CLUSTER JEWELLERY SHOP

JOURNAL

THE EXHIBITORS

A/dornment launches the Cluster Jewellery digital residency with a unique insight into contemporary art jewellery

For the next four weeks, the Cluster Jewellery Instagram handle will be curated by the Portugal-based platform A/dornment. Founded by curator Ilaria Ruggiero, the A/dorment platform collaborates with publications, platforms and physical galleries to propose a new way of seeing contemporary ornaments.

The aim of the digital residency is to create engagement and awareness from a wider audience for the medium of art jewellery and to pique the curiosity of the general public with beautiful and strange creations from a wide and international range of designers with incredible skill and extraordinary imaginations. The residency is sure to bring to our attention a series of bespoke pieces, many ofwhich are directly provoked by the experiences of designers in the coronavirus pandemic of 2020.

A/dornment’s most recent digital exhibitors showcase its ability to find work that responds to highly relevant and poignant themes. For a teaser of what the Cluster takeover might look like, here’s a look at the three latest exhibitions curated by the platform.

MASKS is inspired by the proliferation of face coverings triggered by the health crisis of 2020. The showcase, held on the A/dornment website, spotlights various projects that were born in the months of quarantine. The idea is put forward that the mask itself both observes us and disorientates us. Varied forms, materials and conceptual creations become messengers for questions interact with fellow humans. What story does the mask itself attempt to tell and what new importance does it create for the parts of the face and expression that are left visible?

ANTIVIRUS, organised by Portuguese contemporary jewellery workshop and store Tincal Lab, addressed issues of solidarity and showcased 200 pieces of design that were all inspired by the experiences of the designers during the pandemic. Of cope and what we need to feel safe are as relevant as ever. The designers included course, these experiences are by no means over and the exploration into how we protective armour, metaphorical vaccines and medications. Some created pieces in the ANTIVIRUS collection created symbolic weapons against the virus; amulets, escape.that might provide comfort instead of a cure, some created pieces that might offer

A third exhibition in response to COVID-19 was named QUARANTENA, and was presented by the Sebastian Schildt Gallery in Stockholm, Sweden. The exhibition featured work from 29 local and international artists who were all inspired by their personal experiences of quarantine. Some of the common symbols of quarantine around the world come up in the work – the mask features, and an ironic toilet paper sculpture cast in silver. Other pieces address the strange passage of time or the feeling of fragile mortality. Highlights from the takeover will be shared across Cluster’s digital channels.