preziosa: un certain regard @ museo marino marini

This year’s exhibition of PREZIOSA 2013, Un Certain Regard, is being held in the crypt of the Museo Marino Marini until July 20, 2013 and features work by David Bielander, Sigurd Bronger, Sophie Hanagarth, Suska Mackert, Philip Sajet, and Karin Seufert.

PREZIOSA 2013 departs from “the otherness of this peculiar Art, and wants to focus on visual reaction of the public in face of contemporary research jewellery.” The exhibition’s theme revolves around the imaginary, on expectations and assumptions of the public in relation to the jewel and the worn art object. The exhibition presents works by six international artists selected as examples of specific issues related to the imaginary: recognition/estrangement/surprise/rejection/trespassing, and is divided into three sections:

The conceptual research on the imagination in jewelry by Suska Mackert
To be or not be: shapes visually recall ancient jewels like precious objects, but in reality….? with works by Karin Seufert and Philip Sajet
What I see is what I see! with the irony of David Bielander, the aggressiveness of Sophie Hanagarth, and the fun mechanics of Sigurd Bronger.

Here are a few of my favorite pieces from the exhibition:

Suska Makert is working in a historical context full of ironic rhetoric. Here below she references the Lover’s Eye jewelry from the 1800’s:

Karin Seufert is using non-precious material (plastic) to recreate Victorian mourning jewelry, using its elegant formal qualities:

Sophie Hanagrath is creating hefty-scale, Frankenstein-ish works referencing parts of the body in low-tech mechanical forms:

Works by David Bielander are concentrated around food and animals. Here he uses a clever quotidian material for the fish scales: flat-head thumbtacks:

Sophie Hanagarth’s work reminds me of curious adaptations of vintage weaponry where the origin and purpose could be questionable:

The work of Sigurd Bronger uses old mechanisms and small scale tools, magnifiers, and instruments:

PREZIOSA 2013 includes two side events at the main exhibition, offering visitors additional opportunities for reflection on contemporary jewelry. One is Symbiosis, a photo project developed by the artist Eva Sauer.

The jewelry exhibition is complemented by a photographic project of the actual pieces. The need to show how these jewels can be worn in everyday life, how they interact with individuals and with the surrounding space, led to a conceptual project, which was developed using the skill and sensitivity of photographer Eva Sauer. Twelve jewels, which are shown in the exhibition, were chosen, worn and staged in particular places around the city of Florence to establish a mutual connection between the exhibition space and the city itself.

This adjunct exhibition really compliments the rest of the show. The photography is well conceived to represent the works in specific contexts and environments, with the subjects playing an important part in the definition of each jewel paired with the personality of the wearer.

The work of the 8 emerging artists selected based on their personal research in contemporary jewelry, are being shown in the “Young” section of PREZIOSA 2013. Karin Roy Andersson, Wan Hee Cho, Rob Elford, Benedikt Fischer, Panjapol Kulpapangkorn, Chiara Scarpitti, Antje Stolz, Lauren Vanessa Tickle are the young artists selected between the 220 participants of this worldwide contest.

For me, the show-stopper of the whole exhibition is the work by Lauren Vanessa Tickle who intricately cuts real currency into these amazingly delicate pieces, conceptually experimenting with value and adornment. I encourage you to visit her website to see more work.