Current Obsession Paper for Munich Jewellery Week 2015

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CURRENT OBSESSION Inner Rooms Q & A with Hanna Hedman

Eyeballs

Talente’15 Jewellery Nominees Photography by Trey Wright

Studio Visits with Schmuck’15 artists

Spell Of The Rebels Photography by Marta Veludo

Must-See List

Stir It Up & Shake Your Booty With contributions by Leo Caballero, Benjamin Lignel,

The Tower Part 1 Ted Noten

Contemporary Jewellery Magazine

Content p. 3

Current Obsession goes Supernatural!

Editors’ Note

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Supernatural Prof. Zachary T. Androus

Daimones, Lillian Mattuschka

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Crystal Obsession: Lessons from an Alien Star-Seed

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by Kellie Riggs

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Spell Of The Rebels Art Direction by Marta Veludo, Photography by Marta Veludo Studio Concept by Patrícia Domingues & Marta Veludo

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Inner Rooms, Hanna Hedman

by Kellie Riggs

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Bit and Bobs, Sofie Lachaert & Luc d’Hanis

by Marina Elenskaya

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Eyeballs The 2015 Talente Award Nominees in Jewellery Photography by Trey Wright

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Part 1 The Tower, Ted Noten Marina Elenskaya

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Studio Visits Beatrice Brovia, Neke Moa, Lucy Sarneel, Yuki Sumiya, Nils Hint

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Must-See List, Stir It Up & Shake Your Booty Munich Jewellery Week's selected exhibitions Marjan Unger, Leo Caballero, Benjamin Lignel, Noon Passama, Kellie Riggs & Marina Elenskaya

Credits CURRENT OBSESSION published this paper on

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

COPYRIGHT, © 2015 Current Obsession All

Martí Mató, Neke Moa, Lilian Mattuschka, Anna

the occasion of Munich Jewellery Week 2015

Zachary T. Androus

Rights Reserved: No part of this publication

Norrgrann, Ted Noten, Amy Peace-Buzzard,

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS

may be copied and/or reproduced without the

Kota Okuda, Lucy Sarneel, Esther Suarez Ruiz,

www.current-obsession.com

Marta Veludo, Trey Wright

written permission of the copyright holder

Yuki Sumiya, Anneleen Swillen, Jiye Yun

Antwerp, Eindhoven, Amsterdam,

COPY EDITOR

SPECIAL THANKS

Stockholm, Rome

Nina Moog

Clarisse Bruynbroeck and the direction of

Schmuck 2015, special show of the

MUST-SEE LIST CONTRIBUTING EXPERTS

Gallery Valerie Traan, Cathelijne Engelkes and

International Trade Fair Munich,

FOUNDING EDITOR

Leo Caballero, Benjamin Lignel, Noon Passama,

the team of ATN, Elisabeth Kieser and the

11.- 17.3.2015 Management and Organization:

Marina Elenskaya

Marjan Unger

team of Lost Weekend, Florian Weichsberger,

Handwerkskammer für München und

info@current-obsession.com

PRINTED IN THE NETHERLANDS BY

Melanie Isverding, Katrin Eitner, Sonia and

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MANAGING DIRECTOR

Rodi Media/Dijkman

Michael Collins of Chrome Yellow Books

and Dr. Michaela Braesel

Sarah Mesritz

PUBLISHED BY CURRENT OBSESSION

+

magazine@current-obsession.com

Marina Elenskaya & Sarah Mesritz

To all the artists who contributed to the

ART DIRECTION & GRAPHIC DESIGN

ADVERTISING

content of the CURRENT OBSESSION PAPER:

THE 2015 PROGRAMME WAS MADE POSSIBLE

Linda Beumer & Anna Hennerdal

For advertising opportunities and other

Beatrice Brovia, Eva Burton, Patrícia Correia

BY THE GENEROUS SUPPORT OF:

EDITOR

enquiries, please get in touch via:

Domingues, Tatjana Giorgadse, Elvira

Kellie Riggs

magazine@current-obsession.com

Golombosi, Luc d’Hanis, Carmen Hauser, Hanna

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

COVER IMAGE BY

Hedman, Nils Hint, Kelsey Isaacs, Koen Jacobs,

Chris van der Kaap, Mariah Tuttle

Anna Hennerdal

Levan Jishkariani, Sofie Lachaert, Cristina

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Editor s’ Note Cur rent Obsession goes Super na tural!

Dears, the Paper you are holding in your hands is our very first project this year.

One part of its content focuses on Munich Jewellery Week. We are working on making MJW visible to as many people as possible, so we’ve developed a striking identity for it - a website, a series of yellow street signs, a logo and hashtags, which all connect back to the City Map we have been making for the past three years. Inside the Paper you will find more MJW-related content, like the Studio Visits with this year’s Schmuck artists, editorial photography with work by Talente nominees and the Must-See List of exhibitions high­ lighted by various contemporary jewellery bigwigs: Leo Caballero, Benjamin Lignel, Noon Passama and Marjan Unger.

The other chunk of the content anticipates our new annual theme – Supernatural. Our structure has changed to a slower pace. This means we opted for a deeper investigation towards grinding out a single theme per year.

Our goal is to bring the exploration process to the readers, give the spotlight to more voices, and see more angles of each theme via different projects. So in 2015 we will be obsessing over the Supernatural – the mysterious relationship between what we intuit, what we know, and

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what we contemplate. Read more about the subject in the Introduction to the Supernatural coming up in the following pages.

Mixing up the content is our way to start a conversation about the Supernatural and invite you to contribute to the yearlong quest with your thoughts, words, and works.

Currently we are working on a few more things: in the summer we plan to curate the programme of the Jewellery Symposium Zimmerhof [4–7th June] titled Future Jewellery Icons. It will, among other things, look into iconic and symbolic notions of jewellery.

Later in the year, we are planning to launch a new website and release the #4 Issue of the magazine. Finally, we are thrilled to announce that the Supernatural year of research will take the shape of an otherworldly exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum 's-Hertogenbosch in The Netherlands.

If you feel somehow connected to the subject, please, drop us a line at info@current-obsession.com Abracadabra and much love, CO Team

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Prof. Zachary T. Androus

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Super na tural

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February 2015

Pattern by Anna Hennerdal

Who among us does not keep close to our body an object, whose extraordinary significance can only be known to others if we speak it?

In his landmark piece Techniques of the Body French sociologist Marcel Mauss wrote that ‘the body is the first and most natural human instrument’. If the body itself is natural, then I propose the supernatural requires some object beyond the body itself, yet in dialogue with it. The use of objects to adorn or decorate the human body is as old as humanity, a feature that distinguishes the human from other species.

Objects that decorate the body play a primary role in the expression of these aesthetic preferences; objects in dialogue with the body also play an essential role in the human experience of the supernatural. The world’s religions mark out their ritual specialists with certain specific adornments whose significance is understood widely by adherents and others alike.

But everyday individuals the world over also find that they have the power to imbue any object with a potency derived from a symbol meaningful only to them. Something inherent in the dynamic between an object and the body creates the potential for accessing something greater than the object and the embodied individual; the range of possible meanings and objects is entirely unlimited. Any object can become a symbol of something beyond its own intri­ nsic meaning relative to itself, and I see this uniquely and characteristically human capacity to symbolize, to see greater meanings in things than what the things themselves appear to be, as the key to the universality of the human experience of the supernatural.

By supernatural I mean that which is beyond anything materially evident to our sense perceptions in the world. The same capacity with which we comprehend that an object can be something more than what it appears to be allows us to comprehend that the world, the entire order of reality, can be something more than it appears to be. Our human lang­uages, themselves predicated on our capacity to symbolize, are key to this experience because they enable us to indicate, to describe, to name, those aspects of reality beyond the range of our sense perceptions.

What is normal, what is ordinary, what is mundane, what is, in a word, natural, can be perceived by anyone: seen, heard, felt, and so on. What is supernatural, what is otherworldly, what is beyond the capacity of our senses to register, must be said, described, named, with words because there is no other way to indicate it. Why must it be indicated? So that it may be shared with others. Human societies have put unimaginable energy into managing this interface, producing the religions of the world, great, small, meek, and proud alike. But this capacity to comprehend the existence of something beyond what is evident to our senses finds expression in innumerable ways beyond human religions, down to the level of individuals and their private, idiosyncratic practices.

We can trace the entire range of this pheno­menon through the human relationship with objects in general and adornment in particular.

The supernatural is quite real. By its very nature, it cannot be measured empirically, it cannot be photographed, it is defined by its very fact of being beyond the range of our sense perceptions. So it cannot be proven, managed, reliably accessed or relied upon. We perform the rituals, engage the objects, say the words alone or together, and we hope, we wait to see whether or not we have managed to reach across that barrier to the unseen forces, whatever we understand them to be. Arguments over whether such things ‘truly’ exist are foolish. We need only look to the world to see how powerful the impacts of the human quest for rapport with unseen forces are. We need only look to ourselves and those around us to see how objects of all kinds come to have meanings of their own, secret lives of talismanic power over the everyday, that guide our actions and affect our experiences. This is a part of our humanity that cannot be un­­­done. Even as the grand historic assemblies of belief fracture across the world, we humans will always continue to take up objects, adorn ourselves with them, and transform them into instruments for accessing those recesses of reality that cannot be illuminated any other way.

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Daimones Lillian Ma ttusc hka

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All that surrounds me is alive. to discover it, to feel it, to let my fantasy play with it, to find a shape and transform it, to add something of myself to it, to give it a new and different life, to let my hands free.

Sad, funny, evil faces material grows into being.

Hanging heavy on the body, climbing higher, sitting, whispering.

They are company, but they paralyse.

They limit movement.

They are not comfortable.

I called them by name Them, my demons.

They carry with them both intimacy and limitation.

They stand for dependence.

They are meant to be on the body, without it they cannot exist.

Through the wearer they become what they are, demons.

But what if when I name them the'd disappear?

What would be left of me?

What would I be?

Would there be anything but emptiness?

Would I be free?

Free from what?

Free from myself ?

I would love to get rid of them, to throw them over.

But they don´t let me, not yet.

They are here and this is fine.

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Crystal Obsessio n: p.

Lessons from an 10 Alien Star-Seed

By Kellie Riggs

‘Can I be your intern?’ Kelsey asks me. We are both in Rome, she is a student at the Rhode Island School of Design’s European Honors program, which is where I work and have a studio. At this point, six months ago, I don’t know much about her, only that during the past summer she transformed an office building in downtown LA into a wildly successful four-room, totally immersive sensory overload installation/ dining experience called Tink’s House, at the age of twenty no less. I’m impressed, so I tell her she can be my intern, though I’m wondering why this tiny blonde painting major is taking a sudden interest in making jewellery.

She has no experience but she’s eager, and to show me she cleans all my anvil and hammer surfaces to a shiny, like new finish. In exchange, she tells me she wants to set her crystals. It doesn’t matter what the settings look like, they don’t have to be pretty, she says. The crystals just can’t fall out.

And that’s how our friendship started. It was around the same time that Kelsey’s spirituality started to emerge and put itself together and her crystals were of total indication.

September 2014 was the beginning of what would become a five-month crash course into a new spiritual practice for Kelsey. She had been to psychics in the past and had surrounded herself with people following different spiritual paths, but now she was starting to get into her own spirituality more seriously, in a way more in line with her everyday life and art practice. Through talking with fellow students similarly interested in other spiritual realms, Kelsey’s awareness of her own particular psychic tendencies grew, tendencies that she wasn’t really able to understand or identify by name until now.

It all started after the spontaneous purchase of a small, tumbled quartz with which she decided to meditate. Kelsey already knew that quartz stores and amplifies energy, so she began by feeling the energy of the crystal itself. She then tried to transmit her fullest intention of the day back into it, goals of love and gratitude, in hopes that it would radiate that energy back to her afterwards. It was a nice meditation. A few hours later, she picked up the crystal during art history class and held it in her hand again but quickly became quite queasy and uncomfortable.

It was as though she was getting some kind of high off of it, the sensation was too powerful. She held the crystal with her sleeve. ‘I didn’t want to be around it, and I still can’t even really hold it, but it was my first one and I kept it, even though we just don’t vibe well.’

This was Kelsey’s first personal experience with crystal energy. Wanting to understand more, she turned to her friend, Grace, for guidance. The two began meditative exercises together. ‘Realizing in my experiences with Grace, who is clairvoyant, that we were able to communicate with each other really well nonverbally, like psychically in meditation, was mind-blowing.

So then I started to really want to cultivate it, this thing that I was never able to control or comprehend before.

Grace and the others told me that what I was experien­ cing was clairsentience – a psychic feeling in different parts of my body with sensations in temperature, shape and colour…’

In joint meditation, Kelsey and Grace would send messages to each other by programming certain crystals with energy, Grace working with Kelsey’s clairsentience and Kelsey working with Grace’s clairvoyance. And it worked. For example, if Grace visualized a directional, thermal movement, Kelsey would be able to feel it in certain parts of her body.

She would then do the same thing with sentience through colour and shape for Grace to visualize.

These exercises helped Kelsey gain control of her psychic muscles.

Kelsey’s newfound excitement led to certain discoveries about how in touch to the senses she already was. Before coming to Rome, Kelsey spoke of struggling with anxiety, a lot of which came from not being able to tell the difference between her own energy and that of someone else. To her, it all felt the same. ‘It’s not just empathy, but I think I didn’t really understand that I could be experiencing someone else’s emotions, apparently because I was attuned to it in a heightened way. I noticed I was feeling really emotion­ ally out of control all the time because I couldn’t decipher what emotions were actually mine. It's really hard for me to be in social situations.’

She began to acquire more quartz in hopes of using it to tailor specific experiences. But she quickly started to notice how the crystals’ influence also vastly improved the quality of her life. Whether she was meditating with them or even just being around them, she felt happier and much more positive. Black tourmaline was next for Kelsey due to its defensive

qualities – ‘really feeling and knowing that it would protect me from negative energy - negative energy that’s not mine - made it easier to actually interact in the world.’

Harnessing Kelsey’s clairsentience was a way to remedy anxiety and more frequent meditation with crystals began to help her navigate the fields of energy around her. She began to think about all the potential different ways to play with this newborn control. Perhaps, eventually it could even be another tool for art making.

Kelsey’s previous artworks demonstrate an early tendency towards this idea, Tink’s House being sort of the restaurant version where food, the element of flavour, texture, and the temperature in food was abstractly reflected in the materials she used to build the space and its environment. ‘I’ve always been interested in this idea of sensory experience. I see now it’s because I’m clairsentient and that’s a huge part of how I experience the world… what would it be like to actually bend energy experience for people, for myself ?’

And so as the autumn went on, her crystal collection grew. The energy exchange with certain crystals was now becoming a part of her daily life to the point that she felt the urge to wear them.

‘To wear a crystal then - instead of just holding quartz and using it as a tool – was totally different because I could basically curate the energetic field around me.’

Suspended on thread then tied to a string, wrapped in a rubber band or paperclip… however she could hang them didn’t matter, she just needed them around her neck. Though the necklaces looked thrown together haphazardly, they were deliberate.

The crystals, usually in sets of no more than five or six, were spaced out with knots so they wouldn’t touch.

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‘I didn’t want their energy to pollute each other. I need to cleanse each crystal separately in glasses of salt water, so there had to be enough space between them for that too.’

The necklaces overtime got better. They had to really, Kelsey reports losing nearly seven crystals due to the obvious flaw in her MacGyver-esque assemblage. And that’s why she came to me, because continuing to lose crystals that she had bonded with emotionally became dramatic and depressing. We made some improvements, setting certain new crystals as minimally and in the most immediate ways possible just so they could be hung. No fuss was necessary, just function. Plus, Kelsey doesn’t even really like jewellery she barely wears it.

‘The crystal necklaces came out of wanting to lay out my experiences or my energetic surroundings for the day, like giving medicine to myself. Or setting intentions, like carrying forward a meditation or being very specific about exactly the kind of energy I need that particular day.’

Though Kelsey has learned a lot about the many qualities and properties each type of crystal carries with it, the decision-making process for which crystals to acquire and wear also heavily relies on intuition; it’s enough for her to know what makes her feel amazing, like opal, for example, without necessarily knowing why.

At the time of our interview, Kelsey runs me through what crystals are strung on her necklace. First, a long and slender rose quartz that radiates positive love energy. The next one, a rounded greenish-blue stone, possibly a labradorite though she’s not positive. Being the silliest one, it’s my favourite: hanging vertically on a small piece of purple vinyl thread that doesn’t quite match the stone’s girth. Then comes a piece of pink coral; ‘I really love this one especially, it’s just

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super Roman, it’s more symbolic for this whole experience.

But it’s also a heart chakra, similar to the rose quartz.’

A citrine follows; she describes it looking like a gold and white tooth icicle. It’s one of the few stones that does not absorb negative energy whatsoever so there’s no need to clean it like the others, Kelsey explains. Then comes another mystery stone that looks like a yellow teardrop. I remember seeing it on her very first necklace iteration. ‘This one I didn’t pick with researching but I connected with it immediately, I just felt it had an amazing beautiful energy that made me feel good.’

The Buddha’s eye is the last one strung, a third eye chakra, a grounding root chakra I’m told, that has to do with confidence and connection.

I ask her if she sees these necklaces as singular objects or just as a means to suspend individual entities. ‘It’s just like a template, a container, the string is the container and the crystals are their own things.’

Like a clothesline, I say. It just needs to hold up the clothes.

Earlier in the day of our interview, Kelsey and I had taken a scrapped silver-wire safety pin from my bench and jimmied it around a brand new crystal.

It’s by far her favourite, an Arcturian Star Berry, as she calls it. She ordered it online from a clairaudient woman (she hears psychically) in Wisconsin. She and this crystal had an instant connection. ‘I can’t explain how, honestly it just feels like a really nice completion to me when it’s around, it’s like some kind of companion.’ This is probably because Kelsey proclaims she’s lived a past life on Arcturius, a planet in our universe inhabited by peaceful and loving 5th-7th dimensional beings, a highly advanced species that use crystals as well. I won’t get too into it but she learned this about herself by going through a past life regression with

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Grace. I also write this with the risk of making Kelsey sound crazy, but she’s not.

Kelsey decided that the Arcturian Star Berry as such deserves its own necklace. But this time there’s no thread. Instead, a substantial sterling silver chain takes its place. And that means there are no knots either, but a large steel safety pin from which the crystal hangs. It also doubles as the necklace’s clasp.

These decisions are still practical but also a bit more considered than the usual thread, exalted even in comparison. ‘So now I feel much more secure. This is a more permanent thing and all metal. Metal is a conductor of energy… and I like it because it’s not too fancy and I just don’t want to look fancy.’ No fuss.

As wild as this all may seem, these supernatural concoctions have purpose. As established, Kelsey is not a jewellery person in any sense of the word, but I’ll go as far to say that her necklaces are markedly more deliberate than a lot of the contemporary jewellery that’s floating around right now. What she’s doing is almost the opposite of what the jewellery norm risks becoming more of, whether that be rash compositional confusions or trivial reiterations of feeling or experience: jewellery as just…

Sincerely involving necessity, urge and personal belief (whatever that may be) into the singular objects we make isn’t an easy task. Kelsey does it seamlessly, innately. She also shows us something we risk losing as we chase the purely decorative, a new material lust or just what’s hot right now. And you know what else?

At the end of the day, Kelsey’s necklaces also look totally fresh.

You might want to start taking notes.

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Spell Of The Rebels Concept by

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Photography by

Patrícia Domingues

Marta Veludo

Marta Veludo Studio

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& Marta Veludo

Alone, each jewel has its own character and contains its own powers. We use it as an ingredient, mastered by a different artist. We give it its own sacred altar of protection.

Together, the ingredients create a spell, where magic radiates from the powerful stones, unicorn tears and enchanted metals. They are balanced and displayed as an offering to our bodies and souls.

Let the spell begin.

Stonelliarmus!

JEWELLERY ARTIS TS Cristina Martí Mató p.12

Tatjana Giorgadse p.13

Patrícia Domingues p.14

Carmen Hauser p.15

Eva Burton, p.16

Levan Jishkariani p.17

‘Edelstein Gates’ Alpaca, aventurine, oyster, resin, silver 23 x 11 x 4 cm 2014

‘Ger, in der höhle liegt ein raum um nicht der sterne bauch zu sehen’ Brooch Aragonit, enamel, pine resin, silver, niello 13 x 6cm 2012

‘Many & Deliberated’ Brooch Necuron, steel 8 x 8 x 2,5 cm 2015

‘Pearls’ Bracelet Crushed pearls, synthetic resin, 5 x 5 x 1 cm 2015

‘Papallona Pop’ Brooch Agate, razor shell, reconstructed material, anodized aluminum, silver, patina, resin, acrylic paint.

19 x 8,5 x 5 cm 2014

No title Silver, wood, arcansas, threat 39 x 17 x 10 cm 2013

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Interview by Kellie Riggs

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Inner Rooms Hanna Hedman

Hanna Hedman is a traveller.

At fifteen, she left her family and moved 730 km north to be closer to the snow. After high school she moved to the mountains of Colorado, US, for two years. She then spent seven years on and off in New Zealand. Then came Mexico, Chile too.

She is also an escapist, from reality mostly. Fantasy has always been present, driving her work and her need to see distant parts of the world. She is captivated by far away cultures, rituals and traditions. In fact, much of Hanna still remains anchored to the Latin American South. She is syncretistic, an amalgamation of where she’s from and where she’s been.

And her jewellery is too.

ell me a bit about your background and some T of your early tendencies toward ritual, religion or spirituality.

I was born into an atheist family in Sweden, a country where the Christian Lutheran church is the dominant church. My parents left the church in the 1970’s because women weren’t allowed to become priests. I am not baptized and I didn’t take part in confirmation at the age of fifteen when my friends in school did.

I remember a scenario as a small child in my early school years: the whole classroom is filled with singing. We are all singing a psalm. I am singing along like the other children but every time the word hallelujah comes up in the lyrics, I stay completely silent.

Around this time I had also been thinking about life, death, and the afterlife. I wrote my first

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testament and sealed it with wax at the age of eight. I had a secret tree in the forest on which I had nailed a little handmade cross. I sat under that tree in secret and asked for help.

Despite my scepticism, I have always had an interest in objects that have a strong power to its owner. I also have a strong relationship to nature.

I have spent many hours by myself in the forest running or skiing. For me, the primal chaos of nature is very inspiring – those aspects of human experience, and those beyond language are as well. I also think about animism. Rocks or trees not only have physical lives, but also spirits and souls. And this connects to my thoughts about how objects are more powerful than just the value of their material.

Throughout the ages, people have had a need to believe in something beyond the earthly life of toil.

Faith has taken various forms in different eras, and I guess that I am no different. As our lives become more and more detached from nature and the un­ explainable, I have felt a strong force to create rituals in my own life. I have always been a pondering person and for me belief is something personal and not defined or ruled by others. Faith can take various forms and for me they don’t belong to certain religious systems. But at the same time, faith and different religious traditions continue to really fascinate me.

Is this perhaps why you were drawn to Latin American culture?

I think I was drawn to those cultures mainly because of the reverse way that grief and death is dealt with in comparison to Sweden, and for their traditions to honour the dead. Prior to traveling to Mexico, I was working with the subject of sorrow, a type of grief that I think is too vast to be contained in a country like Sweden – a country dominated by confinement.

Why do you say that?

Sweden is still somewhat under the influence of its social history. People used to live in small communities with little contact with the outside world, leaving no room for changes or influences. Sticking to small social groups was really encouraged in the Swedish community, and showing aggression or sadness

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of elements from different historical styles or religious systems that merge into each other to create new traditions. Something that moved me quite a bit was my visit to Chamula in the state of Chiapas. I met with an anthropologist of Mayan culture who spoke Tzotzil, an indigenous Mayan language, and he took me to the church San Juan Chamula. The people there continue their traditions while adapting to a changing world. They worship in a Spanish built cathedral, but they also have kept their indigenous traditions alive by merging them with catholic traditions. For example, the church has no pews and there is no priest. Instead shamans are caretakers and worshippers light the rows of small candles while sitting on the pine-covered floors. These rituals are the epitome of syncretic practice. Going there was an amazing experience that will stay with me for the rest of my life.

Were there any other experiences in Mexico that made a big impact?

Stepping into a Catholic church in Mexico can be overwhelming for many reasons, one being the great amount of small charms called milagros that hang row after row on the church walls. Each little milagro amulet represents one person’s hope and prayers.

Another is the unusual brutality of the representation of Jesus. He is sometimes nailed onto a cross very violently with blood pouring out and his ribcage showing. This is very different to the Lutheran churches in Sweden where Jesus often only has a small drop of blood falling from his forehead. I was told that one reason for this might be the syncretism between Mesoamerican indigenous culture – where blood held a central place in the practicing of their rituals - and Spanish Catholic beliefs and practices.

How did this first trip to Mexico influence your artwork after you returned home?

I made a series of necklaces called Human Tree, inspired by this first journey to Mexico City attempting to describe my experience. The nine necklaces were inspired by the milagros, which are traditionally used for healing purposes and votive offerings. Milagro literally means miracle or surprise.

In addition to their religious and ritual applications, they are also found as components in jewellery.

My pieces also tried to mimic the red colours of the volcanic city, as well as the fleshy colours of the representations of Jesus inside some of the churches I visited. The project started when I came home to my studio after Mexico and started to produce my own milagros in metal by copying the body parts that I had found in the churches: lungs, arms, legs, kidneys, bone. The human body was the objective of this work, but also its subject. within that is still sometimes a taboo. Because of this, we became more introverted and we conceal emotions and opinions. I sometimes have the feeling that we have difficulty distinguishing personal opinion to personal feeling. Perhaps Swedish people are more pragmatic than they are driven by emotions.

I think this is why I eventually started to touch upon the inner rooms of human experience, or places within us where emotions are stronger than reason, and feelings such as grief or anxiety can't be suppressed or kept at bay. It is also these places within us, our inner rooms, which are the closest to our primal nature. I started to connect to a place within myself that is more subconscious than conscious. So maybe this is why I looked for something that was the opposite of my own country, something that could give me what my own culture can't provide.

Your first trip to Mexico City was through the Walking the Grey Area symposium, organized

by Otro Diseño Foundation, correct? What was the project exactly and what were your initial interests in participating?

I was invited to the project in 2009, the year after graduating from Konstfack. The project connected 20 artists from Europe with 20 artists from Latin America through a blog, ending with an exhibition, and symposium in Mexico City six months later in 2010. I was very honoured to be asked to participate.

All those participating had one thing in common: like the curators themselves, they had all been migrants; born in one place, living, working, studying in ano­ ther. I decided to attend the seminar and the exhibition opening, and my fascination for Mexico began with that. I first became interested in amulets during this trip as well.

You’ve mentioned to me before that you were very intensely and emotionally moved by your experience in Mexico, mainly in part to the syncretism you found between Mesoamerican indigenous and Spanish Catholic beliefs and practices. Can you talk about this intrigue?

Yes, I am very interested in syncretism, a combination

You’ve mentioned that you were also introduced to occultism and black and white magic in Mexico. What did this mean to you and how did it creep into your work?

Since becoming interested in amulets and talismans, I have wanted to learn more about the rituals performed in Mexico, some of which can be considered to be black magic or occult. For example, some sorcerers perform magic by using things like human bones, dead bats, and inscriptions directly into the skin as a way of cursing enemies and unleashing evil.

So if the definition of black magic is the use of evil spirits for evil purposes, I wouldn't say it has crept into my own objects. In another sense, black magic has to do with the things regarded as unacceptable in a culture, as the limits of what’s acceptable and what is not are defined by where it’s performed.

What I want is to reference darkness in my work in one way or another. For me my work doesn’t become good without a more murky or sad aspect to it. Without that, it doesn’t have any depth to me, it just becomes too light. What I mean with darkness

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is something more than just a beautifully composed and well-made object. I want my jewellery to have something more, beyond only aesthetics. In some projects, this has come through using grief, in others decay, even eating disorders. As a motivation for many of my projects, I have worked a lot with putting emotions on the outside of the body. In some pieces, this has been in an attempt to start conversations about such difficult subjects. The aim of those pieces were to help the wearer overcome and process through making sorrow more visible.

There is darkness in the Human Tree series, but it first uses beauty to lure you into the pieces.

For example, what looks like a lace element in the object may be a shape built up by chopped-off fingers if you look more closely. I think the eye stops when it becomes interested in something that it finds beautiful, but I want to make work that goes beyond that beauty first seen. I want to create a paradox.

You’ve said before that objects that become powerful to the owner interest you greatly, and that the history of jewellery in general carries so much mysticism. Does this explain your curiosity with amulets? How do you see jewellery participating?

Amulets can be created in many forms, but as jewellery objects they have a lot of mystic qualities that protect or harm. The power of these objects are not only the materials that they are made of. It is also that they are endorsed with power and meaning that, for example, can send evil away, bring health, provide cures, and bring success.

And jewellery can be many things. Jewellery to me is an art form that comes closer to a person than any other form of art. I don’t believe that a painting has that ability. A piece of jewellery sits on the body and speaks directly from the body out, or hides close to you under your clothes, and it also travels with you to places and visits you in your home. Some objects are passed on from generation to generation. Those objects encapsulate so many stories and become magical for that reason.

The relative culture around amulets led you to do quite a bit of research after your return from Mexico that you then put into practice through subsequent workshops you organized, isn’t that right?

Yes, in 2013 I was contacted again by Otro Diseño to participate in the Taller Viajero/Travelling Workshop programme. I was asked to create a workshop in connection to my experiences with Latin America, so Amulet or Talisman - the public and the private in contemporary jewellery was born. The workshop took place in Mexico City, Guadalajara and Santiago, Chile. This made me research deeper into amulets and talismans to find out more about their long history. Amulets have been made for millions of years; I realised I only knew about a very small portion. Followers of many different faiths and traditions have considered amulets to be direct links to the gods and the local spirits.

The workshop consisted of two main focuses, the creation of one amulet and one talisman. The first section was about sharing with others, and the amulet representing the shared portion. The participants had to choose one person from the outside world, previously unknown to them. Based on strict individual interviews that highlighted personal weaknesses, they made an amulet to protect that person throughout the duration of the workshop.

The second section of the workshop was about challenging the intimate and the shared, and students were asked to create a talisman using their own weaknesses and faults as a starting point. The talisman represented the private because they were made for oneself, and they were made powerful only by creating a ritual or performance that gave the talisman charge. The talisman was used to attract a

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particular benefit to its owner whereas the amulet was created to protect. The materials were also chosen deliberately because they were powerful to that person which gave more charge to the objects. The participants became servants of the spirits.

The workshop ended with a final presentation of the talisman where the students were asked to include a traditional or non-traditional act of charging it in a manner that fit the participant’s idea and concept.

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who it belonged to, when, where and so on…

Every person that I have spoken to about amulets and talismans defines the material in the objects as one of the most important components into making them successful.

Do you have your own personal amulets?

Yes. I do have my own collection that offers me security and reliability. After being in Mexico and Chile, I have even more than before. One example is a contemporary amulet by Laura Alba (México City), its purpose is to protect the wearer, and to alert and enhance their awareness against addictive and compulsive consumerism. I wear this piece a lot.

Did you find the students to be already fairly connected to this kind of object-to-ritual culture?

Yes. Many of the students already had daily routines and objects in their lives both for religious and nostalgic reasons. Amulets and rituals are very present in the everyday life of Mexican and Chilean.

There are many risks in a large and chaotic city like Mexico City and many people look for comfort and safety in amulets. The students questioned me about my own belief in amulets, which made me ask myself why, coming from a non-religious background with few examples of superstition in my culture, am I now trying to teach them about amulets? I found it to be a very relevant critique on their part and I think I

It’s fair to say that your work has since become a syncretistic collision of Latin American culture and your own. Your experiences down there have thus become part of your own personal culture that you speak to through jewellery.

How might this collision be manifesting itself now?

Even after the workshops my own work has continued to become inspired by magic. Going back to Mexico again in 2013 gave me the opportunity to travel and meet and interview people from different faiths that use both black and white magic. I visited magic markets and some other really amazing places.

The plan now is to spend the next years continuing to work with the relationship between superstition and objects. I will continue to search for places in my own country and elsewhere where rituals, irrationality, and faith are a natural part of everyday life. In addition, I hope to explore the power of the object and jewellery’s social functions.

I find it difficult to talk more precisely about this since I am in an early stage of planning my own research. I still don’t know the exact locations.

Irrationality and faith are found in many places.

In general, syncretism is one of the most important factors in the evolution of culture and can of course be found in Sweden as well. Christianity is a syncretic religion in itself and many traditions alive in Sweden today are created from the fusion of pagan religions and customs. Everyday faith is something that I also would like to look into, not only places named as magical. I am now trying to structure my ideas to go forward.

And where does your new series, North stand in reference to all this?

learned as much from the students as they learned from me, if not more. The purpose of the amulet and talisman workshop was also to create awareness of what materials we as artists use in our work, and responsibility for being able to justify why we use them. I also wanted to create a workshop that encouraged a collective support system.

Do your own pieces ever function as amulets or talismans?

It would not be correct to refer to my previous work as functioning as amulets or talismans, but they are inspired by those objects and forms. The energy and powers that I have put into my previous work is something different than what I am thinking about now. Previous work has been charged by different powers. I often use an obsessive working process where work is made intensively over a certain period with little sleep and much repetition. The state of working like that gives me a feeling of leaving myself to the ‘other’… I have the feeling that this manic way of working repetitively gives me certain sensitivity, and obvious truths that are inaccessible to reason are somehow created. I have the feeling that I don’t fully

have power over what I create. I think many artists recognise this feeling of being ‘overtaken’ by a creative energy, but at the same time feel a lot of bodily presence.

How does what you’re working on now differ from your previous work?

Thinking more about the origin of materials is important to me right now for more reasons than one.

I have a strong feeling that I want to learn more about the materials from an environmental standpoint. I haven’t previously chosen my materials because of the origin, but rather by their material properties and by how I was trained (as a silversmith). I love traditional metal techniques, and I find a lot of joy in shaping and experimenting with metal. I love to transform metal and make it become my own and I always buy re­cycled silver and sometimes recycled copper. But I have recently been thinking a lot about how I live and what I consume as well as what I make. I want to know where those metals are coming from. In my own amulets and talismans research the origin of the material and how it was created is very important.

It’s more than where it comes from, but how the materials were made, by whom, with what tools,

I was invited to take part in a group exhibition in the very north of Sweden, since I spent some years of my life in this area. I decided to focus my project on materials that have an origin in this part of the country: tree burl, birch, reindeer skin and horns.

It was a new confrontation, but at the same time such a freedom to travel into the countryside to start using unexplored materials and to find new techniques.

I believe that this experience gave more life to my thoughts about the importance of knowing about the origin of material in order to create powerful objects.

I hope it will give support to ideas and processes to come.

p.20 Human Tree, 2010 (Photo: Sanna Lindberg) p.21, Human Tree, 2010 (Photo: Sanna Lindberg) p.22, top left: Human Tree, 2010 (Photo: Sanna Lindberg) top right: North, 2014 Materials: Raindeer skin, bark of birch and tree burl (Photo: Sanna Lindberg) bottom: Work from the series Black Bile and Natural Decay 2013 (Photo: Sanna Lindberg) p.23, top: Ritual and object by Roxi Casale Walka studio, Santiago, Chile (Photo: Nano Pulgar) bottom: Ritual and object by Isidora De Solminihac Walka studio, Santiago, Chile (Photo: Nano Pulgar)

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By Marina Elenskaya

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Bits and Bobs Sofie Lachaert & Luc d’Hanis

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GALLERY VALERIE TRAAN Antwerp At the Gallery Valerie Traan with its pristine white space and charismatic cobbled floors, I see objects scattered on the walls, I see objects displayed in small groupings sitting in small white cubes and rectangles similar in size to the puppeteer theatre stages. I see a series of simple everyday objects like painter’s stools or pallets covered in splashes and chunks of paint. I observe these objects for what they are and absentmindedly take them for granted… until the moment the corner of my eye catches a glimpse of a facet, a spark. It’s a momentary hint With this exhibition, Sofie Lachaert and Luc d’Hanis use the languages of their respective disciplines – a jeweller and a visual artist – to discuss the relationship between two people working and living together.

The painter’s pallet encrusted with chunky, rough stones speaks of the historical connection between jewellery and painting: grinded semi-precious stones were made into powder and used to make pigments.

This piece is a conversation, representative of the limitations of both fields, building a bridge between two disciplines; a piece that could only exist as a product of two disparate artists joined at the hip.

One of the storylines in the exhibition is that of charcoal. An intriguing piece displayed on a desk is made of charcoal powder pressed in the shape of a black diamond. It’s an allusive play on the correlation of value - coal turning into diamond - and a reference to a handy everyday drawing tool. The shape of the brilliant-cut diamond fits perfectly into the clenched palm of a hand. Presented on a large sketchbook with pages filled with countless fine drawings, the piece invites the viewer to take the diamond and use it to overwrite the drawings. Yet the shape of the diamond only allows for rough, uncontrolled marks. The longer you hold it, the more your hand gets fatigued by its awkward shape. This piece is a figurative tool from to the Carbonium black room (part of the exhibition Tranches de Vie, 2014), where the walls of entire room were covered with thick black strokes of charcoal. The hand-drawn wallpaper evokes the feeling of being trapped in a contained space, like miners during a mine collapse, digging the earth entrails for its precious ore.

emerging from the wrinkles of solidified paint.

I stop. I come closer. I look inside the piece. I realise that every clumsy bulk of colour smeared over the pallet is actually raw semi-precious stone, sunken into paint of the exact same shade as if it were melting and giving away colour the moment it touched the surface. Lapis lazuli, coral, pink quartz, turquoise - like islands of colour flowing into each other. Suddenly it occurs to me that I’m surrounded by a wealth of objects with a strong self-contained logic and mysticism. I start again.

I walk further into the main hall of the gallery to look more carefully at the work displayed in the white cubes. On closer inspection, these white boxes are not as pristine as they first appeared. Their inner walls are covered with nervous strokes of charcoal and crayon, which correlates back to the Carbonium diamond. Various shades and intensities of strokes create specific sceneries for each object on display.

As if removed from the shelves of a holistic crystal shop, large pieces or rough unpolished pink quartz, lapis lazuli and crystal rock are transformed into ordinary household items. A bowl and a series of candleholders simply created by carving or drilling into the stone’s surface appear as a simple gesture yet made with precision. The scenery taken in from a distance can be seen as a painter’s still life in which symbolism is plentiful, yet the matter-of-fact-ness of the objects and the ability to take them out of the context and use them practically introduce an interesting dimension to what we know as art and design. When the gallery worker lifts one of the candle­holders up and reveals perfectly polished bottom sides of the pieces, I see another dialogue between the artist and the viewer, only meant for those who pay attention or choose to engage with the work.

A simple and rather mocking piece of pyrite hangs onto the wall in a silver ‘claw’ setting called Fools Gold. When the backside reveals a large screw used to attach it to the wall the piece turns into a sympathetic architectural brooch – jewellery for the wall. The show is presented with an immaculate sense of timing and styling; every piece gives another

hint about the larger scheme of things. It is full of humour and carries multiple intimate stories about an art and jewellery discourse, as well as the life of the artists themselves.

Sofie Lachaert and Luc d’Hanis like to share parts of the making process with the audience, putting a large emphasis on the tools and materials of the trade. It is as though the artists are willing to shed some light on their individual making process while holding on to their inherent mysticism. For example, the painters stool is elevated on a trestle and encapsulated by a vitrine. This is an allusion to Brancusi’s Endless Column: a stack of presentational devices, each one of them presenting the other (endlessly), turning sculpture into a common use item and vice versa. Its surface, which displays oil paint splashes mingling with sparkling faceted stones is encapsu­ lated by the glass vitrine. Thus it celebrates the ordinary and celebrates the maker, the artist who sits on the stool.

None of the pieces on show seem to encapsulate a singular meaning. Every piece, whether it represents archetypes of ‘the jeweller’ or ‘the visual artist’ leads to a much more personal exploration of the couple’s relationship; how a non-hierarchal relationship with art, craft and design has the capacity to complement and challenge each other greatly.

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The 2015 Talente Award nominees in Jewellery

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Eyeballs Photography by Trey Wright

The jewellery of this year’s Talente Award reminds Dallas-based photographer Trey Wright of surrealist artist Méret Oppenheim and her fondness of distorting items around her home - simple objects, embedded with new meaning by her clever pairings and use of texture. Trey, known for creating surreal images using cutouts from fashion magazines in combination with threedimensional objects, similarly treated each jewellery piece like they were different characters, interacting with a set of fellow strange characters and amorphous, colored shapes.

He comments: ‘Lines twist and turn like tentacles across acid green waves.

Eyes roll around beads over crimson spots. Chain links dissolve into trails of golden dust.’

Talente Nominees in Jewellery:

BIOGRAPHY TREY WRIGHT

Sharareh Aghaei [Iran/Germany], Hazel Baker [Great Britain], Sofia Bankeström [Sweden], Lynn Batchelder [USA],

Trey Wright is an artist working with photography and video. He received a BFA

Amani Bou argham [Lebanon], Sébastien Carré [France], Katie Collins [USA/Australia], Pia Farrugia [Switzerland/

in Photography from the University of North Texas. In 2013, he took part in Hey,

France], Elvira Golombosi [Ukraine/Germany], Karin Gyllerfelt [Sweden], Elisa Sophia Herrmann [Germany],

Hot Shot at Jen Bekman Gallery in New York. Recently, Wright has screened

Nan-Chiang Huang [Taiwan], Koen Jacobs [The Netherlands], Minji Jo [South Korea], Youmi Kim [South Korea],

his work with Videodrome Paris, an organization dedicated to presenting moving

Anna Norrgrann [Finland/Sweden], Kota Okuda [Great Britain], Amy Peace-Buzzard [Great Britain], Anneleen

image-based artworks. In addition, Wright has collaborated with several magazines

Swillen [Belgium], Esther Suarez Ruiz [Colombia/Germany], Pei Chen Tsai [Taiwan], Iraida Vedriel [Spain],

including Blink, Matte Magazine, Ain’t Bad Magazine.

Aric Verrastro [USA], Jing Yang [China/Germany], Tala Yuan [China/Germany], Jiye Yun [South Korea]

www.treywright.net

p.28 Amy Peace-Buzzard,

Beads, pendants (resin)

plaster, stainless steel, iron)

100 KISS, necklace

and brooch (ebony wood,

p.37 Anna Norrgrann,

Forgotten shadows, brooch/

p.30 Anneleen Swillen,

p.31 Jiye Yun, Be Drowned,

(British Coin, American Coin,

resin, silver, black robe, steel)

No title, necklaces and

neckpiece (silicone, shibuichi,

Granita, neckpiece (resin,

brooch (copper, iron, enamel,

gilding metal, copper)

p.36 Elvira Golombo,

brooch (silver/aluminium)

silver and wax)

plaster, cotton, rubber)

thread, leather)

p.34-35 Koen Jacobs,

Guardian, ring (rose quartz,

p.29 Esther Suarez Ruiz,

Glass of Wine, brooch (resin,

p.32–33 Kota Okuda,

Destroyed Beauty, pendant

obsidian, falcon’s eye)

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Par t 1 The Tower Ted Noten

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By Marina Elenskaya

Sitting across the table from the renowned Dutch jeweller Ted Noten, while he drank his coffee, smoked cigarettes, and talked about how it is necessary to do unnecessary things was the adventure I got myself into a few weeks ago. We decided to sit down and talk about his upcoming projects and reflect on past ones, like his monograph1 that came out in 2006 and the Manifesto that accompanied it. The talk, however, turned out to be more than that. The mysterious ways in which Ted works speak better than words. The projects in the making seemed to me like the perfect answers to the questions I’ve had.

Ted Noten holding the post card, Credit ATN

Ted Noten’s studio is a huge space in the centre of Amsterdam packed with decades of work, books, funny and weird collected items, posters, books and magazines. A hallway leads from the yellow door of the studio towards the kitchen. To the right, there are two large rooms: an office and a workroom. The ceilings are quite high, so loft-like half-floors have been constructed in every room, designated for jewellery bench work, more office spaces, or storage. The space is also filled with people - the team and the interns – as well as with many familiar pieces from past projects and collections. Amongst these items is a small postcard with an image of the Tower of Babel, a component of Ted’s exhibition one and a half years ago.

The story of the Tower of Babel and Ted Noten began in 2012 while he was preparing the show Framed by Ted Noten at the Stedelijk Museum ’s-Hertogenbosch – an exhibition as a self-portrait, through the works of others. Ted managed to amass an impressive collection of works by artists and craftsmen from various time periods and geographic locations. One piece that Ted was unable to obtain, however, was a nearly five hundred year old masterpiece

by Pieter Brueghel the Elder, The Tower of Babel.

This painting is an incredibly detailed work. On a canvas of sixty by seventy-four and a half centimetres, Brueghel painted a spiralling tower that appears so enormous it looks jammed into the frame. The top of the tower floats above the clouds and its base extends itself over the dry land and the seashore. Inside the tower, more then a thousand minuscule figures of men and horses are at work, constructing, hoisting materials, and climbing ladders. The painting belongs to Rotterdam’s Boijmans Van Beuningen museum, but they decided not to part with the irreplaceable piece and declined Ted’s loan request.

Instead of the painting itself, Ted decided to display thousands of postcards with the image of the Tower of Babel on the front and Ted’s handwriting on the back; they were copies of the original postcard he first sent to the museum’s curator asking to borrow the painting. Visitors of the exhibition could pick up as many cards as they wanted to then post them

if they so desired. The result was the Boijmans Van Beuningen museum receiving one and a half year’s worth of postcards, each one requesting to take the painting on loan.

I saw another connection to the Tower in December 2014 when Ted Noten showed a work called Ted’s House during during Design Miami/ 2014 (represented by Ornamentum Gallery, Hudson, NY). The work was a kind of a time loop dealing with the past, the present, and the future. It started with the past, represented by the Homage To My Grandma, a clear little acrylic trolley-bag packed with crosses (some of which belonged to Ted’s grandma) inscribed Oh, JC, JC, won’t you dance with me. Then there was Mom - an older work - a sewing machine with a water tap that leaked out faceted stones.

Conversation Table, a more recent piece made in clear acrylic, meant for a hypothetical couple in discussion where, besides other paraphernalia, a big Winchester rifle was engraved on the table by the man’s side and a little gun engraved by the woman’s side.

The future, according to Ted, resembles a huge bird’s-eye view photograph of a spiralling flyover highway (or skyway) in Shanghai. The intention was for the space to be open, expansive like a big window.

The wide-open image of the highway is so strong it feels like the gusts of wind are blowing in your face when you look at it. It is an image of a gigantic human effort, with cars rushing up its spiral structure, just like in minuscule figures climbing up the Tower in Bruegel’s painting.

The Shanghai highway represents the future and so does the Tower of Babel. I can just imagine Ted looking over the gigantic spiral from the height of Ted’s House; he is holding a cup of tea and wearing a necklace he has made from houseplants titled Home Is Where The Heart Is, a symbol of the present.

In Genesis, when the sons of men decided to join forces and instead of ‘replenishing the earth’ build a great city with a tower that would reach the heavens, God decided to obscure their language so they would no longer understand each other. As a result, humans couldn’t communicate, so they abandoned

their ambitious project and scattered themselves around the Earth. This story is classically associated with how the Old Testament explains the origins of different languages. Another connotation of Tower Of Babel, however, is a symbol of going beyond human limitations. A tower is a human-made mountain, a construction rising toward the sky. Ancient pyramids and temples symbolise the world-old desire to reunite with the heavens and to connect with the Creator.

The sounds of bells and prayers coming from the tops of religious temples around the world are directed at the heavens, amplifying the worship as they reach closer to the sky.

The tower is also a symbol of military power: a strong, resistant fortress able to protect us from the unknown. It became a symbol of society – a safeguard and a prison in one, where the architectural structure clearly marks the social divide and the hierarchies between the high and the low, the powerful and the powerless. The tower can also be associated with the ability to distance ourselves from the havoc of the world below. The quiet isolation may allow us to foresee the future and reflect in silence. Inside the tower, thought becomes directed inwards, out of touch, isolated.2

The story of Ted Noten and The Tower of Babel will continue this year. He plans to return to the above-mentioned museum, the Boijmans Van Beuningen, with a big solo show in June 2015. The exhibition Non Zone will coincide with the release of a new book encompassing the past ten years of Ted’s work. The exhibition will consist of three separate rooms dealing with subjects that have surfaced in his recent work: the issues of authorship and originality and the point/pointlessness of an act of a human effort. In the first room, Ted plans to mock a retrospective of his own work. Instead of the actual pieces, he will be showing the exact copies of each piece he made in the past ten years 3D-printed in paper.

In the second room, there will be a pile of sand.

Every, Sunday an old man (but also the director of the museum/Ted himself and other volunteers) will sit in a wooden booth to remote control a small toy truck that will pick up the sand and move it from one corner of the room to the other. And once that’s done, he will start moving it back. According to Ted, sometimes it’s necessary to do unnecessary things.

The third room however, will be of the most interest. Ted will be building a Tower of Babel made out of the contents of his entire studio, including furniture, equipment, works, office supplies, everything.

Ted will be left alone inside his absolutely empty white studio. This blank canvas, this ‘burning the books’ act is where Ted wants to find himself and see what will happen. This self-inflicted isolation is an attempt for Ted to break out of his own boundaries.

The stuff we surround ourselves with, the rituals we perform, the routines we create for ourselves often dictate the way we work and the way the work looks like. The stuff dictates our thinking. Building the

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Homage To My Grandma and Conversation Table. Credit: ATN

Tower of Babel from his studio’s contents is the way for Ted to make an effort to overstep and go beyond these limitations.

A small white box will be the only thing left in his actual studio. In it, Ted will leave notes and compositions, while a CCTV camera transmits the images back to the museum to communicate his process to the audience.

Using a heavily loaded theme like the Tower of Babel, combined with a very decisive working method, signifies Ted’s balls-out approach. Many times, Ted’s work has put up a mirror to the audience. In his exemplary works like the Wanna Swap Your Ring? gun, Be Nice To A Girl Buy Her A Ring or Mercedes Benz Brooches the viewer is confronted with icons of status and sexual symbols, representing greed and the construct of value. However the Tower of Babel and Ted’s recent exhibit of his House seems to be a turn towards a rarer, more personal approach, in which he scrutinises his own methods and doubts before reflecting his questions back to the viewer. The Tower shows his loneliness and surrender to things he is not able to control. Apart from the festive nature of a grand retrospective, in which we celebrate the plethora of the artist’s achievement, the artist is also confronted with his undoing. The retrospective in some

way ‘clears the cache’ of the statements the artist has produced in the past. For once, Ted is not showing us the mirror to our temptations and sins, but allows us an intimate look at his own vulnerability.

Ted’s Tower of Babel is in a way his refusal to close the book on himself. It is similar to how we can interpret salvation from the actions of God arresting the attempt to complete the tower. He does that by dispersing all the things and all the people of the tower and gives them new direction by taking away the one reliable thing that binds them. By building his own tower of Babel, Ted renders the achievements in his career as disembodied artefacts. To become lost again, while staying true to ones acquired language is what he hopes himself and the viewer to take away from this piece. Instead of burying his work in the past, he wants to clear the path to the future, and keep it wide open, like that image of the Shanghai highway.

But before all his stuff is transferred to the museum and he has nothing but time to sit in the empty studio barefoot and fresh-minded, something else will happen. Ted is conspiring a new concept for an exhibition, this one taking place at contemporary jewellery gallery. At Rob Koudijs in Amsterdam, Ted will be reversing the roles of the gallerist, the artist,

and the audience. He plans to infuse them with new creative meanings: a perfect answer to the thoughts expressed in the Ted Noten Manifesto first published back in 2006 and recently republished by CO. Ted keeps saying that it’s not his intention to start a revolution, but this unprecedented exhibition just might turn out to be the pebble that causes ripples in the calm and undisturbed waters of contemporary jewellery, starting irreversible and unavoidable change.

Part 2 of this feature on Ted Noten will be published in April 2015, discussing the relationship between Ted Noten Manifesto and the exhibition You and Me at Rob Koudijs, Amsterdam.

1. Ted Noten: CH2=C(CH3)C(=O)OCH3 enclosures and other TNs, 0I0 Publishers (2006) 2. Archive for Research in Archetypal Symbolism (2010)

By Taschen. The Book of Symbols.

Reflections on archetypal Images.’ Editor-in-Chief Ami Ronnberg, Editor Kathleen Martin

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Ted's House at the booth of Ornamentum Gallery at Design Miami/ 2014 Credit: James Harris

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StudioVisits

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Schmuck 2015 artists

Once a year, for a week, in Munich, we intermingle with artists, gallery owners, collectors, curators, writers and jewellery enthusiasts. We drink beer, we celebrate. Then, we go home. We return to our studios, schools, desks, workspaces, wherever and are invigorated to get back to our own version of progress.

So what do these spaces look like? Are they fully stocked and traditional, are they converted second bedrooms, or simply kitchen tables? Are they orderly and minimal, or chaotic and cramped? How much our workspaces are an extension or reflection of our process?

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Curious, we asked several of this year’s selected Schmuck artists to show us their studio spaces, discuss where they do their dirty work, and introduce us to their jewellery in this year’s exhibition.

Neke Moa

Lucy Sarneel

Yuki Sumiya Beatrice Brovia Nils Hint

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Bea trice Brovia

There are many similar buildings in the area, inhabited mostly by young families, students and the occasional designer, this also because of the proximity to Konstfack, which occupies the former Ericsson factory. My studio is situated in the basement of a former dormitory housing originally intended for the Ericsson’s factory workers. The building has a popular, functional soul and yet it abounds of details that have been designed and thought of with extreme care.

I share my studio with artist and designer Nicolas Cheng with whom I also collaborate on the ongoing research practice Conversation Piece. I enjoy my studio very much. It is very simple and does not have much machinery or fancy tools. It just has what we really need: a self-built bench, a working table, lots of materials, and a big shared table to study, read or do computer work. We like to keep the rather small space empty and flexible, so that it is adaptable for when we work with different scales and media other than jewellery. We found this basement space about a year and a half ago, and have been happy ever since.

It serves the diversity of both our individual and collaborative practices.

Every object that we keep has a story or is part of a project or process that we might revisit one day.

We each tend to pick things that end up staying out on the shelf, the table, somewhere visible. The materials we use are normally stored in a big cupboard or in boxes until needed. The moulds or drafts from past projects are also stored away, sort of as an archive.

Every object that you see displayed is because it hasn’t exhausted its appeal or potential to us yet.

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They aren’t that many, actually.

Object-wise, I am particularly attached to a folded aluminium mailbox nailed to the entrance door. It is a typical mailbox found in Hong Kong that I got on my first trip there. It’s very ‘democratic’ being inexpensive and unassuming in its appearance, yet I find it so beautiful and elegant. Another object that I like to keep in sight is the poster from the exhibition Bucks ‘N Barter. It is a reminder of a great collaboration with great colleagues that made me grow a lot professionally.

My work included in Schmuck ’15 is from my ongoing series Potlàc, that traces a connection between art-making, specifically jewellery-making, and the ideal and celebration of competitive sports.

Sports, just like art, require an extraordinary level of personal engagement and expenditure. They both entail excessive loss, sacrifice or expense of time and resources. I’m interested in forms of economy that are based not on necessity but rather have a ritualistic, illogical value to them. It is one of total commitment, almost to the point of folly. I am no athlete, but I often question the actual value of the things I do.

What is this symbolical effort all about? Surely it is not based on necessity and there is no economical return, not in the conventional sense, at least. What I do is rather a glorious consumption of time and material. I pursue an inexhaustible research into something as unnecessarily necessary as jewellery.

I break materials apart to be able to see their value and read their narratives, before I can rebuild them into three-dimensional ornaments. I see the process of jewellery making as an economical gesture where everything converges: the challenge and the search for prestige and honour. But it is also like a big potlatch, a gift-giving feast, where everything is consumed to the last bit in order to generate new marvel, and hopefully, beauty.

3. Studies (ribbons) and other tryouts/objects (2012–13) 4. Finished and unfinished pieces (2013–14)

I work in Stockholm’s southern area, Hägersten, which is just a stone’s throw away from Konstfack College of Design, Arts and Crafts where I graduated from in 2009. It’s been a year and a half since I moved my studio to this area and, at first, it felt a bit like coming full circle, back to where I started.

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Stockholm, Sweden

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1. View from the street (three lit windows) 2. Detail of the studio, exhibition postcards and plants

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Wellington, Aotearoa, New Zealand

My studio is on the ground floor of a four-story wooden pole house where I live and work. It is situated in the bush, on a mountain in Upper Hutt, Wellington, Aotearoa/New Zealand. Occasionally, I share this space but usually it is just me. I have been here for the last eight years. What would you see

if you came to my studio? My trusty pendant drill and draws with a few Greenpeace stickers, jewellery, grinders, collections of stones, a metal cutter and soldering station, beer bottles, pliers, and lists of things that need doing! You would see work in progress and collections of deer antlers and pastel drawings, among

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1. Front of the house 2. Things hanging in the studio 3. The studio, on the corner of the house 4. At the working bench, Pounamu/ jade bits and peices, burs for carving

other things. The works chosen for the Schmuck'15 special exhibition were originally part of the exhibition Clusters. They are part of a group of twenty pieces. The work is based on the idea of looking at museum collections and how, in the past, objects were grouped based on physical bias.

‘My trusty pendant drill and draws with a few Greenpeace stickers, jewellery, grinders, collections of stones, a metal cutter and soldering station, beer bottles, pliers, and lists of things that need doing!’

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Lucy Sarneel

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Amsterdam, The Netherlands

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1. Vitrine with found objects

3. The working table

2. A collection of made materials

4. The studio from the street

My studio is in Amsterdam and located in the Wilhelmina Gasthuis area in a former hospital, consisting of several pavilions from the late 19th century. In 1891, the ten year old princess Wilhelmina laid the first brick with a silver trowel and an ivory hammer. After the hospital moved to another place in the 1980’s, some of the original pavilions became available for artists. The building I work in is called the Women’s Clinic. Through time, the neighbourhood has developed from a hospital related area into a trendy area with renovated buildings, wine-shops, Starbucks, cinema and supermarkets. Sometimes I miss the roughness of the beginning; it was an area undefined and in search of identity. On the other hand, the current atmosphere of settlement is good for the concentration of the mind!

removing a wall and an airshaft to make them one space. It’s a wonderful place, small, but high in the sky under the roof in northern light surrounded by fellow artists.

My studio used to be two small rooms where the bed linen and other textiles were stored. Around 2000, I acquired one of the rooms. Some time later, I was able to get the other one and joined them by

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To me, making jewellery is a process of looking for the synergy between different elements, for an added value and space to invite the viewer’s mind and heart. It’s not about what you see but about what you believe you see.

My work arises from the field of tension between the inspiring past and the present, and is created by traditions and spiritual, symbolic values. A jewel is a soul mate, a solitary individual with an existence of its own. Jewellery is not for something; it is for and of someone. For some time, I have been working towards the idea of a jewel to be considered as a power-object and patron, as a counterpart to the high-tech, time-efficient, money-ruled world we live in. I consider a jewel as an object with a high

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concentration of focus and energy: ‘slow art’ in a ‘fast world.’

The ‘carrying material’ of my work is zinc and it represents a variety of things: the blue-grey sky and sea; the subconscious, dreaming away in the distance; the reassuring domestic world of rain pipes, buckets and washtubs; architectural ‘jewels’ like little towers and dormer windows in old European cities; and the protective quality of preventing steel from rusting.

Sometimes the materials are autonomous things, like for instance the wooden peanut bowls in the Starry Sky Limousine Drive necklace.

I also play with the suggestion of pure, natural materials, which are often, in fact, artificial. The raffia is plastic, the wood is micro-paper or plastic, the bamboo comes from a fly-screen, the dried fruits and seeds come from a potpourri mixture you can buy in home-decoration shops, the drawings on the metal are made with a permanent marker.

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Yuki Sumiya ‘The Imagination is the Magic Matter’

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I live in Kamakura, the first Shogun’s capital, which is about an hour down the coast from Tokyo. It’s a small historic city, with about 50 shrines and temples, and all set within a horseshoe of mountains around a bay. Mt. Fuji is also visible from the beach. Many creative people live here and the traditional and modern cultures blend together well. I have been working here for four years and find it a good place for me to concentrate on my work.

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My house is set on a steep bluff overlooking the sea. It is rather quaint and curious: you have to walk across a narrow single train track, open a gate and then climb up a hundred steps to reach us! My studio is part of the house. It faces south, looking out to sea, and there are mountains behind the house, to the north. I feel the location maintains balance in my life.

I made the pieces selected for Schmuck’15 in 2012 when I was thinking a lot about the ideal relationship between man and nature.

The Japanese earthquake disaster happened two months after I moved into this house. Even before the earthquake, I would watch vibrant plants forcing their way through concrete, or luxuriant trees growing through wire netting, because nature is ultimately more powerful than humans. When I researched how Japanese people have been living together with nature, I became interested in finding solutions of successful coexistence.

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One example of happy synthesis can be seen in a beautiful garden: while gardeners have culled some cedar trees to thin them out, other trees, which were in the way of a new fence, have been incorporated into the fence, which was then cut to fit around them, rather than the trees being needlessly cut down.

I want to ask, ‘How can man and nature, co-exist?’

In the Garden series, both materials, silver and synthetic sponge, come originally from under the earth, since synthetic sponge is made from oil. I use green sponge in my work to symbolise nature, but actually it is a man-made copy of nature. This complex aspect of combining natural metal with synthetic sponge also raises the question of where the value lies in the piece.

1. Overall view of the studio 2. The narrow train and steps front of studio 3. A construction model of the house and studio 4. Portrait 5. Sign of the studio

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Tallinn, Estonia

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1. Some materials worked with the powerhammer This will be a part of a bigger object 2. Studio from the outside 3. Recent work 4. Welding equiptment

‘The materials I used are found household items made out of iron or stainless steel, like screws, cutlery, keys etc.’

5. The powerhammer

My studio is in the train depot in the city centre of Tallinn, Estonia. The depot’s original function was to repair passenger wagons, and around 30 years ago there was still a working smith here making parts for wagons. I have been renting from the railroad for five years and the space, which I share with another metal smith friend, was the original smithy of the depot. Now it is mostly my art studio.

Sometimes, because of my special skills, I can help the railmen working at the depot. Otherwise, my art projects are usually good fun for them because they are such a contrast to this highly industrial environment.

I don’t have a traditional jeweller’s bench in my studio because I don’t work with precious materials, but I do have an improvised work area for smaller scale work. Mostly, I work with iron and blacksmithing. The working process and the intensity that forgework provides are very necessary to me. The

furnace is the centre of my studio and my power hammer weighs 5000kg and was made in 1965 in the Soviet Union. I feel that the process of working and the environment of my studio is somehow reflected in my work.

At the moment I am working on several projects with objects in quite varying scales. Besides jewellery, I work with much larger sculptural objects as well as functional pieces like vessels and cutlery.

My work in the Schmuck'15 exhibition is an investigation into the symbols that naturally form out of the ready-made materials that I use. The jewellery consists of small-scale objects that are pressed down into the shadows. The materials I used are found household items made out of iron or stainless steel, like screws, cutlery, keys etc. I combined these objects and power-hammered them down into silhouettes where all that remains are some of the characteristics of the previous items. Although the

pieces lost their original functionality, they became two-dimensional versions of themselves.

The whole series is about how seemingly trivial symbols can start to communicate with each other in strange and comical ways. A collection of brooches can become strongly connected to one another by creating a new and surreal alphabet that tells a story of itself. It does not dictate its meaning, but instead gives the viewer a lot of clues for interpretation.

It’s a playful collection that can be understood in many ways.

I try to create a direct approach to the material I use. By exploring both the potential and inherent qualities of an object, I can highlight the random and the unexpected, which encourages flexibility and subjectivity in artistic expression. The less you define the result, the more scope you leave for interpretation.

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Munich Jewellery Week's selected exhibitions

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Must-See List Stir It Up & Shake Your Booty

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Introduction by Marjan Unger

Maybe it’s wishful thinking, or it’s that I’m simply seeing what I want to see, but when I read the full MJW15 programme I get the feeling that some shows are no longer only about us – the contemporary jewellery insiders; they are about them, the outsiders, as well. Thinking in terms of ‘us and them’ is a classic mistake. In my opinion, the level of the majority of jewellery shown during Munich Jewellery Week is reasonably good to very good indeed. But the fact is, Munich also offers so much more reasonably good to very good classic jewels, antique jewellery, and funny vintage pieces. I am always intrigued to hunt for jewellery with teeth of various animals, or pieces that are so sentimental that they are truly over the top. So the question is, does the abundance of contemporary jewellery that is shown in Munich for this one week set itself apart? To a city already so rich and characteristic in its culture, does it open itself up?

The achievements of all the parties behind Schmuck and Munich Jewellery Week, like the Handwerkskammer and Die Neue Sammlung are astonishing. By now, people from all corners of the world come to see the shows and to relate to one another - from Japan, China, Korea, from the Coolest Corner of the world, and from the Americas; and from old Europe as well, like Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, not forgetting the many parts of Germany.

But it has been in Munich – with the contemporary jewellery all over town for one week – where I have felt the isolation of this field. It has become a secluded area, all on its own and I often wonder if it still relates to other kinds of jewellery and other kinds of art, products, people and interests as well.

Individual jewellery artists can relate in their work to anything that intrigues them, but what do they achieve when they connect only to the people who belong to the same bloodline? It’s like the Royal dynasties that die of inbreeding.

This year however, I see something promising in the program. It is not only the presentation of Volker Atrops and Manon van Kouswijk at Antiquariat Zipprich that can give an opening to the wider world. As an art historian, I am pleased that there also seems to be more reflection on the past: the show of Herman Jünger in Galerie Wittenbrink, the presentation of historical enamel pieces at Galerie P13, and the lecture on Sunday morning about American jewellery from 1940-1970, are some examples. You also feel a sense of the past in shows

about myths like Mythen 2015 or Nature Morte as well. History has so much to offer and in these turbulent times it is an anchor that is not to be discarded.

Of course, we only have the titles to go by and a long list of participants’ names, of which I know many, when deciding what to see. So my imagination is running wild with titles like, Trophies // In The Reign Of Coyote in the Deutsches Jagdund Fischereimuseum. And what does Aire Negro mean, the show of Alejandra Solar, curated by Brigitte Betz that is held in a place for vintage design? And will Pravu Mazumdar, the philosopher, and the group of artists that have gathered around him in the exhibition, Answering Pravu, get to the bottom of the human need for adornment? Will they be able to loosen up the distinction between ‘us and them’?

Munich is also an interesting city for fashion. Until recently the world of fashion has been a no-go area for our kind of jewellery designers, but the first signs of bridging that gap have been noticed, for example, in the work of Noon Passama (Lux Is The Dealer – ed.). It is hard to define what that gap is, after all, jewellery is meant to be worn with clothing. What makes me happy though, is that I see a young generation that is not bothered anymore by this fictional restraint. They make good and quite often funny pieces that belong to series, often with friendly prices. Inside information tells me that this development will be present in the Talente show at the big Trade Fair in Halle B1 at the Messegelände.

All these developments have been brewing for some years and hopefully they are more visible this time around. Maybe at heart I am a Yesterday’s Girl, but my advice for Munich is to see where you can stir it up and shake your booty!

*Current Obsession would like to point out

on experts’ personal interests, preferences

that the Must-See selection was made by the

and experi­ences. This list is intended to help

team of experts (+ the editors of CO) based on

the visitors make choices during Munich

the information provided by the participating

Jewellery Week; it is not commercial and

artists. The entire list was presented to the

does not pursue any other purpose but that

experts and the selections were made based

of curatorial selection.

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Leo Caballero Gallerist and founder / operator of the Internet’s ultimate contemporary jewellery resource, Klimt02.

Benjamin Lignel Editor of Art Jewelry Forum, artist, critic and curator, with a background in philosophy, literature, art history and furniture design.

Noon Passama Award winning jewellery artist with many works in private and international museum collections; one of last year’s Herbert Hofmann Prize winners.

Marjan Unger

Kellie Riggs Editor, writer for Current Obsession.

Art historian, writer, jewellery collector and former teacher; acquired a PhD analysing the diverging aspects of jewellery as a worldwide phenomenon through an art historical and multidisciplinary context.

Marina Elenskaya Founding editor of Current Obsesion, writer, jeweller.

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Zabo Paradise I am excited by the visit of Suska Mackert’s class (Akademie der Bildende Kunst Nürnberg) to Schlegelschmuck, under the auspicious title Zabo Paradise: she has been whipping the department back into shape for the last three years, and her groovy bunch has come up with excellent work.

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Enrica Prazzoli

I have been tutoring Alchimia’s Enrica Prazzoli, the first student to graduate with an MA from the school. I am sure her show, Objects, Continued (From My Microwave With Love) will be convincing and weird and different from anything else in Munich.

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Objects, Continued (From My Microwave With Love)

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Schlegelschmuck Zabo Paradise Lot62 with 84 GHz

Klasse für Freie Kunst/ Gold

Objects, continued

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(from my microwave with love)

Akademie der Bildenden Künste Nürnberg

Enrica Prazzoli Nordendstrasse 7A / Entrance Adalbertstrasse, Munich

Opening 13.03.2015, 17:00

Opening 12.03.2015, 17:00 – 19:00

13.03.2015 – 15.3.2015

12.03.2015 - 15.05.2015

Thu, Sat, Sun 12:00 – 20:00

Fri – Sat 11:00 - 19:00, Sun 14:00 -16:00

Ann-Kathrin Hartel

Schleißheimerstrasse 62, Munich

Trends As for trends, I am excited by the number of collective projects: this old habit is turning into a form of statement about authority, and authorship, and what began as a simple expression of the network-supportive nature of craft that might be transforming into a more ideological stance.

Extra thought

Enrica Prazzoli

I also - finally - look forward to checking my own speculations about what exhibiting jewellery is about, and does, against this year inevitable crop of creative and surprising displays, performances, and infiltration strategies.

These strategies are the focus of Art Jewelry Forum’s latest book – Shows and Tales – which will be released in Munich this year on Marzee’s booth.

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We cannot miss the opportunity to attend the birth of a new school, as this does not happen often. I’m aware of the project and pretty sure we will not be disappointed.

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The Postcon Project

Windfall GmbH The Postcon Project : Contemporary Jewellery teaching re-furbished.

Introducing ‘Do You Speak Jewellery?’

Anton Cepka

Manuel Vilhena, Flóra Vági Amalienstrasse 81a, Munich Presentations every day at 12:00, 14:00, 16:00 12 March – 15 March

Anton Cepka

11:00 - 17:00

Kinetischer Schmuck

Robert Smit

Classics (or what I call the classics).

Pinakothek: It’s always interesting and a perfect place to get lost or to be found. Avoid it if you don’t like the masses. This year the exhibition of A. Cepka comes together with a publication.

Anton Cepka

Die Neue Sammlung – The International Design Museum Munich, Pinakothek der Moderne Kinetischer Schmuck Anton Cepka Barerstrasse 40, Munich Opening 13 March, 19:00 14 March – 7 June Tue-Sun 10:00 – 18:00, Thu 10:00 – 20:00

Schrittmacher

CURRENT OBSESSION PAPER Launch Party

Robert Smit at Maurer Zilioli: Same as with Jünger, Cepka and Kruger; essential to understanding where the contemporary jewellery comes from.

Schrittmacher Robert Smit Luisenstrasse 45 / I (entrance Steinheilstrasse, last door on the left), Munich Opening: 25 Februari, 18.30 27 Februari – 11 April Wed – Fri 14:00 – 19:00, Sat 11:00 – 16:00

Supernatural, Current Obsession

Maurer Zilioli – Contemporary Arts

Yes, I never attended (sorry girls) but this year I will. I have the feeling that the event will become a classic. It’s the perfect place to talk, share, laugh, deal and have a drink.

Lost Weekend Bookstore + Café CURRENT OBSESSION PAPER launch party: OBSESSED with PAPER VOL.2 Schellingstrasse 3, Munich Launch Party 12 March, 20:00 – 03:00 10 March – 15 March Mon -Fri 08:00 – 20:00, Sat 10:00 – 20:00, Sun 12:00 – 18:00

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Kiko Gianocca

Stefan Heuser

Lux is the Dealer Melanie Isverding Jane Dodd

Trophies // In the Reign of Coyote Akhiro Ikeyama

Tanel Veenre

Noon Passama

Jiro Kamata

Alexander Blank

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Something New and Something Old Daniel Kruger Jewellery Zieblandstrasse 19, Munich Opening 12.03.2015 20:00 13.03.2015 - 24.04.2015 Tue – Fri 14:00 - 18:00, Sat 11:00 - 14:00, 13.03.2015/14.03

Kristi Paap and Ketli Tiitsar

11:00 – 15:00

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Something New and Something Old Although Thursday evening is always very busy during the Munich Jewellery Week, the opening of Daniel Kruger’s show at Galerie Biró is not to be missed. Anybody who combines a love for jewellery with a sense of history will feel that his work has deep roots.

He allows himself the freedom to experiment with ceramics and he does that well, but when he makes jewellery he knows what it will do on people.

More than 30 years ago I bought a simple necklace in silver with beads of cornelian because in all its simplicity it still had a character of its own.

I wanted it because it reminded me so much of the kind of jewellery that was worn by my great-aunts and mother. Daniel Kruger also has an attitude that doesn’t take the status quo for granted and an exceptional, strong hand with his use of colour, proportions and composition; he is one of the greats in the long history of jewellery.

Since his big and well-earned show at the Grassi Museum in Leipzig has ended on the 8th of March, the best thing to do on the 13th is to see what he has to show at Biro under the title Something New and Something Old. The title does not surprise me; it’s the work that will do the job.

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‘Yesterday's Papers’

by Volker Atrops.

Special Guest Manon van Kouswijk Yesterdays Papers V.A. is one of the titles in the long list of exhibitions that makes me curious. It is located at the antiquarian bookstore where Volker Atrops always shows his work; I would have gone because of the allure of the papers and the girls anyway, but I was still stupid enough to inquire if it was in fact Volker showing his work there again this year.

For me, the good thing about Volker Atrops yearly shows at Zipprich is that it is one of the very few places in Munich where the jewellery presented relates one way or another to

something that is not jewellery and adds to its dimensions. Although it is a modest space, his jewellery can breath there. The owners of the bookshop are friends and they let him choose what he wants from their books and magazines to make a presentation that sheds light on jewellery as a worldwide phenomenon, or emphasizes aspects of his work. And if something is sold, whether it’s a book or a piece of jewellery, he can rearrange the shop window, or simply leave an open space, which is intriguing because most jewellery galleries will fill it immediately with another piece.

This year, Volker Atrops will show works made of paper. Old work, like cast models made out of toilet paper from the early 1990’s, buttons with pictures from newspapers that date from the time he was living in Amsterdam in the late 90’s, books with wrapping paper, and other works that will fit perfectly in the old bookshop.

The new element this year is his special

guest, Manon van Kouswijk. In her work, she loves to explore the intrinsic qualities of non-precious materials like plastics, ceramics and paper. She has the mind of a researcher, looking in many directions and then reducing all the input towards simplicity. In her most recent work, she uses different kinds of paper for writing to make tubes that function as beads. You can recognise some envelopes as well. It is a clear statement about the need to communicate in your work, but in her clever hands the jewellery will reach a higher level than the anecdote itself.

‘Yesterday's Papers’ by Volker Atrops.

Special Guest Manon van Kouswijk Zieblandstrasse 2, Munich 11.03.2015 18:00 - 20:00 Mon – Fri 11:00 - 13:00 / 14:00 - 18:00, Sat 11:00 - 13:00

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Luisa Fastabend Stefan Hauser Hermann Jünger

Martina Singerova

Lux is the Dealer AM UM IN

I am a part of this exhibition and I’m excited because the room with four corners we will exhibit in is very high and is situated in a park.

It is always interesting to see students’ presentations and their current subjects. This event includes six schools, so I am also curious to see how they collaborate on the show.

In Honour of Hermann Jünger

Kunstpavillon Lux is the Dealer Alexander Blank, Kiko Gianocca, Stefan Heuser, Melanie Isverding, Jiro Kamata, Noon Passama

I think his works are timelessly inspiring. It is not often we are able to see an exhibition with only his works in, so this for sure cannot be missed.

Margaritifera AM UM IN

Sophienstrasse 7a in the park, Munich

Students from Düsseldorf,

Opening 12.03.2015 16:00 - 21:00

Galerie Wittenbrink

Halle, Hildesheim, München,

12.03.2015 – 16.03.2015

Zu Ehren von Hermann Jünger /

Pforzheim and Wismar.

Fri – Sun – Mon 11:00 – 18:00,

Solo show: In honour of Hermann Jünger

Sat 11:00 – 16:00

Türkenstrasse 16, Munich 10.03.2015 – 17.03.2015

Opening 12.03.2015, 15:00 – 19:00

Tue – Sat 10:00 – 20:00

12.03.2015 – 15.03.2015 Fri – Sun 11:00 – 18:00

Melanie Isverding

Meindlstrasse 4, Munich

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Answering Pravu Answering Pravu

Kellie Riggs

Yu-Ping Lin

Loukia Richards

What at first seems like some kind of Konstfack powwow may very well be one of this year’s most intelligent and self-reflective projects (fingers crossed). Last year’s lecture at the Pinakothek was given by philosopher Pravu Mazumdar; I don’ t know who hustled this guy into talking about jewellery but I’m glad he did, as he offered an outstanding take on how contemporary jewellery actually functions in the real world from a totally different and enlightening perspective. It’s like he’s looking from above, smarter than everyone, getting the whole picture in ways a lot of artists are probably unaware of. The lecture is online on the Pinakoteck’s website; if you missed it last year, go find it now! I’m assuming this exhibition, Answering Pravu, is some kind of response to Mazumdar’s talk… needless to say. I’m excited, especially considering the show’s lineup of artists (Mazumdar included).

There’s so much unusual talent on the line, Fredrik Ingemansson’s work especially intrigues me.

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Mythen/Myths 2015 - Greek Jewellery Art For some reason I am probably the most excited about the jewellery to be found at Galerie Weltraum. I love work that is so specifically tied to one’s own culture and I’m so happy that we will get a chance to see Greece through a very unique lens. Jewellery as social or political commentary in the past has been some of the strongest work out there, and in combination with performance who knows what we’ll find here.

Mythen/Myths is also one of the few shows listed with a named curator, so I’m happy about the extra organizational effort; hopefully it really highlights the voice of each artist.

Galerie Weltraum Mythen/Myths 2015 - Greek Jewellery Art Katerina Glyka, Christina Karababa, Anna Kitsou, Maro Kornilaki, Yakinthi Oikonomou, Loukia Richards, Heleni Siousti, Margarita Skokou, Eleftheria Spantidaki, Systemalab, Konstantina Tzavidopoulou, Marianna Tzouti,

As guest at Hefnerstrasse 11

Sofia Zarari

Answering Pravu David Clarke, Fredrik Ingemansson,

Rumfordstrasse 26, Munich

Henrik Brandt, Karen Pontoppidan,

Opening 11.03.2015, 19:00 – 22:00

Magnus Liljedahl, Miro Sazdic,

12.03.2015 - 17.03.2015

Pravu Mazumdar, Tobias Birgersson

14:00 – 20:00

Hefnerstrasse 11, Munich

Hidden Beauty – Inner Skins I recently had a sneak peak at the work involved with Hidden Beauty – Inner Skins at Object Rotterdam and I was impressed. Did you think innards were gross? Think again, people. Some of these objects are so beautifully crafted they are not to be missed, plus I’m a sucker for old-school techniques used in new and exciting ways, like in this project.

Hidden Beauty - Inner Skins

12.03.2015 - 15.03.2015

Trophies // In The Reign of Coyote!

Since CURRENT OBSESSION is going Supernatural, I find it only fitting to mention Trophies // In The Reign Of Coyote!

It already sounds visually interesting and hopefully somewhat immersive. Plus Kerianne Quick is amazing, I’d follow her anywhere; same with fellow American, Mallory Weston, who I knew was going to be a shooting star before anyone knew her name on this side of the Atlantic.

Thu 15:00 - 18:00, Fri 10:00 - 17:00 Sat 10:00 - 12:00, Sun 13:00 - 18:00

Bubble Land A treasure hunt filled with surprises in an imaginary place called Bubble Land? Yes, please. These Taiwanbased artists from Bench 886 presented some of the most fun and surprising work last year, who is to say it will be any different if not better this time around? Plus, if my memory is correct, the gallery that hosts the group is not usually associated with contemporary jewellery. This is cool and makes me wonder what their usual audience can learn and take away after seeing this type of show.

Deutsches Jagd - und Fischereimuseum

Hyorim Lee

Studio Gutedort

Opening 12.3.2015 15.00

Hang Adam Grinovich and Julia Walter in the same place! I’m looking forward to seeing how their work relates to one another, as Hyorim Lee and Nora Rochel already have pretty strong textural similarities in comparison.

Trophies // In the Reign of Coyote

Gallery Kobeia

Cameron Andersen, Jane Dodd, Aliyah

Bubble Land

Gold, Steven Gordon Holman, Akihiro

Bench 886: Yung-Huei Chao, Ying-Hsiu

Ikeyama, Lore Langendries, Märta

Chen, Mei-Fang Chiang, Han-Chieh

Hang

Mattsson, Kerianne Quick, Anna Talbot,

Chuang, Ying-Hsun (Zita) Hsu, Heng Lee,

Hyorim Lee, Adam Grinovich,

Tanel Veenre, Mallory Weston

Yu-Ping Lin, Shih-Dea (Deborah) Tseng,

Heejoo Kim, Nora Rochel, Julia Walter

Studio Gutedort

Cai-Xuan Wu, Wen-Miao Yeh Neuhauser Strasse 2, Munich

Elisabethstrasse 16 Rgb, Munich

Herzog-Rudolf-Strasse 9, Munich

11.03.2015 – 16.03.2015

Luisenstrasse 49, Munich

Opening 11.03.2015, 19:00

Opening 11.03.2015, 16:00 – 22:00

Reception 12.03.2015, 18:00 – 20:00

Opening 11.03.2015, 18:30

11.03.2015 - 15.03.2015

12.3.2015 – 17.3.2015

Wed 9:30 - 15:30, Thu 9:30 – 21:00,

11.03.2015 – 15.03.2015

Thu – Fri 10:00 - 20:00,

11:00 – 20:00

Fri – Mon 9:30 - 17:00

11:00 – 19:00

Sat – Sun 10:00 - 18:00

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Akiko Kurihara

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Möbius I’m absolutely obsessed with the work of Akiko Kurihara. She really has it going on with the humour and the quirkiness of her pieces combined with absolutely impeccable quality and execution of the work. Really looking forward to see how the story unravels!

Mar ina Ele nsk aya

Micheko Galerie Möbius Akiko Kurihara, Misato Seki Theresienstrasse 18, Munich Opening 11.03.2015, 18:30 – 19:00 with performance by Japanese drummer group TAMPOPO 11.03.2015 - 21.03.2015 11:00 - 20:00, Sat (21.03.2015) 11:00 – 15:00 www.micheko.com

Hypnostone I4 O1

Typhaine Le Monnier

Current Obsession keeps an eye out for the work coming from Idar-Oberstein.

It just seems like such a magical place to study, surrounded by mountains, forests and stones. A lot of stones!

I saw the work by Typhaine Le Monnier last year during the Mineral Art competition and was blown away: she uses simple, reduced lines combined with unusual materials – I can’t wait to see more of her work!

Hypnostone I4 O1 HUIJ (offene Werkstatt, Café, Shop) Hypnostone I4 O1

MAD exhibitionists MAD exhibitionists. The idea of a mobile presentation in Munich appeals to me, especially when done by students.

Last year the school from Hasselt showed their work in transparent spherical backpacks, this year, accor­ ding to their statement the students will clandestinely hide the jewellery under their coats. I’m curious!

Yiftah Avraham, Pia Groh, Typhaine Le Monnier, Stephanie Morawetz,

Walking exhibition

Katja Köditz

MAD exhibitionists Master students of the MAD-Faculty,

Under the Staircase

Westendstrasse 49, Munich

PXL, Hasselt (Belgium): Margot Declerck,

Opening 12.03.2015, 17:17

Senna Fransen, Juan Harnie, Jill Lenaerts,

12.03.2015 – 15.03.2015

Liesje Merken, Sofie Van Belle, Billie Van

Thu 17:17 – 22:22,

Nieuwenhuyzen, Liu Zhaoan

Fri – Sat 13:13 – 22:22, Sun 13:13 – 17:17 11.03.2015 – 15.03.2015

www.facebook.com/hypnostonei4o1

The ‘hidden’ space under the stairs at the Pinakothek der Moderne is a dream-come-true show for any student. The museum always hosts an explosive show with student work of a jewellery school from anywhere in the world. This year it’s the turn of Hiko Mizuno College of Jewellery from Tokyo, Japan. I’ve always loved the work that comes from there, always so detailed, dreamy and unusual.

Hiko Mizuno College invited by Die Neue Sammlung Opening 13.03.2015, 19:00 Barerstrasse 40, Munich Opening 13 March, 19:00 14 March – 7 June Tue – Sun 10:00 – 18:00, Thu 10:00 – 20:00

See exact locations and times on Facebook: MAD exhibitionists www.facebook.com/pages/ MAD-exhibitionists

Saika Matsuda

Unter der Treppe | Under the staircase

Around the city of Munich

SCHMUCK SYMPOSIUM ZIMMERHOF 2015

With the title Future Jewellery Icons we invite you to dig deep into the meanings and relationships between these three notions.

FUTURE JEWELLERY ICONS What is the Future of Jewellery?

As Contemporary Jewellery builds up the awareness of its identity, we may see growth of successful cross-disciplinary collaborations.

By being placed in a wider context of today’s visual culture, Contemporary Jewellery can learn new strategies. We are curious about what may begin to happen when jewellery, art, design and fashion truly start to converge.

What are the Jewellery Icons?

47. Schmucksymposium Zimmerhof 2015 Bad Rappenau Ehrenbergstrasse 25 4.06 – 7.06

Icon is an ambiguous word simultaneously connoting a religious symbol loaded with historical and spiritual content, a flickering symbol on a computer desktop distilled and reduced in meaning, or an actual person – a rock star or a celebrity.

Does Contemporary Jewellery have a system of symbols and signs connecting the past and the future? And if so, where do these symbols and signs belong: in a subculture, within the mainstream, or have they lost their cultural relevance?

What are the Icons of the Future?

We are interested in new attitudes, new types of projects and new personalities to explore this idea: join us to hear talks by exhibition makers, researchers, trend forecasters, artists and jewellers who have explored the challenges and the confines of their own disciplines.

Speakers: Adam Grinovich [SE]

Lin Cheung [UK]

Niek Pulles [NL]

CONVERSATION PIECE: Beatrice Brovia & Nicolas Cheng [SE]

Mallory Weston [USA]

Rutger Emmelkamp [NL]

Matylda Krzykowski [NL]

Zachary Androus [IT]

Nelly Zagury [FR]

Zoe Laughlin [UK]

Dai Rees [UK] David Bielander [DE]

Zimmerhof Symposium is the oldest symposium of it´s kind.

It is a yearly reunion of around 200 members of the jewellery field: students, makers, designers and historians – taking place in an impressive old farmhouse estate in Bad Rappenau-Zimmerhof. While the four-day event revolves around talks and presentations, it also provides the opportunity to chat at length with those peers we often only ‘bump into’ in other events: it’s an occasion to exchange information, communicate about one’s work, and generally have a good time together. In order to keep both the attendants and the organisers on their toes, the lectures are always organised by a different team of jewellery professionals.

Bolstered by tradition and ever-changing programmes, we feel sure that the symposium will continue to inspire for many years to come: we hope to see you there!

Programme curated by CURRENT OBSESSION

Organisation: Herman Hermsen Yvonne von Racknitz Ulrich Haass Ulrike Ortwein Ursula Woerner

Attention!

For the planning and the implementation of the Symposium your timely registration is very important!

Please, register on the website before May 16th 2015.

More info: www.schmucksymposium.de info@schmucksymposium.de

Bettina Speckner brooch 2013, nt ferrotype, silver, lapis lazuli, coral

THE CONCEPTUAL AND FINE ART JEWELLERY GALLERY IN AMSTERDAM Elandsgracht 12 1016 TV Amsterdam The Netherlands www.galerierobkoudijs.nl info@galerierobkoudijs.nl

Bernhard Schobinger: The Rings of Saturn

With thanks to Gallery S O London & Solothurn, photo: Sunset Ring, 2013

30 May - 30 August 2015

Stedelijk Museum ’s-Hertogenbosch museum of contemporary art and design De Mortel 4, 5211 HV ’s-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands, www.sm-s.nl

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Exhibition program 2015 28.02 – 11.04 Galerie Ra Sigurd Bronger, “in between” “in between” For this exhibition, I constructed different carrying devices that relate to the issue “in between”.

I have chosen to use some of the materials I used in my earlier collections for Ra, like: egg, stones, cactus spike, diamond, shell… and some new materials.

Many of the carrying devices have a construction that holds the material “in between”.

Some of the new pieces can be placed “in between” functional jewellery, art and objects .

— Sigurd Bronger 11.03 – 17.03 fair Frame, Munich Artists Galerie Ra and focus on Sigurd Bronger

27.05 – 31.05 fair KunstRai, Amsterdam: Artists Galerie Ra and focus on Manon van Kouswijk 20.06 – 01.08 Galerie Ra Floor Max, jewellery 02.08 – 31.08 Galerie Ra summerbreak 05.09 – 10.10 Galerie Ra Esther Knobel & Yonathan Ward, jewellery 17.10 – 05.12 Galerie Ra Noon Passama, jewellery Karl Fritsch, jewellery 12.12 – 31.01.16 Galerie Ra Peter Hoogeboom, jewellery

18.04 - 13.06 Galerie Ra Reka Fekete, jewellery

Sigurd Bronger, Carrying device for an egg,

Sigurd Bronger, Carrying device for

pendant, 2014

a haematite ball, pendant, 2014

www.galerie-ra.nl mail@galerie-ra.nl T. +31 (0)20 6265100

KLIMT02 GALLERY

Marc Monzó, Metal Necklace - 2015 - Karin Johansson , Photographer: Johan Hörnestam

Galerie Ra Nes 120 Open: Wed-Sat 12-18

Barcelona Karin Johansson BEAT 15.04.15 – 15.05.15

I use my senses as tools. By using the different senses while in a constant move I perceive the places that surrounds me.

The city becomes the source of inspiration to create. In my world wearable signs, that together gives the beat of a city.

Klimt02 Gallery Riera Sant Miquel 65 08006 Barcelona T. 00 34 933 687 235

Marc Monzó METAL 10.06.15 – 10.07.15 Metal is a group of brooches composed by thin gold plates welded together with laser. The plates were used as the material supplier’s been delivered. Metal shows an interest in the prototype, the model and the open object.

The jeweler as a passive observer of a process.

The value and beauty in a naked and crude way.

Klimt@klimt02.net Klimt02.net/gallery Open Tuesday-Friday 17.00-20.00

Specialists in Contemporary and European Art & Craft Publications

10 year anniversar y of Chrome Yellow Books

e h t t a s se u s e d Fin erkm w d 1 n Ha Halle B

Saturday 14 March at 13.00h we will have book signings with Lin Cheung, Daniel Kruger and Tanel Veenre Also launching ‘A Touch of Steel’ a new Chrome Yellow Book in collabo­ration with the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp.

rt a p e E r a we RAM of F

ASSOCIATED EXHIBITIONS: ‘Looking for Michael’ Web up Media, Kreuzplätzchen 6, Munich ‘A Touch of Steel’ 3 Stations, Welserstrasse 11, Munich

20:00

12 March

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03:00

PAPER LAUCH PART Y

At Lost Weekend Bookstore + Café Schellingstrasse 3, Munich www.current-obsession.com