Adornment – Curating Contemporary Art Jewelry is pleased to present Nuda Vita, an experience of artistic production that stages the work of some of the most interesting contemporary jewellery artists.
The initiative, curated by Ilaria Ruggiero, will be held on the occasion of Munich Jewellery Week from March 13th to 17th at ABC Westside Galerie and explores the value and the role of the public, collective and political body, starting from the expression Nuda Vita, coined by Benjamin and then developed by the philosopher Giorgio Agamben, interpreted here as an impossible condition, unspeakable concept, and artistic action.
Nudity does not happen as a physical condition, but as a symbolic event of resistance and sensitization.
The exhibition presents the new collections of 13 artists of different nationalities who were invited to work on the idea of the political, public and collective body: Vivien Bedwell, Daria Borovkova, Corrina Goutos, Satomi Kawai, Anna Lewis, Nina Lima, Daniel Ramos Obregón, Daniella Saraya, Hansel Tai, Martina Turini, Tanel Veenre, Maria Ignacia Walker, Snem Yildirim.
With an iconic concept as their starting-point, relating to their own cultures of origin, and linked to a form of oppression of collective and individual freedom, they have developed a body of work inspired by the chosen theme. This gave rise to provocative visions, games, reflections and distortions.
Each artist has focused on developing their own artistic research in a definite direction, conceptually developing the intimate experience, in order to return to it through personal and peculiar language: the role of women in society, the question of gender, sexual orientation, spiritual identity, consumerism and disposable culture, the dynamics of appropriation and cultural clash, slavery, the idea of beauty, regimes and dictatorships, mysticism and eroticism, disability and public spaces, are just some of the topics covered by these works.
The collections have been photographed by different photographers under the creative direction of Arianna Novaga (Adjunct Professor of photography and communication at the IUSVE of Verona and Venice and professor of History and Techniques of Photography at the University of Trieste): Asia Flamini, Simone Franzolini, Marco Pauletto, Joan Porcel Pascual and Angelo Tassitano.
Each of the photographers involved elaborated, through their own visual language, the connotative symbolism of the various artistic projects, emphasizing and thus narrating the intimate and individual experiences of the artists, multiplying at the same time the number of voices and representations.
Even the catalogue, resembling a dossier, is designed to be an open organism, continuously modifiable and available to include new projects. It responds to the necessity of not wanting to give answers, but of enhancing questions and investigations.
Nuda Vita represents the time when life is both experienced and reconciled.
Concretely it aims to be an artistic movement, an open and continuous platform of reflection and stimulation to give substance to those studies, which see the body and existence as an area of exploration.
It is an act of provocation and resistance, subversion and sensitisation, which focuses upon the body, through the medium of the jewel, as a statement of politics, identity and humanity.
Vivien Bedwell, Australia From the series Body Cues Photographer Joan Porcel Pascual Model Gaudi Tione Fanelli Headpiece/Mask, Way Finding, Aluminium, brass, polyurethane, rubber, silicon 2019
Vivian Bedwell questions how society deals with illness and disabilities. The work extends from the body as an accentuation, a projection of communication, possibly causing a sensory limitation of communication for the wearer. She is investigating the way spaces provide the correct way of finding cues to ensure equality for people with a sensory impairment. Even after the cues are installed, these resources are not placed correctly for all bodies to safely navigate their journey.
Daria Borovkova, Russia From the series Woman.hood - За мужество Photographer Simone Franzolini Body piece, Linen, silk, glass beads, silk and cotton threads 2019
Daria Borovkova presents a series of works inspired by a particular breastplate that was once worn by women during their marriage ceremony and afterwards, similar in shape to a tie, although larger, a long rectangle. The jewel thus expresses a dual reference: to the value of tradition, and to the changing role of women in society.
Corrina Goutos, United States From the series Polymorphic Apploidæons Photographer Marco Pauletto Model Giulia Vecchiato Brooch, Shell, headphones, silver, steel Location Hotel Nani Mocenigo Palace, Venice 2019
Corrina Goutos questions how the culture of disposables and the big consumer market production is affecting the natural world, especially focusing on organic mutation and contamination as a next level of nature evolution/involution.
Satomi Kawai, Japan From the series Smile in Black Photographer Marco Pauletto Model Giulia Vecchiato Necklace, Smiling in black is a symbol of obedience 1; Sterling silver, cast-plastic teeth, acrylic painted paper clay and silk thread Location Hotel Nani Mocenigo Palace, Venice 2018
Satomi Kawai examines several layers of womanhood to discover her roots as a Japanese woman and presents a series of wearable objects called ‘Smile in Black’, which investigates the results of a cultural and iconographic clash between East and West, starting from the Japanese tradition of Ohaguro, the blackening Teeth custom.
Anna Lewis, United Kingdom From the series Stay Photographer Simone Franzolini Models Susanna Fabris and Chiara Paganin Body piece, foam, dyed goose feathers Location Hotel Nani Mocenigo Palace, Venice 2018
Anna Lewis investigates the aesthetic, symbolic and costume imagery of the Victorian era, starting from an antique corset made of whalebone, linen and silk, dated 1780. The corset is an object of conflict and contrast; it represents both control and support. She plays with the dual appearance of the corset like a bird’s wing, free, when shown unworn and opened. When used, on the contrary, it becomes an element of constriction and turns the female into a cultural object through control and distortion.
Nina Lima, Brasil From the series Persona Photographer Angelo Tassitano Model Susanna Fabris Two Brooches, Silver, pearls, annealed steel thread, copper, laser printing, encaustic (beeswax); Silver, copper, annealed steel thread, thread, diamonds Location Hotel Nani Mocenigo Palace, Venice 2018
In this series, Nina Lima researches into Creole jewellery recognizing in them a manifesto against oppression and the imposition of inferiority. Creole jewellery is a set of small pieces with strong symbolism of faith, beliefs and hidden messages for people dominated by slavery and racism. Persona series is an invitation to reflect about the world, human beings and our lost of values and original culture.
Daniel Ramos Obregón, Colombia From the series Material Identities: Hair Visuals by Asia Flamini Brooch, Curve, Wood, natural hair, 950 silver, stainless steel 2019
The work develops from a reflective process around racial and social identity in a mixed-race country such as Colombia.
The artist investigates the theme of identity through the exploration of some traditions that originate among African peoples, such as the art of hair-braiding. He identifies in the hair, and in the endless ways of combing, combining and arranging it, an act of affirmation of one's own spiritual and social individuality.
Daniella Saraya, Israel From the series Facing Direction Photographer Joan Porcel Pascual Model Francesca Boglietti Ring, Brass, readymade cutlery, silver, Parts of an umbrella 2019
In this series Daniella Saraya has been inspired an ancient tool used in various religions of the world over the years called prayer indicator. The importance of precision in the direction of prayer is shared both in Islam and in Judaism, as well as the use of a tool that ensures its correctness. Daniella Saraya investigates the way, with time, as a result of changes in period, place, language and culture, there has also been a change in the meaning of 'searching for direction' and new questions arise in the context of conscience, exile, yearning, and substance.
Hansel Tai, China From the series Nude Jade Pierced Photographer Simone Franzolini Model Chiara Paganin Pendant, Jade, surgical stainless steel, rubber, silver 2018
In this body of work Hansel Tai researches the LGBTQ+ culture among young Pan-Asians and he does it by questioning traditional symbols. He translates and subverts the Chinese traditional symbolism of Jade, through a transgressive and alienating action, puncturing the stone with piercing, in an almost impossible act. The fetish for jade is branded into the essence of ethnic identity, even reflected through a little-known history of sub-culture. He is conjuring the same spirit and desire for jade, mixed with fresh energy and aesthetic: for lovers with rebel hearts.
Martina Turini, Italy From the series What an elegant subversion Visuals by Asia Flamini Brooch, Silver Frame 2019
In ‘What an elegant subversion’ Martina Turini reflects on the meaning that layers of clothing in a specific cultural context represent. She is in particular thinking when her grand mother used to draw a fine line with a pencil on the back of her legs to mimic the presence of silk stockings when she was at university, in order to look “proper”.
She came to think of the image of the sexualized leg in the Italian culture at the time, and of what a woman is expected to be and look like in every aspect of our culture.
Tanel Veenre, Estonia From the series Garden of Bones Photographer Angelo Tassitano Model Juju Tassitano Magnolia brooch, Bone, reconstructed mother of pearl, chalcedony, silver Location Chiesetta della Misericordia, Venice 2019
Tanel Veenre speaks through great archetypes, staging the individual and collective unconscious through a language most explicit when delicate. In this latest collection, Tanel investigates the role of the male figure in contemporary society, starting from an almost autobiographical reflection on his childhood. Innocence and guilt, pleasure and pain, masculine and feminine, decanted in that period of life in which the outlines between the feelings become indefinite, joy and sadness are mixed, the body is transformed, an energetic and chaotic potential from which the identity can emerge.
Maria Ignacia Walker, Chile From the series Trawa (skin | shell) Photographer Angelo Tassitano Models Elisa and Elena Bertocco Brooches, fishing line, resin, silver powder, shibuichi 2019
Trawa is a collection by Maria Ignacia Walker woven from resin cells and silver dust, which attentively observes an instant of change and exchange. With her work, the artist continues to explore and consider the organic limits of the body through new materials. These are pieces that remind antique Mapuche ornaments, seeming to melt into the skin in fine layers of thread. They rise, too, as fragments of the body, blooming subtly to the surface.
Memory inhabits the skin and becomes a silver mantle.
Snem Yildirim, Turkey From the series Daily Obedience Routine Visuals by Asia Flamini Armband, Certified, Cotton, Embroidery Thread, Hook and Loop Fastener, transparent pvc film 2019
"Daily Obedience Routines" series is about the terms such as obedience, authority, hierarchy and questioning how the education system transforms us into individuals, who are obedient to authority. Snem Yildirim especially questions how, through school, the authority regulates every area of a child's life from the movements of their body to their physical appearance and it raises children who are forced to live within certain templates. She created the "Daily Obedience Routines" series by re-enacting all the actions she repeated during school years and by reinterpreting the objects in her memory.
NUDA VITA The practice of collective and political body
Munich Jewellery Week March 13th – 17th 2019 Everyday from 11 am to 7 pm Sunday from 11 am to 4 pm
Opening reception March 14th from 4 pm to 7 pm
ABC Westside Galerie Schwanthalerstraße 176 80339 Munich