A brooch made of pressed dust! The Chinese Yi Cao thus depicts an e-cloud that is just as ephemeral as all life. A chain of bottlenecks and screw caps: Veronika Fabian from Hungary not only commemorates a long night, but also moments that connect people, in which community is celebrated. Jieun Park reflects her feelings as an adolescent in Korean society with an unusually heavy necklace made of steel, cotton cords and acrylic paint that ends in swelling forms.
The special exhibition Jewelry is back after a long Covid break. Established in 1959 by art historian Herbert Hofmann, this curated exhibition has made it the center of contemporary jewelery art at the International Crafts Fair in Munich (IHM). Since 2006, the Danner Foundation has taken over the sponsorship and thus also the financing of this unique show. Artists, gallery owners, collectors and museum curators from all over the world come together once a year. Author’s jewelery is celebrated throughout the city: in the studios of the artists based here, in specialized galleries, in free exhibition spaces, in museums and, of course, on the streets. Now it’s time to open your eyes again in the subway and on the terraces of the cafés.
Steel, cotton cords and acrylic lacquer: Jieun Park’s jewelery has strong references to Korean society.
(Photo: JBC/JBC)
This year’s edition of the jewelry week is the one made up for in 2021. It was canceled at short notice due to the pandemic and postponed this March for the same reason, but it can now finally be presented to the public. It was curated by Munich-based Australian artist Helen Britton. From 670 applications, she selected 63 strong pieces for the exhibition. The artists come from 23 countries and for the first time from all five continents. Helen Britton chose works “that made something ring out in her on that day, in that moment”. Friendship and fame shouldn’t influence your choice. Neither does my own taste. She filtered out pieces that gave her the impression that the creators had no choice but to make the work exactly as it is. Each unique piece is lifetime sublimated with great seriousness. And the trauma of pandemic isolation is inherent in some works. The great lady of Paduan jewellery, Annamaria Zanella, submitted a textile necklace whose dreamy lapis lazuli blue links are held at a distance by gold rods.
Helen Britton was particularly pleased that First Nations artists had also applied this time. How often have amulets and talismans been cited in contemporary jewellery. It is time to step out of the colonial shadow and take notice of the artists and authors who very consciously live and work in the tradition of their cultures, which have been fractured on multiple occasions. They have a right to be recognized as equal contemporary voices. Between the most filigree goldsmith work and shimmering neon brooches of Western and Asian provenance, the force of large disc-shaped earrings by Lisa Waup, who tries to compensate for the missing stories of her ancestors with an intensive focus on Australian nature, hits you. One could almost overlook the cultural weight of Akwele Suma Glory’s beadwork. The Ghanaian learned how to make pearls, the traditional means of payment, from her royal grandmother at the age of ten.
Peter Bauhuis conceived his brooches as a small swarm of flies.
(Photo: Internationale Handwerksmesse Munich)
The special exhibition Jewelry is a celebration of diversity. There are the neon brooches by Ryangjae Jung, whose fine chain links were obtained from a 3D printer. Artfully bundled by the goldsmith, they result in fantastic brooches that come to life through the movement of the body. The matt silver works by the Japanese Fumiki Taguchi appear as if they are from another world. At first glance, they too appear to have been programmed. But the pure white skeletons are precisely cut and built by hand.
There are very quiet works such as the earthy pendants by Pedro Sequiera or the completely closed objects by Munich-based Junwon Jung, which only reveal their second nature as jewelry as they unfold and are rather lost in a showcase. On the other hand, the bead embroidery made into large necklaces by the Frenchman Sebastian Care is brimming with joy. The multiply intertwined rubber chains by Silke Trekel are graphically vibrant and convincing as body art. Artists who were trained at the Munich Academy are also represented with strong pieces: Karl Frisch with huge rings, Peter Bauhuis with a small swarm of flies and Bettina Dittlmann with a magnetic brooch on which she has collected seductively sparkling pyrite splinters, so-called fool’s gold.
This week, a high-ranking jury will select three positions from the 63 works on display, which will be awarded the renowned Herbert Hoffmann Prize on Saturday.
“King Nebuchadnezzar 1” is the name of this gold work by Robert Baines.
(Photo: Clare Martin Lapworth)
As usual, the exquisite presentation of a “classic” is embedded in the “Jewelry” special show – an artist who has had an influence, both creatively and as a teacher, over many years. This year celebrates Robert Baines, who is no stranger to Munich thanks to a number of exhibitions. He has long been one of the “Amigos” of the Biró Gallery. The Australian has delved scientifically and archaeologically into the techniques of Etruscan and ancient Greek goldsmiths in particular and has practically reinterpreted and revived them for his purposes. In Australia he received the honorary title of “Living treasure”. His spatially constructed from linear elements, bewilderingly detailed and multi-layered works are full of literary, mythological allusions. With each piece, you realize that for Baines, jewelry has always been “food,” “celebration,” and “joy.” In his mask-like brooches, he enthusiastically showed how color radically changes the character of the same piece.
The intensity and complexity of his works make them intimate pieces that are gradually captured by those who own and wear them, or those who are allowed to get close to these people. The small, fine exhibition as part of the special exhibition jewelry allows at least long, searching looks into the showcases, so that a reflection of the magic becomes noticeable.
Jewelery special show, Munich, July 6th to 10th, Messe Ost, Hall B5, other special shows by the Gesellschaft für Handwerksmessen: Talente – Masters of the Future and Exempla (IHK’s largest special show of workshops from all over the world). The Theatiner will show the documentary “Hunter from Elsewhere – a Journey with Helen Britton” on Fri., July 8, 4 p.m. and Sun., July 10, 11 a.m.. An overview of the offer of the jewelry week www.hwk-muenchen.de/artikel/schmuck-2022-74,0,10540.html