also known as jewellery
(a touring exhibition of French contemporary jewellery)
London (GB) / Flow gallery / 19 march - 25 april 2009
Roma (I) / Alternatives / 11 june - 10 july 2009
San Francisco (USA) / Velvet da vinci / 16 september - 25 october 2009
Munich (D) / Institut Français de Munich / 3 - 10 March 2010
Idar Oberstein (D) / Villa Bengel / 21 June - 15 august 2010
Falkenberg (SW) / Falkenberg Museum / September 2010
Paris (F) / Ateliers de Paris / Février 2011
curated by Christian Alandete & Benjamin Lignel
for la garantie, association pour le bijou
Contemporary jewellery, in France and abroad, is undergoing a spectacular evolution: in recent years, it has both staked out new territories of experimentation, and claimed a pivotal position between art, design and traditional craft. While the precursors challenged our parochial reverence for precious materials, younger jewellers are making their mark by adopting a critical stance towards the medium itself, and fueling their research with conceptual nuggets originated mostly outside the field of craft: they invite us, in turn, to look at other disciplines to question the accepted definition of jewellery.
The title of this exhibition - also known as jewellery - underlines the specificity of contemporary jewellery, and the ambiguity inherent to a craft-based, boundary-pushing practice: the work selected is thus both alien to its tradition, and well versed in its history.
The selection for this touring show focused on the work of 17 contemporary jewellers - French, or working in France - who together make a convincing case for the vitality of this rather under-exposed part of the European contemporary jewellery community. It is the first time that such a selection of contemporary French makers is shown abroad.
with work by
claire baloge / babette boucher / brune boyer-pellerej / frédéric braham / monika brugger / carole deltenre / joanne grimonprez / sophie hanagarth / ulrike kampfert / emmanuel lacoste / catherine legal / florence lehmann / christophe marguier / amandine meunier / jana natier / nathalie perret / maud traon
publication with texts by
christian alandete / sofian beldjerd / david beytelmann / frédéric bodet / caroline broadhead / jacques demarcq / yvonna demczynska / carole guinard / love jönsson / anna kharkina / david lemaire / benjamin lignel / philippe liotard / rita marcangelo / ellen maurer-zilioli / sophie pelletier / marie prunier / michael rowe / frédérique verlinden
