shows and tales. . . on jewelry exhibition-making

Essay contribution: objects to wear

Art Jewelry Forum, 2015

Editor: Ben Lignel

Link: Read Objects to Wear PDF

While the question of exhibition making occupies an ever more important place in art theory, there has never been, thus far, a publication on the subject with jewelry as its focal point. This publication aims to remedy this absence, and provide an overview of jewelry exhibition history, an understanding of the challenges inherent to showing jewelry in public spaces (whether commercial, institutional or ephemeral), and some insight into what curation can do to jewelry objects. It aims to help professional and amateur curators articulate the relative importance of selection, mediation and experience design, and question their assumptions about display conventions.

This first book-length investigation into jewelry exhibition-making covers the question of ‘exhibiting jewelry’ in three different ways: It features a series of commissioned articles on landmark exhibitions, to plot the evolution of the field, using the exhibition space as a historical marker. It includes commissioned essays by and discussions with curators on the challenges of curating craft. It incorporates a series of exhibition reviews that track some recent experimentation with display strategies. The publication, available for the first time in digitized format – ends with detailed checklist of more than 30 exhibitions (collaborators, publication, number of visitors, budget…)