical ram extrusion and the option for independent clay extrusion controls.

The technical development involved designing a custom mount for the printhead and modifying the firmware to accommodate the hybrid setup and custom wooden build plates. I also created custom G-code and slicing profiles using Prusa Slicer, which was already integrated with my existing 3D printing studio workflow.

Researching a DIY printer build - studio visit with ceramicist Anna Andersen, Horsens, DK.

Researching a DIY printer build - studio visit with ceramicist Anna Andersen, Horsens, DK.

Assembling the delta printer and designing a custom printhead mount.

Dialing in custom z heights for firmware and slicer settings.

First day of operation in FabLab Spinderihallerne, Vejle, DK.

Testing printer operation and slicer settings.

It’s alive! Printing with stoneware clay.

Printer setup in studio with wall-mounted ram extruder.

After completing the build in 2023, I spent time calibrating the system and testing various types of 3D forms and clay types. The printer has since been exhibited at the Silicon Vejle festival in Vejle, DK and has become an integral tool for several of my projects, including Jord/Luft, Vibrant Soils, and Jordforbindelse. Currently, it's helping me create prototypes for experimental work combining generative AI with ceramics, A pot.

Special thanks to Anna Andersen, Andrew Sliwinski and the folks at FabLab Spinderihallerne for their support and advice during the build.

Some things I found helpful:
+ Jonathan Keep’s guide to clay 3D-printing
+ Stoneflower 3D’s Ceramic 3D printer kit
+ Wikifactory Ceramic 3D printing forum

Testing forms and clay bodies.

Experiments with slicer settings.

Printer on location outdoors at Silicon Vejle city festival, 2023.