Image above: Let It Shine necklace by Sara Chyan, (matches, acrylic board, resin), Inter-Secting Spaces exhibition during the 2nd Athens Jewelry Week 2017 at the Benaki Museum of Decorative Arts and Crafts (Peiraios annex), May 2017, Athens, Greece. Organization/ Coordination: Anticlastics (Anastasia Kandaraki, Erato Kouloubi and Niki Stylianou).
http://athensjewelryweek.com/
http://www.benaki.gr/index.asp?lang=en&id=20201
Hear the accoustic description for our central picture by clicking on the link:
https://www.facebook.com/katerina.mourginaki/videos/10213117479997540/
The 2nd Athens Jewelry Week 2017 ignited this year something bigger than just the ambition of a Cosette-type small country to just carry the burdensome backet of the European South, next to its contemporary jewelry almighty simblings, for instance Spain and Italy. There is a tsunami of creative forms of jewelry in the city of Athens, a real host of the craft the last 40 years, pregnant with a fascinating, quiet scene of designers/makers - almost entirely unattended by the state institutions like the Hellenic Chamber of Commerce, the Ministry of Economic Development and Growth, the Ministry of Education and other relevant state organizations and guilds.
The Benaki Museum of Decorative Arts and Crafts in Greece provided, like in numerous cases, the stage and the in-depth knowhow of a complex field like contemporary jewelry, alongside with the organizational and promotional expertise of the skillful Anticlastics team- for the first concrete contemporary jewelry international exhibition in the Greek capital: Inter-Secting Spaces, within the AJW 2017 other parallel events and manifestations. The exhibition showcases 29 designers/artists who also contested for the 2nd AJW Award 2017, renown contemporary jewelry presences in the AJW 2017 Jury list, the video narrative Meta; Morphosis: A Dream Trip Through Jewelry by Kostas Pittas projecting the essence of the portfolios, a project of children's jewelery and jewelry "games" in order for the visitor to comprehend and perceive the art form of an ancient technology and the intense, intellectual procedure of adornment making.
In the photos bellow, from top to bottom: the craking works (neck pieces) of three legendary artists jewelers, also members of the AJW 2017 Award Jury, Lucia Massei, Sofia Björkman and Tanel Veenre. In the last photo the jewelry project of talented 10-year old Raphael Kasteroudis, one of the highlights of the exhibition.
In the core of the exhibition, 29 Greek and international contemporary jewelry designers/makers/artists inter-sected their diverse perspectives with elaborate techniques, imaginative materials and a strong political vision. Aesthetics is politics and wearable items employ a political statement AND a visual impact of high caliber. Beauty is a result of this process but not a sole indicator of the project value and of its gravity- a project that reflects a huge artistic and technical importance, far and away from common curatorial theory and practice. Enjoy in the pictures bellow, from top to bottom, some of the 29-team key presences:
The 29 Exhibitors' List - AJW 2017 Award Winner, Turkish Snem Yildirim with her pendant Seven In a Row - JOYA 2016 Winner Liana Pattihis with the pendant Offerings (Tamata) - Angelos Konstantakatos with Hidden Perspectives brooch - Sol Flores with Plane brooch - Iryna Voitenko with Subtle Truth necklace - Martina Dempf with Palmyra brooch - Isabelle Busnel with Untitled 2 and 3 brooches - Christine Jalio with Past-Loss-Future series (pendant and brooch) - Kätrin Beljaev with Companion 2 and 3 pendants - Yiota Vogli with Keep it Safe pendant and pair of earrings - Georgia Gremouti with brooches from Molecular Corpus Colonies and Germination Phase series - Magali Thibault Gobeil with Candy Baby Doll necklace.
May this new, long awaited amazing initiative continue for many years to come. We are looking forward to AJW 2018 already....Until then, wear it- don't fear it!!!
A4D-D4A?-)))
