Artisanal and experimental ceramics are deeply tied to matter, gesture, memory, and cultural value. Clay is not only shaped; it carries techniques, local knowledge, firing traditions, symbolic uses, and the marks of the maker’s hand. Generative artificial intelligence, by contrast, produces ceramic images instantly: vessels, textures, glazes, ornaments, and surfaces that may look convincing, but are not always connected to the actual knowledge of ceramic practice.

This paper explores the tension between the ceramic image imagined by AI and the material, cultural, and technical realities of ceramic work. Focusing on Mexican and Latin American ceramic references, the study proposes a practice-based exploration comparing images generated through generic prompts, culturally informed prompts, and prompts shaped by ceramic knowledge, including forming methods, firing processes, glaze behavior, scale, function, and craft memory.

Rather than treating AI’s distortions only as mistakes, the paper considers them as a possible source of artistic inquiry. These images may create false memories of craft, but they may also suggest unexpected forms, impossible surfaces, hybrid ornaments, and new visual paths for artists working between tradition and experimentation. The question is not only whether AI represents ceramic traditions accurately, but what creative conversations emerge when artificial images are confronted with clay, technique, and cultural experience.

Although the paper focuses on Mexican ceramics as a situated case, its approach may be translated to other ceramic traditions where material knowledge, cultural memory, and artistic experimentation remain central.

Authors:
Erick Iroel Heredia-Carrillo, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico

About the Presenter(s)
Dr. Erick Iroel Heredia Carrillo is a Mexican industrial designer, academic, and researcher at UNAM, specializing in design education, digital fabrication, emerging technologies, and material culture.

Connect on Linkedin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/iroelheredia

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