With the participation of Karin Roy Andersson, Berndt Arell, Klara Brynge, Sally Collins, Mike Holmes, Agnieszka Knap, Panjapol Kulpapangkorn, Nichka Marobin, and Paulo Ribeiro.
BY ROYAL APPOINTMENT, 2016
Selected by Sally Collins,
jewelry designer, lecturer, and collector (UK)
“An exhibition that provided food for thought, surprise, laughter, and interaction. The Dialogue Collective used black tape to mark out typical features of a Queen’s dressing room, using props, setting the scene with classical music, and encouraging visitors to try on a sash or a crown and take a seat in the royal boudoir. We were taken on a royal tour of the show and gifted with typically English biscuits and tea.”
By Royal Appointment, 2016, curated by Dialogue Collective and Sylvia Katzwinkel, with Petra Bishai, Isabelle Busnel, Velvet Hart, Victoria King, Maarit Liukkonen, Darja Nikitina, Natsuki Sawai, Rachel Terry, Maud Traon, Sorcha Wharf, and Aneta Wrobel, 84 GHz with LOT62, Munich
UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS, 2016
Selected by Karin Roy Andersson,
jewelry artist, manager of Four, and part of team Diagonal (Sweden)
“The Kunstgiesserei [art foundry] is one of my favorite venues in Munich and I have seen a couple of fantastic shows in this rough and powerful environment. Seeing Federica Sala’s show there makes one almost feel that she has been making pieces for this room—or like the room was built for her work. The necklaces and rings are made of glass and the light bubbles seem to be floating in the room. The contrast between the fragile glass and the stones set into the pieces is emphasized by the space, a contrast further hinted at by the exhibition title: Unbearable Lightness.”
Federica Sala, Unbearable Lightness, 2016, 84GHz with Kunstgiesserei München, Munich, photo: Karin Roy Andersson
MARRED MONROE, 2016
Selected by Nichka Marobin,
collector of contemporary jewelry, art historian, and founder of The Morning Bark (Italy)
“Beauty and perfection sometimes hide different, astonishing panoramas: This exhibition explores the duality of beauty embodied by Marilyn Monroe, forever beautiful, forever fascinating but extremely alone, depressed, and full of melancholy. Nothing is as it seems.”
Samira Goetz and Johee Han, Marred Monroe, 2016, Kunsthof Türkenhof, Munich
BY ROYAL APPOINTMENT, 2016
Selected by Paulo Ribeiro,
director and founder of JOYA Barcelona Art Jewellery Fair (Spain)
“The Dialogue Collective exhibition had the best presentation for different reasons. First of all, because it interacts with the public as the jewelry is exhibited in different pieces of furniture where you see the composition with the concept of each piece. Second, they transformed the space into a conceptual, Baroque display, using as simple a material as tape to re-create pieces of furniture or decorative elements. The inspiration behind the concept was English royalty, providing the public with a playful elegant and ironic ambience.”
By Royal Appointment, 2016, curated by Dialogue Collective and Sylvia Katzwinkel, with Petra Bishai, Isabelle Busnel, Velvet Hart, Victoria King, Maarit Liukkonen, Darja Nikitina, Natsuki Sawai, Rachel Terry, Maud Traon, Sorcha Wharf, and Aneta Wrobel, 84 GHz with LOT62, Munich
JUNK: RUBBISH TO GOLD, 2016
Selected by Panjapol Kulpapangkorn,
jewelry artist (Thailand)
“JUNK: Rubbish to Gold transforms ‘junk’ into new jewelry by making a community of makers from all over the world. First you meet the whole ‘junk’—jewelry which someone doesn’t need anymore—at the front of the exhibition, then inside you see the metamorphosed pieces of new jewelry.”
JUNK: Rubbish to Gold, 2016, curated by Jivan Astfalck, Laura Bradshaw-Heap, and Rachel Darbourne, with work by Farrah Al-Dujaili, Karin Roy Andersson, Francesca Antonello, Jivan Astfalck, Kate Bajic, Laura Bradshaw-Heap, Laura Brannon, Hannah May Chapman, Rachael Colley, Lana Crabb, Rachel Darbourne, Robert Goldsworthy, Nanna Grønborg, Maria Hanson, Susanne Holzinger, Drew Markou, Jillian Moore, Jo Pond, Mah Rana, Zoe Robertson, and Milena Vizuete-Courtes, Gabi Green Gallery, Munich
WUNDERKAMMER, 2016
Selected by Agnieszka Knap,
jewelry artist and curator (Sweden)
“A golden snail rests in the glow of a lamp, another is slowly crossing over a large tabletop in red marble. It seems that somebody forgot a brown paper bag in the middle of the table … or is it a really a paper bag? Wunderkammer, an exhibition by David Bielander and designer duo DANTE—Goods And Bads, is a place beyond the ordinary and sharpens your senses. Besides its symbolic undertone of cabinet of wonder, it is a proposition describing what may happen to any object when it leaves the space of the white cube. The interaction between craftsmanship, materiality, form, and color creates a magnetic environment in which I want to spend more time and explore all the curiosities in the room.”
David Bielander and DANTE—Goods And Bads (Aylin Langreuter and Christophe de la Fontaine), Wunderkammer, 2016, Gallery Wittenbrink, Fuenfhoefe, Munich
BY ROYAL APPOINTMENT, 2016
Selected by Berndt Arell,
director of Nationalmuseum (Sweden)
“A great all-encompassing concept—from installation and presentation to the dialogue with the public.”
By Royal Appointment, 2016, curated by Dialogue Collective and Sylvia Katzwinkel, with Petra Bishai, Isabelle Busnel, Velvet Hart, Victoria King, Maarit Liukkonen, Darja Nikitina, Natsuki Sawai, Rachel Terry, Maud Traon, Sorcha Wharf, and Aneta Wrobel, 84 GHz with LOT62, Munich
WUNDERKAMMER, 2016
Selected by Klara Brynge,
jewelry artist and lecturer in jewelry art at the School of Design and Crafts, University of Gothenburg (Sweden)
“David Bielander often creates funny, witty, and great scenes for his jewelry and objects. For the exhibition display in Galerie Wittenbrink Fünfhoefe he collaborated with the designer group DANTE Goods And Bads. The exhibition room is furnished so that together with David’s work it reminds me of an environment in a Stanley Kubrick movie. It has the character of an office or a showroom/boudoir, which enhances and lifts the jewelry pieces and their playful perfection. David Bielander’s jewelry has wit and humor and so does the display in an unexpected way.”
David Bielander and DANTE—Goods And Bads (Aylin Langreuter and Christophe de la Fontaine), Wunderkammer, 2016, Gallery Wittenbrink, Fuenfhoefe, Munich
AMERICAN GOTHIC, 2016
Selected by Mike Holmes,
curator and manager of Velvet da Vinci, San Francisco (USA)
“I thought the most beautiful presentation was the new work by Bettina Speckner and David Clarke at Galerie Christian Pixis. The use of large antique wood chests was simple and effective. Especially for Speckner’s quiet and haunting brooches, the furniture became pedestal and backdrop.
But my favorite presentation was American Gothic, curated by Steven Gordon Holman. The space (including Beer Pong!) reflected the humor and vitality of the US jewelry scene.”
American Gothic, 2016, curated by Steven Gordon Holman, with Leslie Boyd, Emily Cobb, Aaron Patrick Decker, Steven Gordon Holman, Zachery Lechtenberg, and Mallory Weston, Center Court Gallery, Munich
AFFÄREN, 2016
Selected by Sanna Svedestedt Carboo,
jewelry artist, contributing editor for www.klimt02.net, and part of team Diagonal (Sweden)
“Last year’s Schmuck experience left me with a weird aftertaste. I thought there were too many mute exhibitions, consisting of pieces on plinths, stripped of any interaction with—or information for—the audience. This year was a definite comeback—many well-curated and communicative exhibitions. A golden example was Affären at Galerie Handwerk, presenting a retrospective view of Gerd Rothmann’s body of work. Here famous jewels such as the cast body pieces from the 70’s are combined with photos, drawings, studio notes, and test pieces. The humble chipboard showcases create an open atmosphere, elegantly held together down to the smallest details with use of yellow Post-its as labels and yellow masking tape for affixing images to the walls. Walking down two stairs to the large ground floor, you are greeted by an almost life-size picture of Gerd Rothmann in his studio, inviting all visitors, regardless of jewelry experience, to Mr. Rothmann’s world, with just enough traces of information to enter an entire universe. This is how an exhibition is done.”
Gerd Rothmann, Affären, 2016, Galerie Handwerk, Munich
Stay tuned for the next best of—the 10 best (single) pieces of MJW 2016!
