Book plane, train or hotel for Florence. And not just for the historic artistic wonders of the city. In fact, the Florence Jewelery Week 2022 is coming (from April 28 to May 2), curated by Giò Carbone and Alice Rendon. The event took place in various locations, including exhibitions, meetings and workshops dedicated, of course, to the world of jewelry. At the center is Preziosa, an exhibition set up at the Galleria delle Carrozze of Palazzo Medici Riccardi, which brings together the work of nine artist-jewelers: Lauren Kalman, Anya Kivarkis, Rein Vollenga, Sam Tho Duong, Jayne Wallace, Kazumi Nagano, Conversation Piece ( Beatrice Brovia & Nicolas Cheng), Ana Rajcevic and Barbara Paganin.
The objective, according to the organizers, is “to understand through the work of these authors how the horizons of contemporary jewelery are being redefined, a field that today finds itself confronted with the progressive disintegration of obsolete categorizations, opening up to the fusion of expressive languages and intersection of artistic practices “. For this reason, not only jewels are on display, but also wearable sculptures.
Another driver is the dematerialization of the object in the digital age, which hopefully will not spread until the materiality of the jewel disappears. An aspect related to sustainability and, in particular, upcycling, could not be missing, that is, creative recycling. Moreover, a practice that has always been in force as soon as you wear an inherited family jewel. Also noteworthy are the wearable art installations by the Dutch Rein Vollenga, the creations of the Serbian Ana Rajcevic of the Americans Lauren Kalman and Anya Kivarkis. Here we are in the area of research, with strange oscillations between conceptual art and goldsmith craftsmanship perfectly compatible with the usual use of jewelry.
The English Jayne Wallace, on the other hand, proposes a hi-tech injection into the jewel object, the Italian-Hong Kong couple formed by Beatrice Brovia & Nicolas Cheng recovers the minerals of which electronic devices are made from landfills while the Italian Barbara Paganin recovers objects of memory from flea markets to transform them into new hybrids that cross time. If you want to be amazed, know that there is also the Vietnamese Sam Tho Duong who cuts, folds and assembles them together according to a logic of interlocking jars of out of stock yogurt and Kazumi Nagano who applies traditional textile and painting techniques of the Japanese style to jewelry.
Florence Jewelery Week
28 April – 2 May 2022
Precious exhibition
Carriage Gallery of Palazzo Medici Riccardi
Florence, Via Cavour 5
Free admission
