with : claire baloge_babette boucher_brune boyer-pellerej_ frédéric braham_monika brugger_carole deltenre_ joanne grimonprez_sophie hanagarth_ ulrike kämpfert_emmanuel lacoste_catherine le gal_florence lehmann_christophe marguier_amandine meunier_ jana natier_nathalie perret_maud traon
also known as jewellery*
a touring exhibition curated by
christian alandete & benjamin lignel
for la garantie, association pour le bijou
a touring exhibition 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.
This singular position and jewellery’s debated vocation to produce hand-made, functional objects for the body provide makers with a legitimate foothold in a creative arena where individual identity is pitted against social norm, where the everyday coexists with the exceptional and where shots from the past are mingled with visions of the future.
Meanwhile, contemporary jewellers must respond to, if only to refute, demands imposed upon them by tradition (Is it craft?) and the public (Is it jewellery?) We found that these concerns are shared by all, in France and abroad, who have chosen jewellery as their creative medium.
France’s strong history in luxury jewellery and high fashion, however, has shaped the emergence and development of this small community of contemporary jewellers. While the precursors (the group EPOC, to name but one, formed in the 70’s) challenged the hegemony of the Place Vendôme and particularly its unrelenting reverence for precious materials, younger jewellers are making their mark by adopting a critical stance towards the medium itself, and fuelling their research with conceptual nuggets originated mostly outside the field of craft. They invite us, in turn, to look at other disciplines (sociology, anthropology, literature, philosophy, as well as architecture, cinema, and photography) to question the accepted definition of jewellery.
The exhibitors’ explicit ambition to redefine a field in rapid expansion underlined the importance of the catalogue to shed light on their work through the words of thinkers from extraneous fields.
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 French or French-based jewellers who together make a convincing case for the vitality of this rather under-exposed part of the European contemporary jewellery community.
This exhibition does not showcase all the different trends within contemporary French jewellery: we favoured some amongst its more radical and conceptual proponents through a selection of very recent work. It is the first time that such a selection is shown abroad.
association la garantie
This project is part of the ongoing program
by the brand new association la garantie,
founded in 2007 in Paimpont (France)
and based in Paris since 2010.
The purpose of this new association is to promote jewellery outside its primary audience of makers, collectors, and gallery owners. We aim to increase its visibility, and encourage confrontations with amateurs and specialists alike, through various approaches: historical contextualisation, the confrontation of current practices, the promotion and critical analysis of contemporary trends. The diverse backgrounds of the association’s founding members - two makers, two PhDs, one curator - reflects our ambition to establish a self-sufficient cultural ‘task force’ able to collaborate with both institutional and private partners.
see also _ journée d’étude, a seminar on jewellery held by PhD students, École normale supérieur, 10 december 2008_organised by delphine lesbros and cécile michaud, with support from l’École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), the Centre Maurice Halbwachs (CMH) and Centre de Recherches sur les Arts et le Langage (CRAL).
see also _ decemberfest, a two-day encounter between contemporary jewellery students, 13 & 14 december 2008_organised by benjamin lignel, emmanuel lacoste (le Garantie) and franck massé, caroline poincignon (AFEDAP)_with sonia & michael collins, sophie hanagarth, monika brugger, florence lehmann, brune boyer, françoise seince, charlotte valbrune, robert goossens, rita marcangelo, isabelle busnel.
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