First Full Day of Exhibition Hopping

Exhibitions Visited:
Life's a Bench II, Finger and Hand Costume, LOOK, Ishakawa, Moljojoki and Steina, Micheko Gallery, Ruudt Peters -Anima and Under the Clouds.

LIFE'S A BENCH II

Artists Exhibited:

Tasmin Leighton - Boyce, Katharina Moch, Mikaela Lyons, Katherine Richmond, Elena Ruebel, Chuchart Sarunnayawatsin, Shadi Vossough and Nicola Turnbull 

"Magnetic Brooch"
Plastic (partly glow in the dark), CZ, Magnet.
KATHARINA MOCH

This was an interesting first real look at an exhibition that was part of Schmuck 2011. Most Jewellery Galeries and exhibitions we had been to thus far including in the Netherlands had still had a traditional sense to the way the works were presented and displayed (except for Rebels of Love). Life's a Bench II   gave me a whole other insight into the freedom and creativity an artist/s can have when setting up an exhibition space.

This exhibit utilizes the very object we as jewellers take for granted and often over look within our studios, that being the traditional work bench, without the fancy tools and equipment surrounding it of course.. The pieces were displayed inside drawers in the middle of the room, all layered over one another so that all drawers and the pieces they held could at least be seen from one angle or another. It wasn't until you panned out that you realized the items that were supporting these drawers were the 4 benches from which they came! Jewellers benches!! Has inspired me to think "outside the box" so to speak when it comes to deciding how to display my own works!

"Life's a Bench II" Exhibition Space

LOOK

Curated by Ruudt Peters

Artists Exhibited:

Tobias Alm, Sara Borgegard, Beatrice Brovia, Nicolas Cheng, Noemie Doge, Diana Dudek, Romina Fuentes, Carolina Gimeno, Adam Grinovich, Hanna Hedman, Hannah Joris, Ara Kou, Edgar Mosa, Malaika Najem, Seth Papac, Annika Pettersson, Estela Saez, Dana Seachugu and Nelli Tanner.

LOOK was another exhibition that pushed the boundaries of how to display an exhibition space. Everything in the room was drowned in darkness with blue/black lights the only form light for the exhibition. At first I was quite excited by this as it was a completely new experience physically and visually, like an other worldly feel. But as I tried to make my way round the table, the flashes from peoples cameras offered small distorted glimpses of the actual works, but played havoc on your eyes, two of our group had to leave as they were getting dizzy and headaches from the light. I chose to take the photos as I had interpreted they were wished to be seen?! Drowned in this light. 

However now going back and trying to identify whose work is whose and what they were made from, I realized I had set an impossible task (hence no blurb for the images above), whether it was my own doing or simply by the way the exhibition was displayed, I have yet to conclude.

Perhaps this was the intention? To ask the viewers what is it that you focus on most when walking into these Jewellery exhibits at Schmuck 2011? Is it the works, the environment, the socialising, is it through your own eyes or through the lens of a camera?  

An interesting experience LOOK, the jury is still out however if from a jewellery perspective, a beneficial one??