#35 A Work in Progress
Lin Cheung
For me, making is a way of putting my thoughts in some sort of order. I appreciate clarity of thinking, a sense of purpose, a point to things and I usually seek to make work that aspires to a similar sort of logic. Having just returned from a sabbatical I have been in a period of uninterrupted concentration. This has allowed my mind – and hands – to freely wander and go adrift, occasionally astray. Consequently, this solo exhibition is an eclectic mix of new jewellery pieces that reflects some of the broad and diverse range of thoughts that have occupied my mind. Some thoughts are clear, some are vague, some are important and some are not – everything is a work in progress.
A Work in Progress continues my odyssey into gemstone carving and uses rock crystal, pearls, Lapis Lazuli and other semi-precious stones to bring together familiar and new jewellery ideas. The Delayed Reactions series is brought up to date with a timely set of pieces that reflects upon the impending end of Britain´s membership of the European Union. Pointless are a set of twelve star pendants that are partly inspired by the shelf they appear to be slowly disappearing into. ID is a new series of rock crystal pieces that explore notions of identity and belonging. Labour intensive carved pearl chains are contrasted alongside ‘effortless’ mother of pearl pieces that seek to only show the beauty of its material.
The show is kindly sponsored by Vitsoe and all jewellery pieces are displayed on 606 Universal Shelving System designed by Dieter Rams. The beautiful simplicity and flexibility of the shelves enhances the intention of the exhibition to offer a momentary pause and glimpse into my process, creating a space for contemplation where each shelf considers an on-going or new concern for making jewellery.
#88 Allotropic
Ammeli Engström, Shane Hartdegen & Neil Pendergast, Oliver Ressler, Lauren Tickle-Tietje, Johanna Zellmer
From 13 March until 23 May 2019 SHOWCASE_20A presents the contemporary jewellery and photography exhibition Allotropic, showcasing the work of six international artists at Donnersbergerstraße 20A in Munich, Neuhausen. This 24/7 window display in a semi-public space provides a platform for diverse artistic visions to converge.
The title “Allotropic” is derived from modern Greek ἄλλος (allos), meaning ‘other’, and τρόπος (tropos), meaning ‘manner, form’ and describes the property of some chemical elements to exist in two or more different forms, in the same physical state.
The five contemporary jewellery and photography exhibits shown at SHOWCASE_20A create conversations around migration, capitalism, genome technology and identity: Ammeli Engtröm’s paper-thin wearable objects titled „Not my hands“ are reminiscent of nets and baskets and contemplate cross-cultural identities, while Shane Hartdegen & Neil Pendergast’s collaboration “A Sovereign Being” draws our attention to questions of self-proclaimed authority. Lauren Tickle’s kaleidoscopic jewellery objects „Currency Converted“ are made from US dollar bills and illuminate an alternative to money’s intended function in our society. And while Oliver Ressler’s renown large scale photograph „Stranded“ points to something that might happen in the future as the collapse of the capitalist system continues, Johanna Zellmer’s small scale objects “For Otto and Alfredo” pose the question if the personal data collected via our advancing genome technologies will eventually replace the need for passports in current socio-economic environments.
On Friday, 15th of March 2019, from 9.30 until 11am, our Breakfast – Event offers a special occasion to visit the show. This event provides an opportunity to meet some of the artists from overseas, while enjoying coffee and some delicious German pastries.
Allotropic is curated by Johanna Zellmer and Laura Alvarado. This exhibit is supported by Objectspace and the Dunedin School of Art, Te Kura Matatini ki Otago.
#36 clear curves
Student and Alumni of the Applied Art and Design Department, HSD Düsseldorf
CLEAR CURVES presents the Applied Art and Design Department of the Peter Behrens School of Arts/HSD Düsseldorf. On display, you find works of recent students and Alumni which mirror the diversity and facets of the department. With the knowledge and skills in analogue as well as in new technologies, our students shift the variety of experiments, analyses and concepts into jewellery. The results are unique pieces and series works of different makers.
The department Applied Art and Design is an academic bachelor- and master-program in jewellery, product and object design within the faculty of Design, Peter Behrens School of Art/Hochschule Düsseldorf.
Photography: Lennard Orths supervision: Anne Müchler & Nico Schmitz
#65 Fabricate
Caroline Broadhead, Joarla Caridad, Piran Caseley, Mary Chan, Shengyi Chen, Jianan Chen, Biying Chen, Lin Cheung, Munesu Chingwena, Leo Costelloe, Le Er Lee, Veronika Fabian, Ching Fai Fermin Cheung, Melanie Georgacopoulos, Lucie Gledhill, Gabriella Goldsmith, Catherine Griffiths, Emine Gulsal, Andi Gut, Katy Hackney, Lydia Hartshorn, Miho Ishizuka, Yulia Kholdina, Eve Lam, Giles Last, Michelle Lung, Aidan Madden, Marlene Mckibbin, Maria Militsi, Frieda Munro, Charlotte Ooi, Khristina Stolyarova, Louis Tamlyn, Mizuki Tochigi, Wen-Ju Tseng, Jessica Turrell, Frances Wadsworth Jones, Yaling Wang, Max Warren, Nicholas Willis, Ariel YC Tsai, Qi Zhang
Fabricate showcases work by 42 staff and students of the Central Saint Martins BA Jewellery Design course. For the fourth year running students and staff are delighted to be returning to Vitsœ in Munich to display their work as equals, in celebration of the course’s diverse and lively approach to contemporary jewellery and objects. Mindful of the common threads between jewellery and furniture, this exhibition, presented on Vitsœ’s 606 Universal Shelving System, imaginatively and expressively explores the theme of fabrication.
#54 Finding Dodo
Lore Langendries, Märta Mattsson, Marion Delarue, Jelizaveta Suska
Mysterious species hide at the bottom of our oceans and in the dark corners of our world. Magical animals and mythical creatures have existed in our fantasies since the beginning of human consciousness. Some species have become extinct and some might have only existed in our minds. Tales of unicorns and mermaids might be fiction, but science cannot explain everything. According to some recent theories, dinosaurs might have been covered with fur and there are humans who claim to have been abducted by alien lifeforms. Can we tell what is fake and what is real?
The extinct bird dodo’s appearance in life is evidenced only by drawings and written explanations from the 17th century. Because these vary considerably, and because only some illustrations are known to have been drawn from live specimens, its exact appearance in life remains unresolved. How much has the human factor interfered in our modern perception of what a dodo looked like? Humans have a need for uncanny objects, and we have an inner urge to seek distraction and relief from unpleasant realities, especially by seeking entertainment or engaging in fantasy. Sigmund Freud considered escapist fantasies a necessary element in the life of humans.
In the exhibition Finding Dodo you will encounter jewellery pieces by Jelizaveta Suska, Marion Delarue, Märta Mattsson and Lore Langendries. These artists all have their own unique way of transforming natural materials through experimental and digital techniques to create man-made and modern curiosities. In materials like mother of pearl, amber, dried insects and fur these jewellery artists seek to trigger our ideas of how humans perceive the world and our heritage. With their pieces they are leaving a bewildering footprint of artefacts for a future species to marvel over and to comprehend.
#59 Full Disclosure
Adam Shirley, Alissa Lamarre, Alyssa Bliven, Anke Huyben, Aaron Patrick Decker, Emily Culver, Hongzhe Ma, Jane Ritchie, Julia Heineccius, Juvana Soliven, Jiadai Wu, Matt Lambert, Naama Levit, Natalia Sarrazin, Rebekah Frank, Ronit Dayan Vishovski, Seth Papac, Shelly McMahon, Tatum Gentry, Timothy Veske-McMahon, Victoria Bulgakova, Yao Xiao, Yilun Lyu
Hosted by Cranbrook Academy of Art’s Metalsmithing Department and organized by Shelly McMahon and Katrina Wu, Full Disclosure will be a part of the Jewelry Week’s exhibitions in Munich and will run from March 13th – 17th, 2019 with an opening reception on March 13th, 2019, 5 – 8 pm.
Full Disclosure aims to dismantle the political strategy that selects and distorts information through different forms of media to increase a more biased ideology. In the book Productive Failure: Writing Queer Transnational South Asian Art Histories, Author Alpesh Kantilal Patel speaks about the fact that he cannot write about history without including his own personal history and identity. Considering his text as subjective, Patel acknowledges his writings are limited and further argues that it is not possible for one to write from a completely comprehensive and unbiased perspective. Inspired by Patel’s statement, Full Disclosure shows the collective voice of artists in response to the singular and exclusive media.
McMahon and Wu intend to present artists and their works under the context of Full Disclosure: as nonfixed entities that exist within a multiplicity of experience. In addition to artwork, a piece of writing from each artist will be anonymously published and presented in the exhibition. Participating artists include alumnus and current students of the Cranbrook Academy of Art Metalsmithing Department. Under the leadership of Iris Eichenberg, artist-in-residence of the Metalsmithing Department. This small community of artists confront and oppose the rising of biased media by creating politically-engaged artwork. In doing so, they seek to develop their own productive strategy and discover the multiple facets of a broader dialogue.
#99b Hatara Project `Time Perceptions 5`
Christine Jalio, Annea Lounatvuori, Helmi Lindblom, Melina Lindroos, Wiebke Pandikow, Ginta Grube, Jelizaveta Suska, Malene Kastalje
It was 5 years ago that Annea Lounatvuori and Christine Jalio first appeared at Munich Jewellery Week with Hatara, which makes this year a special anniversary for us. Hatara has certainly grown over this time, from originally 2 to the 8 artists that make up Hatara today. We are: Christine Jalio, Annea Lounatvuori, Helmi Lindblom, Melina Lindroos, Wiebke Pandikow, Ginta Grube, Jelizaveta Suska and Malene Kastalje.
This special anniversary called for a special project. How to connect 8 people with so many different styles? How to show change over time, time perception, which has been our ongoing theme from the start? We decided to do a little experiment which we call `the travelling jewellery piece`. All of us -smaller and bigger groups, have worked together on several jewellery pieces. In this experiment: One of us would start a piece, then send it off to the next artist, who would add to it and edit it, and then send it off again, to be added to and edited on further. It was a refreshing experience, but it wasn’t easy and working with these pieces has forced everyone to look at our creative process in a new light.
We won’t promise that all of these pieces are good or even make sense, but we can assure you, they are interesting in their craziness. Come have a look at our hybrids, our chimeras, our beloved mutts!
Aside from the joined pieces every artist will also present their current work alongside the travelling pieces.
www.munichjewelleryweek.com/event/hatara-project-time-perceptions-5/
#97c Hypothesis
Luz Arias, Carolina Bernachea, Mercedes Castro Corbat
Three starting points.
Three foggy finishing lines.
Humble tentative to any intention of confirmation.
The minute equilibrium of the glass, the insistent gesture of weaving textile fibers, and blurred images tangled within the creases of x rays, struggling in their intent to reveal three poetic hypotheses.
#34a IDIOMATIC – Jewellery Conversation Between France and Germany
Marion Delarue, Marine Dominiczak, Emmanuel Lacoste, Typhaine Le Monnier, Annie Sibert, Céline Sylvestre, Yiumsiri Vantanapindu, Anne Achenbach, Sophie Baumgärtner, Katharina Dettar, Pia Groh, Junwon Jung, Florian Milker, Janina Stübler
A piece of jewellery – close link between art and the body – makes a powerful means of expression. Can jewellery, as a unique form of language reflecting common intimate and societal issues, present different characteristics depending on which country it originates from? Can two countries as geographically close as France and Germany develop a creative vocabulary of their own, an idiomatic-related glossary?
We will explore these questions through an informal dialogue, an inviting discussion, an enthusiastic conversation between pieces of jewellery created by the newest generation of both French and German artists.
#27 INFLUENCES_passions transforms our work
Claudia Steiner, Corrado De Meo, Elin Flognman, Gabi Veit, Gigi Mariani, Judy McCaig, Lluís Comín, Maria Rosa Franzin, Nicola Heidemann, Patrizia Bonati, Stefano Rossi, Yoko Takirai/Pietro Pellitteri
The group of 12 authors has chosen, once again, to follow the path of “infuences”. The theme last year was working on how the environment affects one´s work, this year develops towards the more emotional sphere of the individual. Exploring passion in uences our imagination.
Each author searches for his way to convey the idea of passion through his work. Choice of subject matter, materials, colors and of forms connects the expression and personal character of each artist. Traditions, innovations, cultures and origins all impact the creation of works.
In the resulting pieces, the different technical qualities of each author are visible. New inspirations lead to new possibilities.The recent work, like last year, can be seen at the B/E Benjamin Eck Gallery.
www.facebook.com/influences.contemporaryjewellery.exhibition
www.munichjewelleryweek.com/event/influences_passions-transforms-our-work/
#44 "INTERIORS" Chilean collective exhibition from Joya Brava
Cecilia Roccatagliata, Valeria Martinez, Monica Diaz Pinto, Viviana Arevalo, Soledad Avila, Clarisa Menteguiaga, Monica Perez, Vania Ruiz, Gabriela Harsany, Loreto Fernandez, Yael Olave, Pia Walker, Paulina Latorre, Andrea Silva, Rita Soto, Pascale Durandin, Joyce Marin, Massiel Muñoz, Ana Nadjar, Yoya Zamora, Patricia Iglesias, Constanza Bielsa, Daniela Rivera, Liliana Ojeda, Melina Rapiman, Carola Donoso
Each one has an inner world: complex and unique, which manifests itself in infinite forms towards its surroundings. To dare to enter that world, was the invitation that Jorge Castañón proposed to us, to absorb ourselves in that intense and deep process, where each one opens, throbs, grows and communicates with oneself and others. Over one year, he guided us in this critical work, crossing reflections and feelings, together with the experimentation of materials and techniques.
The result are pieces that speak of the interests, the pains, the joys and the hopes of each of the members of our association and that reflect a summation of visceral feelings, a accumulation of experiences and ways of seeing oneself and everything that surrounds us. They also represent the sensations of a cut in time, a here and now looking us in the eye. “Interiors”, brings together all our differences and convergences as a group, embodied in pieces of paper, porcelain, metals, textiles and other materials that gave corporeality to our affections andcommotions.
In this way, Joya Brava, with almost a decade of work together, has been maturing in the “making of contemporary jewelry”, showing an artistic, personal and collective growth. We are grateful for each of the stages in this process, as well as for all the people who participated in this journey.
www.munichjewelleryweek.com/event/interiors-chilean-collective-exhibition-from-joya-brava/
#34b Le bijou still a risky business
Alice Khau, Anaïs Arrayet, Anne Léger, Carla Garcia Durlan, Cécile Flory, Cécile Maes, David Bielander, Elvire Blanc Briand, Esther Knobel, Gésine Hackenberg, Helen Britton, Helena Lehtinen, Jasmin Matzakow, Jean Savard, Karin Seufert, Laurie Noyelle, Manon Écotière, Manon Papin, Marianne Anselin, Marie Masson, Marie-Caroline Locquet, Marine Chevanse, Marine Dominiczak, Miranda Hoegberg, Monika Brugger, Nadja Milivinti-Gaujoux, Pauline Pinoteau, Peter Hoogeboom, Philip Sajet, Romain Jamet, Roxane Boisserie, Shuling Liu, Terhi Tolvanen, Tore Svensson, Ute Eitzenhöfer, Xiao Chen, Yao Tan, Yiumsiri Vantanapindu
Le bijou still a risky business (Jewellery – still a risky business) is a contemporary jewellery exhibition brought together by a team of students from ENSA Limoges (National School of Art). The event will take place in the Institut Français of München, from March 13th to 17th, 2019, on the occasion of the ” Schmuck, Munich jewellery week “. Le bijou still a risky business refers to Paul Derrez’ exhibition named ” Risky Business ” which he presented in his own gallery – Gallery Ra – in 1996.
Indeed, Paul Derrez show his own pieces, taking on – artistically speaking – his homosexuality. Twenty-three years later, the taboo of sex is no more convened, but both the sensitive matter of the price of a piece of art – through the exhibition En quête du juste prix (Looking for the right price) – and the way jewellery is thought in Art Schools – with the POPshow exhibition -, which are both reunited under the name of: Le bijou still a risky business.
POPshow gives an account of the risk of transmission of the contemporary jewellery subject, which is still confidential in France. “If establishing a relation between risk and education is probably comical, creating contemporary jewellery also takes the risk of not being understood by those who would only consider the contemporaneity of their discipline”. Monika Brugger POPshow exhibits the students’ works, their teachers’ pieces – Monika Brugger and Tehri Tolvanen – as well as those of international artists – such as Esther Knobel, Helena Lethinen or Karin Seufert and Tore Svensson – who are welcomed every year by POPA.i.R. (Artist in residence) in the ENSA’s Jewellery studio.
This year, the ENSA Limoges turns to be the first National School of Art of France endowed with a jewellery mention, which thus reinforces the legitimacy of its education in contemporary jewellery. En quête du juste prix questions the difficulty to fix the price of your own creations in general, and the one of contemporary jewellery in particular – due to its singular positioning between design and art. Using surveys, students interviewed the artists and collected their feelings, advice and anecdotes upon the impossible to fix the right price of their pieces. « Everyone has a problem with setting a price. It is never easy. There are no rules » Tore Svensson. The shifted point of view presented here with the original invention of a new price charter enables us to re-visit this set of themes both with humour and seriousness. To be found in this charter : the promising price, the calculator price, or even the chewing-gum price.
After two years spent on investigation, creation and implementation, this project turned out to be both a challenge and a risk for these students. Indeed, they imagined and settled their own scenography and visual communication. They also dealt with the financial aspect of the project raising funds from citizens and donators in order to complete their exhibitions.
www.facebook.com/POPatelierbijou/
www.munichjewelleryweek.com/event/le-bijou-still-a-risky-business/
#71a M.E.G.A.
Petra Bishai, Isabelle Busnel, Jo Garner, Spam Glam, Velvet Hart, Emily Kidson, Victoria King, Timothy Information Limited, Maarit Liukkonen, Jo McAllister, Annelise Pfeiffer, Maud Traon, Sorcha Wharf, Anet Wrobel
One small step, collectively walking in the right direction.
A jewellery exhibition produced by London based Dialogue Collective.
Millions of years old, this Earth has uncompromisingly provided us with a resourceful and beautiful home. In a time of political unrest and social division the welfare of the planet does not often take the precedence it should, and its degradation is reaching a critical turning point. We must all strive to Make Earth Great Again.
M.E.G.A. is an exhibition by 14 jewellery artists. Each with a singular voice and creative approach, they will tackle themes as wide and varied as coexistence, coastal erosion, over-population and reforestation. In their now inimitable style of approaching challenging topics with exuberance, wit and positivity, Dialogue Collective aim to highlight the ironies and processes involved in saving the planet. Alongside providing a response to chosen themes each artist reflects on possible steps to reduce carbon footprint. By altering their making processes, whether through material or technique, DC takes a positive approach to a contentious matter. The resulting work will start conversations about the personal and collective steps we can take to Make Earth Great Again.
Dialogue Collective was formed in 2001 by a London-based group of artists with a background in jewellery and silversmithing. DC has since presented twenty-one events internationally, and in 2016 was selected by Art Jewelry Forum as one of the ten best presentations at Munich Jewellery Week. A changing group of artists participate in each event, together with invited guests, all of whom have a connection to London Metropolitan University aka The Cass.
The DC remit is to instigate different and interesting ways to create and show jewellery and silversmithing through collaborative making and discussion. Transforming negatives into positives DC aims to further develop ways of bringing contemporary jewellery and objects to a wider audience.
#39 Nacre
Melanie Georgacopoulos
Nacre marks Melanie Georgacopoulos’s first solo exhibition for ten years. In this time Melanie has cemented herself as a leading figure in the world of pearl jewellery due to her daring and innovative approach which has seen her slice, drill and facet pearls, fearlessly experimenting with them as a material to great acclaim.
In a natural progression from her examination of the pearl, Melanie turned her attention in 2016 to the often overlooked by-product of the pearl industry, mother of pearl. MOP, otherwise known as nacre, is produced by mollusks as an inner shell layer and also makes up the outer coating of pearls. It is astrong, resilient and iridescent material that has been used for thousands of years, mainly in the form of inlay. As a material it is more widely used than pearls, however, despite its popularity, it has never reached the pearls symbolic status.
Throughout the duration of her practice Melanie has striven to challenge existing preconceptions and her work with MOP has been no exception. Due to its organic nature, MOP presents many challenges and apparent restrictions. Rather than accepting these, Melanie has striven to face them head on, pushing the material to its upper limits and arguing MOP’s position alongside more traditionally desirable gemstones.
This exhibition will for the first time present an overview of Melanie’s MOP explorations to date. Pieces from each of her five MOP collections will be showcased alongside one another to give an insight in to the wide and varied world of mother of pearl.
#55 New Mythology
Hattie Wragg - Queen's Wood Studio
A jewellery exhibition celebrating the magical and the surreal. Dreamers welcome.
There they stayed through seven winters,
But all the eighth they were seized with longing,
And in the ninth they put on their feathers and parted.
The swan maidens yearned for the murky wood,
They had their fate to follow.
(Völundarkviða 5)
In the mist she stands at the water’s edge, swan, now woman, now swan again. She shifts…
In the old tales, smiths worked between the worlds, taking their materials from nature — the mythological world of rock elves and dwarves — and fashioning objects for humankind. Now silver is melted down from x-ray dust, old rings and switches. Shapeshifting. It cannot return to ore, but it will flow its own way if you let it.
This show will write a new mythology where recycled materials meet the yearning in our hearts to be something other in a human world that gets wilder and stranger by the day. Expect jewels, veils and video. Oh, and swans — in abundance.
All images New Mythology by Queen’s Wood Studio. Photography by Patricia Kvasnovska
#93 NUDA VITA The practice of collective and political body
Vivien Bedwell, Daria Borovkova, Corrina Goutos, Satomi Kawai, Anna Lewis, Nina Lima, Daniel Ramos, Daniella Saraya, Hansel Tai, Martina Turini, Tanel Veenre, Maria Ignacia Walker Guzman, Snem Yildirim
Adornment – Curating Contemporary Art Jewelry is pleased to present Nuda Vita, an experience of artistic production that stages the work of some of the most interesting contemporary jewellery artists.
The initiative, curated by Ilaria Ruggiero, will be held on the occasion of Munich Jewellery Week from March 13th to 17th at ABC Westside Galerie and explores the value and the role of the public, collective and political body, starting from the expression Nuda Vita, coined by Benjamin and then developed by the philosopher Giorgio Agamben, interpreted here as an impossible condition, unspeakable concept, and artistic action.
Nudity does not happen as a physical condition, but as a symbolic event of resistance and sensitization.
The exhibition presents the new collections of 13 artists of different nationalities who were invited to work on the idea of the political, public and collective body: Vivien Bedwell, Daria Borovkova, Corrina Goutos, Satomi Kawai, Anna Lewis, Nina Lima, Daniel Ramos, Daniella Saraya, Hansel Tai, Martina Turini, Tanel Veenre, Maria Ignacia Walker Guzman, Snem Yildirim.
With an iconic concept as their starting-point, relating to their own cultures of origin, and linked to a form of oppression of collective and individual freedom, they have developed a body of work inspired by the chosen theme.
This gave rise to provocative visions, games, reflections and distortions.
Each artist has focused on developing their own artistic research in a definite direction, conceptually developing the intimate experience, in order to return to it through personal and peculiar language: the role of women in society, the question of gender, sexual orientation, spiritual identity, consumerism and disposable culture, the dynamics of appropriation and cultural clash, slavery, the idea of beauty, regimes and dictatorships, mysticism and eroticism, disability and public spaces, are just some of the topics covered by these works.
The collections have been photographed by different photographers under the creative direction of Arianna Novaga, Asia Flamini, Simone Franzolini, Marco Pauletto, Joan Porcel Pascual and AngeloTassitano.
Each of the photographers involved elaborated, through their own visual language, the connotative symbolism of the various artistic projects, emphasizing and thus narrating the intimate and individual experiences of the artists, multiplying at the same time the number of voices and representations.
Even the catalogue, resembling a dossier, is designed to be an open organism, continuously modifiable and available to include new projects. It responds to the necessity of not wanting to give answers, but of enhancing questions and investigations.
Nuda Vita represents the time when life is both experienced and reconciled. Concretely it aims to be an artistic movement, an open and continuous platform of reflection and stimulation to give substance to those studies, which see the body and existence as an area of exploration. It is an act of provocation and resistance, subversion and sensitisation, which focuses upon the body, through the medium of the jewel, as a statement of politics, identity and humanity.
www.munichjewelleryweek.com/event/nuda-vita-the-practice-of-collective-and-political-body/
#100a OVERREACTING: Jewelry Speaks Feminism and Gender
Keren Gispan, Tamar Paley, Katia Rabey, Daniella Saraya, Anat Aboucaya Grozovski, Yotam Bahat, Sofia Zakharova, Batami Kober, Rill Greenfeld
Nine artists from Israel discuss gender roles, body image, femininity and a woman’s place in society using jewellery as their language of expression. Contrary to popular opinion that women are often “too dramatic” and associated with qualities such as hysteria and overreacting-we celebrate the stamina that comes with such emotion turning it into art, a means for us to be heard-a virtue, not a weakness.
#28 'Petrophores & Theomyths' + SICHTEN
Peter Vermandere, Theo Smeets + Sophie Baumgärtner, Elisa Sophia Herrmann
Two double exhibitions in one location. Peter Vermandere and Theo Smeets present recent works in ‘Petrophores & Theomyths’. Sophie Baumgärtner and Elisa Sophia Herrmann present recent works in ‘SICHTEN’.
www.munichjewelleryweek.com/event/petrophores-theomyths-sichten/
#91b Popeye loves Olive Art Space
Anna Vlahos, Anastasia Kandaraki, Angelos Konstantakatos, Artemis Valsamaki, Constantinos Papadoukas, Elli Xippa, Erato Kouloubi, George Giannoutsos, Ioli Livada, Jee Hye Kwon, Lilly Kanellopoulou, Marina Zachou, Raluca Buzura, Vasia Pachi, Xenia Deimezi
After the great success of last years’ Hidden Curriculum exhibition, Popeye loves Olive will present in the same space, a selection of artists coming from both the vibrant scene of Athens and the contemporary jewelry field.
klimt02.net/galleries/popeye-loves-olive-art-space
www.munichjewelleryweek.com/event/popeye-loves-olive-art-space/
#51 The One Woman Group Exhibition Karen Pontoppidan
Karen Pontoppidan
Karen Pontoppidan was born in Kerteminde, Denmark. Her artistic philosophy and work go hand in hand with a fundamental and radical change in contemporary art jewelry. Current insights into the social significance of identity and gender within the framework of gender studies, for example, or the political and social role of art, form the background for the basic assumptions in her work and teaching (2006 – 2015 as a professor at the Konstfack in Stockholm, Sweden, and since 2015 as a professor at the Akademie der bildenden Künste, in Munich, Germany). These insights also inform her demands for an expansion of consciousness in her discipline and for a dismantling and innovative revitalization of her subject-matter under premises and creative conditions that reflect these current insights.
With all this in mind, the artist presents her subject-matter in such a way as to suggest how a discipline so strongly conditioned by tradition and the genre’s own history can react to our epoch, to explosive concerns and to existential problems.
In her work, she herself has developed a many-faceted aesthetic that seems contradictory at first glance. “THE ONE WOMAN GROUP EXHIBITION,” therefore, is a fitting title for this exhibition, as it counteracts and undermines the viewer’s expectations of artist images and the conceptions of works of art that have accompanied us since the age of bourgeois idealism.
With this presentation of around 150 works from the last twenty years, the artist allows a broader public, for the first time, to participate in a complex discourse and to gain insight into the demanding and critical transformation of the jewelry genre of her generation.
As the exhibition unfolds, the artifice of the make-believe “camouflage” and the division of a single creator of the objects into numerous female authors become apparent. Each chapter in the exhibition has therefore been assigned to a “fake” author. In fact, however, it is a consistent and ultimately logical oeuvre that unfolds before our eyes. Even during her studies in Munich with Otto Künzli, whose assistant Pontoppidan then also became, she dealt with negative feelings such as disgust and ugliness, which actually, for jewelry, were completely frowned upon at the time. The result, however, proves to be astonishing, because the colorful “BLUMEN&BOLLER” – as this group of works is called – are quite suitable for adaption to the body. It is with this astonishment in mind that Pontoppidan strives for an element of confrontation, and it is to this end that she infuses absurd, outlandish qualities into her artwork using engraving and enamel techniques.
Groups of works with a sculptural character and which relate to social surroundings and individual contexts are the cumulative result of these efforts. The unshapely, as an aesthetic element and as an incisive disruptive factor, gives her pendants – the necklaces from the cycle “FAMILY PORTRAITS” for instance, an alien appearance. An appearance nonetheless, which, through its poetic, almost melancholic charisma, receives an atmospheric effect that eases the break and cushions the “impact” with the conventional image of jewelry. Recently, Pontoppidan has been analysing relationships between the arts commonly referred to as “applied” and “free.” The trilogy “CANVAS_CONTEXT_CASH” from 2010-2014 combines behaviors and citations from both areas and, with an ironic effect, mixes these instruments to create an object that serves as jewelry. In “KNELL – THE GENDER BELL” (2016/2018), the author comments – through the use of bell-like forms as pendants – on the voice as a theme: its space, its range and its raison d’être. Hidden inside these “resonant structures” are mysterious clappers; each of a shape or material rich in associations, and each of which is able to produce quite a decent tone. These groups of works will furthermore be joined by completely newly created cycles which complement the body of art jewelry, but also go beyond it.
During this period, Pontoppidan completely freed herself from the classical dogma of jewelry, and – constantly deliberating and wrestling with the trained goldsmith within herself – she shamelessly and provocatively shifted back and forth between experimental deconstruction within conceptually influenced series of works, the demand for freedom of artistic gesture and design; and their intellectual depth and aesthetic representation. This high- level “balancing act” was by no means harmless.
With it, jewelry has moved back into the realm of art. This time, however, enriched through the addition of content, which, in this form, had never been seen before. This content embeds jewelry itself within a superordinate social change; one that increasingly lends the artistic media an openness and ambiguity of expression – without completely negating the pleasure of, in our case, jewelry.
In Munich, in particular, with its world-famous and internationally connected jewelry scene that hosts a “mega-event” centered, among other activities, around gallery and museum exhibitions and around the special jewelry show at the IHM, a leading trade fair for craft trades, the “statement” that Karen Pontoppidan’s exhibition at the Museum Villa Stuck makes is more than obligatory. The avant garde is at home here, and this where the avant garde of this genre will continue to present its work.
www.munichjewelleryweek.com/event/the-one-woman-group-exhibition-karen-pontoppidan/
#59b Time / Time Past
Iris Eichenberg, Marta Costa Reis
Iris Eichenberg and Marta Costa Reis explore the notion of time, or: the materiality of days and years and ages that go by, lived yet escaping, running away from us. We feel decaying. Is there anything that we can hold on to, can stop this movement, can we capture time? Cyclical time offers some reassurance, things that come and go and come again. Fleeting moments, in contrast, make sure that something new will follow. There will be a time that excludes us, that we will no longer be part of. The cycles continue, regardless. Life, no more than a fleeting moment; mementoes yet may sustain themselves, and, maybe, us.
#38 #000000
Carlos Silva, Jordi Aparicio, Jorge Manilla, Rodrigo Acosta, Valentim Quaresma
“#000000” is a project that gathers 5 jewellery makers working in the field of Contemporary Jewellery. Coming from 4 different countries, their works present distinct approaches and materials that shift from fashion to artistic expressions, from textile to charcoal, plastic, leather, readymades or metalwork. In spite of their clear individuality, these five male voices intersect in this project with one mutual condition. #000000, the hex value for black, refers to the complete absence of colour and is the common ground for the artists to explore the symbolic range of meanings attached to it. Hints on concealing and protecting, the secretive and the unknown, strength and authority, elegance or sophistication are unveiled throughout the exhibition.
Carlos Silva
This work begins with fragments and an inevitable urge to organize them, to group them back together. I’m attracted to the idea that fragments are traces of something that has been broken, that lost its integrity, but also raw material for building something new. The dialogue of the hands with the materials and the quest for making each fraction fit turns into something of a ritual. The shape of each new jewellery piece is driven by this process, towards the creation of a solid and (again) stable surface that carries the symbolic protection of this new configuration to the body.
Jordi Aparicio
I currently work with two parallel methods using two different materials, applying fire to both of them in a sort of bipolar way. The methods are connected to each other like two sides of a same idea. In the first one, I wind precious metal around pieces of wood which are incinerated during the process and are replaced by an empty space with their shape, creating a memory. In the second one I use wrapping plastic that becomes a waste material after being used to protect something. When it is stretched around that something, it’s distorted permanently by the object it protects. It creates a memory. Through fire I destroy that memory.
Jorge Manilla
By creating jewellery Jorge Manilla investigates his environment – religion, emotions, relationships and the meaning of life.
Over the last years the artist has rediscovered his love for the black colour. To the artist black relates to something hidden, the secretive and the unknown, and as a result it creates an air of mystery. It keeps things bottled up inside, hidden from the world. His dark forms and shapes create a barrier between the meanings of the objects and the outside world. Black implies self-control and discipline, independence and a strong will. It gives an impression of authority and power. For Manilla black is the end, but the end always implies a new beginning. When light appears, black becomes white, the color of new beginnings.
Rodrigo Acosta
“La necesidad de la oscuridad”
The idea of the shirt as the first layer that covers the body, that hides imperfections, insecurities and fear; deconstructed in different fragments that copy the wrinkles, folds and volume of a body in motion.
The process of construction of the pieces is related to the acceptance of different situations. Starting from white shirts to which different finishes and dyes are applied to obtain different shades of black, because in the black I see the light, in the dark I see the white, because feeling or being dark is what my interior needs.
Valentim Quaresma
In nature nothing is lost, nothing is created and everything is transformed. But what would happen if there was no more nature for this transformation to occur? How could life still pull through? I developed this project based on this idea, that there is no more nature to produce organic life. Through upcycling materials, I envision a transmutation point where the pieces start to grow by themselves. I become a tool hatching the jewels, and the black is a void, an empty space for the genesis of matter.
See all events during Munich Jewellery Week 2019 here
