Featuring 170 objects, including 10 video works, by more than 80 artists from over 20 countries
New York, NY (May 8, 2014)
On view at the Museum of Arts and Design from May 13 to September 14, 2014, Multiple Exposures: Jewelry and Photography is the first museum exhibition to examine how contemporary jewelry artists are using photography to explore issues central to contemporary experience, including changing views of beauty and the human body; social, political, and cultural issues; memory and desire; and the relationship of jewelry to society and personal identity.
Today’s revolution in image creation, manipulation, and transmission has served as a catalyst for the artists featured in Multiple Exposures to take a serious look at the pictures in our lives—the Daguerreotypes, tintypes, and Kodachromes we have inherited from earlier times, as well as the digital images currently streaming from our cameras, computers, and smart phones. Focusing on contemporary works and featuring 170 objects, Multiple Exposures not only provides historical context for this evolving 200-year-old relationship, but also delves into recent developments in contemporary photo-jewelry through cutting-edge videos and installations.
More than 80 renowned artists from over 20 countries are represented in the exhibition, including Gijs Bakker, Wafaa Bilal, Mari Ishikawa, Jiro Kamata, Sooyeon Kim, Otto Künzli, Iris Nieuwenburg, Kara Ross, Gabriela Sánchez y Sánchez de la Barquera, Bernhard Schobinger, Bettina Speckner, Joyce J. Scott, Kiff Slemmons, Andy Warhol, and Noa Zilberman.
"Multiple Exposures: Jewelry and Photography offers the first rigorous survey and exploration of the deep and multifaceted relationship between these two mediums," says Glenn Adamson, MAD’s Nanette L. Laitman Director. "The exhibition gives viewers the opportunity to engage with contemporary artists who push the boundaries of one field using the other, reinvigorating familiar forms while inventing new ones."
A press preview and walkthrough for the exhibition will be held on Tuesday, May 13, from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. Exhibition curator Ursula Ilse-Neuman and a number of the featured artists will be present.
“In spite of their distinct histories and traits, or perhaps because of them, the fusion of these two mediums has resulted in a potent synergy that has reshaped jewelry,” observes Ilse-Neuman. “Multiple Exposures: Jewelry and Photography captures the artistic strength embodied in this dynamic combination of object and image.”
The exhibition is loosely organized around the following thematic threads: Identity and Representation, in which artists push the boundaries of portrait jewelry using images of family and friends, the celebrated and notorious, as well as anonymous individuals whose histories have been lost in time; The Body, featuring the changing concepts of beauty and imperfection of the human form as well as its interior; Landscape, architecture and their symbolic content; Appropriation, in which artists hijack and transform iconic imagery from the fine arts and popular culture as a way to comment on contemporary concerns; Tributes to cameras and photographic paraphernalia, featuring the imaginative and unexpectedly wearable pieces of jewelry created from dismantled camera components; and finally Jewelry Beyond the Object—its social and cultural significance beyond function and conventions—expressed through cutting-edge videos and photographs.
Context for the contemporary pieces in the exhibition is provided by 19th-century photo-jewelry featuring daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, and tintypes, as well as trench jewelry from the First and Second World Wars, many exhibited for the first time.
Highlights from the exhibition include:
EXHIBITION ORGANIZATION AND CREDITS
Multiple Exposures: Jewelry and Photography is organized by MAD’s Curator of Jewelry, Ursula Ilse-Neuman, assisted by Sophia Merkin, curatorial assistant and project manager for the exhibition, and Barbara Paris Gifford, curatorial resident. The remarkable exhibition design is by Rupert Deese.
Support for Multiple Exposures: Jewelry and Photography has been provided by Hasselblad, Kara Ross NY, Betsy Z. and Edward E. Cohen, Washington Square Hotel, the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia, the Dutch Culture USA program by the Consulate General of the Netherlands in New York, Creative New Zealand, Janet Kardon, and Frame Finland, as well as through the generosity of the Inner Circle, one of the Museum's leadership support groups. Additional thanks to KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, the Official Airline of MAD.
CATALOGUE
A full color, illustrated, 254-page catalogue accompanies the exhibition and includes Curator of Jewelry Ursula Ilse-Neuman’s lead essay, “The Image Transformed: Contemporary Photo-Jewelry” on the dramatic transformations in both media that are reflected in the burst of creative energy captured in the exhibition. It is followed by seven essays by prominent experts on a range of topics: photography historian and critic Lyle Rexer discusses the significance of historic photo jewelry in “Science, Sentiment, and Status: Early Photo Jewelry;” author, curator and editor of Metalsmith magazine Suzanne Ramljak analyzes the role of photographic portraiture in contemporary art jewelry in “Saving Face: Photo Portrait Jewelry;” MAD’s William and Mildred Lasdon Chief Curator Lowery Sims addresses the manipulation and beautification of the human figure in “Wearing the Body;” author and critic Ellen Maurer-Zilioli focuses on landscapes and cityscapes—both real and imagined— in “Remembered Places—Imagined Spaces;” Curator of Decorative Arts at the Toledo Museum of Art Jutta Page considers the ways in which jewelry artists co-opt well-known artworks and pop culture icons in their work in “The Appropriated Image in Contemporary Jewelry;” photography expert Mark Durant examines the use of cameras and photographic paraphernalia as raw materials for art jewelry in “Lost Lenses and Orphaned Apertures: Apparatus Transformed;” and Dutch author and jewelry curator Liesbeth den Besten examines jewelry beyond the physical object and other cutting-edge concepts in “Jewelry through the Lens.”
The catalogue is edited by Nancy Preu, designed by Henk van Assen of HvA Design, and published by Officinia Libraria.
RELATED PROGRAMMING
EXPOSED: Contemporary Jewelers and the Photograph
Panel Discussion
Tuesday, May 13, 2014 – 6 p.m.
Free (Seating is on a first come basis)
Since the late 1830s, photographs have been integrated into jewelry as tokens of memory, devotion, or mourning. Contemporary photo-based jewelry extends these traditional functions and forms, while enlisting new technologies and techniques to engage a great variety of personal and social concerns. Organized by MAD Jewelry Curator Ursula Ilse-Neuman in collaboration with Suzanne Ramljak, editor of Metalsmith magazine, this panel discussion will address historical precedents for today’s photo jewelry and explore the wide range of cutting-edge approaches in both digital-image technology and innovative jewelry making. Through diverse combinations of these two creative practices, contemporary jewelers are expanding jewelry’s role as a carrier of cultural meaning as well as an agent of intervention on the human body.
Panelists include: Robert Ebendorf, Lauren Kalman, Lyle Rexer, and Bettina Speckner.
Curator-Led Tour of Multiple Exposures: Jewelry and Photography
Thursday, May 15, 2014 - 6:30 p.m.
Free with Pay-What-You-Wish Admission
MAD’s Jewelry curator Ursula Ilse-Neuman leads an hour-long tour of Multiple Exposures: Jewelry and Photography, focusing on some of its most revelatory works.
Designer–Led Tour of Multiple Exposures: Jewelry and Photography
Thursday, July 24, 2014 - 6:30 p.m.
Free with Pay-What-You-Wish Admission
Rupert Deese leads a tour of Multiple Exposures: Jewelry and Photography, focusing on some of its most revelatory works and the thinking behind the exhibition’s design and presentation.
Multiple Memories: Photography and Jewelry as Remembrance Tour
Thursday, August 14, 2014 - 6:30 p.m.
Free with Pay-What-You-Wish Admission
This hour-long tour with museum educator Carli Beseau focuses on the ways jewelry in the exhibition addresses photography, anonymity, and collective memory.
Editions of You: Workshops in Photo Jewelry
Led by Jewelry artist David Mandel, the hands-on workshop series Editions of You: Workshops in Photo Jewelry explores themes and techniques featured in the exhibition Multiple Exposures: Jewelry and Photography while teaching participants how to transform photographs into unique jewelry pieces.
No previous experience is required and all materials are provided. Cost per workshop is $65 ($55 for MAD Members).
Artist Studios: Leah Wolf
Saturdays, ongoing, starting June 7, 2014
Free with admission
Resident artist Leah Wolf will experiment with photo transfers and ceramics in the Artist Studios, sharing her practice with visitors.
AAMD Museum Day
Sunday, May 18, 2014, 10am
Free Admission to Special Programs
Artist & Youth Workshop: Instagram Influencers (For Teens)
Friday May 23, 2014, 4pm
Free for teens
Join MAD's Teen Trustees after school for snacks, a roundtable discussion and a photography workshop with one of the artists featured in Multiple Exposures: Jewelry and Photography. Teens will experiment with filters, angles, and hashtags, and explore the role of photography in daily life.
Studio Sunday: Wearable Photography
June 22, 2:00pm – 4:00pm
$10 per person (Admission is included)
In this intergenerational workshop for families, play with the personal nature of jewelry and ponder the significance of wearable artwork after viewing Multiple Exposures: Jewelry and Photography. Participants will work with artist Educator Cathy Rosamond to experiment with black and white photography, creating buttons of their favorite images from around the museum.
AUTO-SELFIE: The Hasselblad Photo Booth
Providing a unique, interactive experience for visitors, the Museum of Arts and Design has partnered with iconic Swedish camera manufacturer Hasselblad to design ‘Auto-Selfie: The Hasselblad Photo Booth’, a customized, self-sufficient photo booth housed in the Tiffany gallery. Visitors have the opportunity to experiment with proportion, dimension, and shape (in the vein of featured artist Otto Künzli who, in his Automatenfotos series, used images of himself taken in a photo booth as research material for his work) by stepping in front of the Hasselblad Lunar camera, posing with their own jewelry or props, and smiling—which will activate the device’s Smile Shutter and snap a photo. The image will be available to share instantly via social media, text, or email using the tablet at the end of the installation.
ABOUT THE MUSEUM OF ARTS AND DESIGN
The Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) champions contemporary makers across creative fields, presenting artists, designers, and artisans who apply the highest level of ingenuity and skill to their work. Since the Museum’s founding in 1956 by philanthropist and visionary Aileen Osborn Webb, MAD has celebrated all facets of making and the creative processes by which materials are transformed, from traditional techniques to cutting-edge technologies. Today, the Museum’s curatorial program builds upon a rich history of exhibitions that emphasize a cross-disciplinary approach to art and design, and reveals the workmanship behind the objects and environments that shape our everyday lives. MAD provides an international platform for practitioners who are influencing the direction of cultural production and driving 21st-century innovation, fostering a participatory setting for visitors to have direct encounters with skilled making and compelling works of art and design.
(March 28, 2014-updated May 8, 2014)
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