Schmucksymposium 2022: Follow Your Bliss

Abstract

Curator and organizer of the Schmucksymposium 2022, Ingelheim am Rhein (D) At the end of May 2022, around 100 jewellery enthusiasts gathered for the annual international Schmucksymposium in Ingelheim am Rhein (D). This symposium, now in its 51st edition, presents the most current and diverse directions in contemporary jewellery. Speakers and audience are artists, designers, students, academics, journalists, gallery owners and people from the museum world. The symposium is independent and organised by volunteers. Each edition is put together by a different curator, in order to have a different focus each time. Responsible for this year's theme and programme were jewellery designer Claudia Hoppe and MAD-Research researcher and UHasselt professor David Huycke. Despite the difficult situation in which the world finds itself, the original theme of the symposium 'Follow your Bliss' was retained after two Corona cancellations. Half of the audience consists of students, which makes it important to show a variety of possibilities for young people to find courage and direction to follow their passion and creative bliss. Especially within the MANUFrACTURE research group of MAD-Research (PXL-MAD-Uhasselt), jewellery, in its broadest sense, is an important field of research. In recent years, five doctorates within jewellery have been defended and, at present, four more are in progress. Three of the lectures at this symposium were given by researchers of MANUFrACTURE. Anneleen Swillen presented during her lecture 'Embodying Artificial Intelligems, Ornamutations, and Ornamisms. A Glossary of emerging Jewellery Phenomena in the Phygital Age' a collection of themes that play an important role in her postdoctoral research in the arts. To reflect on these concepts, she related her own artistic projects to a selection of works by contemporary artists, literature studies and screenshots of the results from online search engines. Nedda El-Asmar introduced her research project 'Gold' and invited the audience to participate in this project. She showed her portfolio and gave insight into her career as a product designer. Finally, El-Asmar presented the Graduation Programme in Jewellery Design, Gold- and Silversmithing at PXL-MAD School of Arts. In her lecture 'Touch', Lore Langendries showed her portfolio of jewellery and objects developed after her doctoral research 'Hunacturing'. Subsequently she presented her new project and exhibition in Z33, Hasselt, 'Please Do Touch', where she shows tactile artefacts developed from the characteristics of a stiff animal skin and where the viewer's gaze is framed by hidden details. In addition, there were lectures by Robert Baines (AU), Aldo Bakker (NL), Kim Buck (DK), Mirjam Hiller (D), Marc Monzo (E), Eva Olde Monnikhof (NL), Christel Trimborn (D), Nicole Walger (D) and Julia Wild (D), all together presenting a diversity of positions within contemporary jewellery art.