A Portable Discussion about current issues in the Middle East.
42 juried jewellery artists from 22 countries showing work on the conflict
Why jewelry?
« Jewelry is an intimate art medium within the private and the public space which offers a personal relationship and an encounter between the wearer ,the viewer audience and the actual jewelry. It is an invitation to start a conversation and it can make a meeting possible. The body is a portable show case and the wearer chooses what and how to exhibit on him/her. Jewelry express the wearer character and sense of humor, it acts as an extension to the wearer personality, indicating his/her group of belonging, it is asking questions or claiming its opinion about the reality in which we live in, about our society, our surrounding and ourselves«
The project aim is to raise discussion about current issues in the Middle East through an international art exhibition in which jewellery is the chosen media.
42 pieces of artists from 22 countries were selected independently by five international jury members – experts in their fields of studies and practice: Dr. Otto von Busch (Sweden) – Fashion Activist, Love Jonsson (Sweden) – Craft Critic, Prof’ Vered Kaminski (Israel) – Jewellery Artist, Shari Pierce (USA, Germany) – Jewellery Artist, Dr. Nada Shabout (USA,Qatar) – Art Historian
Cause We Care.
The region’s history and present are seeded with continuous violent national, ethnic and other conflicts. In many aspects the Middle East is considered to be one of the most sensitive and unstable regions in the world; strategically, economically, politically, culturally and religiously. It is located in the center of the international politics agenda. Its historical role, its huge reserves of crud oil and its significance for the three largest monotheist religions are usually taken as reasons for the world’s ardent interest in the region. But the attitude towards the Middle East has pasted the point of a keen interest in world affairs. By now it seems clear that the Middle East is perceived, especially by consumers of Western media, as the place where world dramas converge, or – more accurately – collide. It is almost the opposite of the Bermuda Triangle: everything that happens there pops up on our radars.
What is the Middle East? What is the source of our attraction to it? Is it just that it happens to be the most eventful place on earth? What is the nature of our commitment to effecting the future of the region? Do we really care about what goes on there? Do we really care about what goes on anywhere that is elsewhere? Do we care about the Middle East in a way similar to the way we care about how people look at us? Do we care about it the way we care about what people see in us?
Artists : Adam Grinovich, Ana Morais Caldas, Anna Williams, Vivi Touloumidi, Annette Dam, Barbara Deriemaeker, Beatrice Brovia, Burcu Buyukunal, Caitlin Wood, Chloé Durand, Claire Baloge, Dalya Israeli, Deganit Stern Schocken, Einat Leader, Ela Bauer, Ella Wolf, Filomena Praça , Frida Åberg, Gular Mustafa, Hannah Joris, Iacov Azubel, Ingrid Römmich & Veronika Schmid, Jan Turzo, Katja Prins, Kristina Lugonja, Loukia Richards, Malaika Najem, Marieke Van Diepen, Melanie Georgacopoulos, Michal Oren, Michelutti Flavia Eleonora, Midori Ikeda, Miri Admoni, Noga Hadad, Nuria Briones Perez, Sally Von Bargen, Mervat Hakroosh & Rotem Lewinsohn, Tamara Navama, Teresa Milheiro, Ulla Ahola, Machteld Van Joolingen, Vered Babai,
Jan Turzo - ‘Division’ – Slovakia – 2009
Rotem Lewinsohn & Mervat Hakroosh - Forbidden Love – Israel, 2010
Sally Von Bargen – Elegy USA, 2008
Vered Babai - Pinched Rings – Israel, 2010
Claire Baloge (FR) - Camel dung, gold leaf, silk (collier en crottes de chameau … j’adore !!)
« I have chosen to use camel dung, because it’s shape and color. Although the use of camel dung in jewelry may provoke it also links: in those (not so) far-away countries, many people are still using these animals, and their excrement, in daily life, while some others, a few miles away , are smoking the cigars of the oil business. I have chosen to use gold because gold is the referential measurement on which the whole world economy is founded. It remains a major symbol for jewelry, almost everywhere around the world. While camels are traditionally emblems of the noble class, in the nomad society, a clear mark of wealth and importance. It seems to be two different temporalities, which are still sharing the same space, coexisting in the same territories. »
Machteld Van Joolingen – The Line
Gallery Platina
Odengatan 68,
Stockholm, Sweden
http://www.platina.se/Pressrelease/Icarealot_press.html
See more www.icarealot.me
Laurie Hall - question mark ampersand & exclamation mark brooches – 2014
Marina Marioni: Brooch in sterling and fine silver, hand embroidered ribbon and cotton fabric. 3 ¼ x 1 ½”.
Trudee Hill – « Taken » 2013 – ring in sterling silver with rhodium and 18k yellow gold vermeil. Size 7. May also be worn as a pendant. Sold with oxidized sterling silver chain containing imperfect old mine cut diamond.Ring measures 4 1/8 x 4 ¾”, chain is 76” long. 
Davide Bigazzi Parole, Parole Cuff in sterling silver, 18k gold and white diamonds.
Kat Cole Short Stories: 418 Atlantic Brooch in steel and brass.
Karen T. Massaro Interruptions by Letter and Word Porcelain hollow reversible beads with onyx spacer beads. 24″ long. Beads measure 5/8 – 1 1/4″. Sterling silver clasp hand forged by Danish silver smith.
