Human’s resolve to show allegiance to powerful doctrines, to obscure social collectives, or to anything in between, gives jewellery its ultimate seductive power: the ability to speak about personal belonging in a way no other object can.
To wear jewellery is a private gesture. But publicly, it can subtly declare following, express devotion and act as a vehicle for protection, protest, even fantasy. To wear jewellery is a universally shared will.
Jewellery is cult.
CULT deals with the elusive ways jewellery relates to, and is reflective of, culture and identity. It may act as a highly personal manifestation of style and individuality, it also can be indicative of subcultural groupings, real or imagined. At times it’s even a vehicle for protection, or protest.
For CULT, eight overlapping categories have been defined to help navigate the means through which this happens: Identification, Participation, Non-conformation and Fetish, Persuasion, Conformation, Ritual and Fantasy. How does wearing jewellery strengthen human relationships, or harness new kinds of social collectiveness? Is it subcultural, ideological, or both? Either way, the true allure of jewellery is cult.
IDENTIFICATION
Tags, markers, pins: even modest forms of jewellery can declare a strong message. Thirty years ago safety pins said you were
against the establishment. Today, they might demonstrate political solidarity. Buttons can speak to whom you’re for or what you’re against. These humble objects are not only visual grouping mechanisms for different social scenes, but the products of that innate urge to tag yourself, to differentiate. It’s an active, intuitive, yet sharply decisive gesture – poking holes in clothes, simply bending a wire, slipping some anonymous band around a wrist. These impulsive acts are what first separates you from somebody else. Staying hidden in plain sight, the chosen objects are what identify you to others like yourself.
PARTICIPATION
Through acquiring and collecting, jewellery becomes the means to show social or subcultural participation. It’s individual distinction, the sign of your obsession. Multiplied, it becomes part of an ever-growing roll call. Collective wearing creates an invisible web capable of grouping people near and far. The more exclusive and defined the group, the more that group sets itself apart from the mainstream, but if a critical mass is reached, it then risks becoming convention. Wearing jewellery is a search for balance between two contradictory things: autonomy, feeling special; and wanting to be a part of something bigger than yourself.
To best demonstrate this, Current Obsession has invited twelve of the most forward thinking international jewellery artists, some of which are presenting not yet seen work: Alexander Blank, Shachar Cohen, Elvira Golombosi, Adam Grinovich, Nils Hint, Göran Kling, Takashi Kojima, Helena Lehtinen, Florian Weichsberger, Mallory Weston, Areta Wilkinson and Rei Yamada. A special piece from the Noordermarkt legend Happy Day is also present.
NON-CONFORMIST
A piece of jewellery can be a symptom of rebellion, a token of resistance or a clue to strange taste and tendency. Societal opposition and pledges of in compliance can be expressed without words. Jewellery is an outlet of our offbeat nature, attitude and aesthetic. It lets us be different, to stick out and to object. Sometimes it even acts as an abstract tool that helps us navigate around our social shortcomings. Wearing certain kinds of jewellery may be indicative of our more combative sides as humans, but it can also embolden and empower us. Armed with jewellery, we’re that much more equipped to create alternative realities in our heads as a way to better cope with the world around us.
CULT is curated by: Current Obsession – Marina Elenskaya and Kellie Riggs
Design Musem Den Bosch – Fredric Baas
Produced by: Current Obsession – Sarah Mesritz
Exhibition graphic design by: Linda Beumer
Scenographic elements by: Stefan Auberg
Campaign Credits
Photography: Lonneke van der Palen
Styling: Pascal-Joël Weber represented by Angelique Hoorn Management
Hair and Make up artist: Erika Nuijten represented by Angelique Hoorn Management
Model: Roos Ferrero wearing jewellery by Göran Kling + Sascha represented by FIC Model Management wearing jewellery by Adam Grinovich