vitrine till 31-01-09

Willy Van De Velde





ph soundsystem / rode ridder

Permanent editions: Janine Arnold, Andrea Auer, Christophe Coppens, Daan De Decker, Silke Fleischer, Jennifer Flume, Linde Hermans, Jorge Manilla, Frederik Roijé for Droog design, Helena Schepens, Karola Torkos, Silvia Walz, Daniël Weinberger




Past 04-06-08

Daan De decker

(W)under construction(S)



The very typical architecture of Flanders has often inspired Daan. As a motorbike fanatic he criss-crosses the region and on his way sketches water towers, lighthouses and other forms of architectural industrial heritage. Receptacles that form a habitat to live in or a vehicle that transport goods intrigue him. As a result he can make a pin that resembles a submarine and simultaneously criticizes the Belgian makeshift outhouses. It’s almost history, but you were able to build a concrete bunker around your house - as long as you found it appealing yourself. No governmental interference. Weather-beaten hoardings, crooked annexes, home-made verandas, and other dodgy, ramshackle house extensions: they crop up in Daan’s brooches, rings, pendants for women as well as men. The result is alternatively comical, critical and nostalgic. And beautiful, indeed Daan creates emphatically jewels, not objects or wearable opinions.








Past 08-04-08

Graf Danielo von (Vino del Monte) Weinberger

Collection bijoux d'art: ZITA VON ZITZEWITZE



After fifty-seven years in this life, I write the will and testament of my youth. Children, thirty years old. Vivre c’est vivre si on savait mourir, et on appelle ca mourir si la vie se retire. Devenir l’ombre de ton ombre, et aimer c’est mourir un peu. Mon cher Jacques. Yesterday never existed, every second g’d creates everything over and over again. The difference between an era that experienced me and the era that I experience. And to be drunk with life, as a writer has to be, in short, simply drunk, otherwise he cannot write. With the vodka in my body. Because it is so difficult to be honest with the virgin white paper. To say what has to be said. Even when you step on toes, and you write with warm fresh blood. To let your fear go free for the things you never dared to say. About the b…stards who think that they are artists, but they have not the slightest idea what the endless long white hallway has to say. They do not dare to intrude in the unknown nothingness, with the almost certainty of no return. Landed in a land of colors, a life that only you can live in pure loneliness, because nobody will understand your quest for pure happiness. Only I know when the truth supersedes the lie because deep in my veins I am a Jew and also an artist. I let the clowns masturbate, death comes so quickly… I am happy with my destiny knowing that I am a professional amateur and I want to carry it high as a compliment. Slowly the candle of the fourth Reich burns out. They murder the pale old pals and the transparent unborn ones, in the name of democracy and welfare state. good, go on. Who needs you? Art is dead, long live life. The song of my youngest son, singing on the bicycle, the bicyclist is not lonely. Bye bicycle, bicyclist on the bicycle, bye bicycle with a hat on, bye bicycle. he sang the brabanconne till the last day. That is how they squeezed it in his head. We do not mention names. Gossip destroys three people, the gossiper, the one who listens and the one being talked about. Anonymous. Unleashed in the sixties and seventies, the fear of police, the smell of adventures, of the things you could do and the things you could not do. The silly and sad research into ourselves, until the deepest pits in our souls, dancing until dawn, crawling slowly towards one or another frietbarack. Brigitte mad after dying every night from pleasure and ten abortions. Nicole, my first drug overdose dead friend somewhere in the cold grey city of antwerp in an empty dump, seventeen years young, dark long hair. The swinging sixties, childish amusement. The seventies wow that was too much, the crisis, we danced on top of the ruins of the society. The eighties, stop! Slowly the light dawns. The idiots jump on the ship, the ship of fools. If this is art, we too can do it. After twenty years the story is over. Everybody knows that they have nothing to say, their jokes are nothing more than jokes. Here comes the new century. miss m plays with kabala, poor girl. At Colette in the rue saint honore you can buy a red ribbon to bind around your wrist, for ninety euros. Flowers bloom, it is February, it is humid, and cold. There is nothing new under the sun. Here is a new generation that never has been before. We the dinosaurs of the last century, are going to sleep in the ice. paddling a little bit with the computer and mp3. A new code of conduct is waiting to make its entrance. Time is now! a second ago did not exist. The music goes on, the waltz whirls and dances a mille temps. Pauvre jacques, pour un peu de tendresse. You called man tender. You where not afraid and that made you unique, a real artist. And then there is the existence of g’d. You can not talk about that, that is not done. But in fact it is everything and it is the only real thing, the rest is nothing. To lose yourself and then become the cosmos itself, even though it seems illogical. Like the forefathers to become a chariot without a will of your own. The highest ideal. No more pain caused by desire that never will be fulfilled . Only the light feeling of being one with “ the all”, by making a tool for g’d out of the material. a dwelling for him. Harmony on earth.
Daniel Weinberger

"Graf Danielo von (vino del monte) Weinberger' s joyful playful and most colorful, dazzling and exuberant necklaces are a combination of super-serious art and frivolous female fun fashion. He doesn' t mind a little bit of confusion, walking on the thin rope between beauty and ugliness. almost nothing is safe from his creativity: plastic manga dolls, pure gold, dried potato peels, silver, goat fur, chicken feathers, silk, mink, lemons, bread, bananas, diamonds, lemons, scoubidous, seashells, horsetail hair, porcelain pipes, paper, parchment, rubber, ostrich feathers, baroque sweet water pearls, exotic glass beads, Peruvian ceramic beads, plastic flowers from the sixties, Lego' s, antique doll heads, pieces of rust iron found in the Antwerp harbor, newspaper pictures, cow bones, of tree branches from London' s hide park, seeds from Thailand , felt, old jewels, turkey sausages, hundred of plastic flies, pieces of red meat, a dead chicken, soft tulle, cotton rope, copper bells from India , deer antlers, tiger nails, snake skin, or thrown away toys from his children. Nothing is safe from him, when he wants to express his deepest feelings. He uses kitsch, makes it into camp. Lowbrow, highbrow, intellect and emotions, mixed by his always moving hands until the magic shines through in his unique creations. He makes something from something. recycling in an over productive disposable society. The fine pieces of art are created and are exposed to the world, until they find their place on the buyer' s body where they can freely move and live. A personal jewel for the one chosen man or that special woman who falls deeply in love with it and madly desires it..."
Ben moshe








Past 13-03-08

Teresa F Faris

a collaboration with a bird



silver 925, carved wood

I see artwork as a tool that elevates everyday thought to an exploratory level. The objects that I make are intended to help the viewer to either recall a memory/feeling or begin a new dialogue.
My fascination with individualism/connectedness, impermanence and the human struggle of trying to measure and preserve time initiated vast research of antique time measurement devices, Victorian mourning jewelry, and obscure utilitarian and ritual objects. I call upon these images as well as personal memory in my work.
Working through the ideas of fragility, memory, and connectedness lead me to think about the link that we have to all living things and the complexities and absurdity of the ideas of superiority.
In reaction to this research I have begun and ongoing series titled: A Collaboration with a Bird. These pieces are constructed of metal and wood objects that have been carved by a bird.
Teresa F Faris









Past 13-03-08

Elie Hirsch

Lea, Dora, Olga, Adama



Dora, goldplated brass

... his jewellery collection fits into his grandfathers watchmakers case: bracelets and rings, reproducing the same arched or twisted circles. These tiny examples of the things he also likes to make on an almost monumental scale. Elie Hirsch draws out sculptures designed in a single line, round or incomplete. There are generous spiral plumes, twisted circles, shapes that flourish in corollas and others that wind round themselves like the symbol for infinity, and wide ribbons of metal that seem to have rolled up. The hammer has beaten them into shapen but you would think they have been gently folded by hand, with the memory of the skin and its sensuality still lingering.









Past 07-02-08

Karola Torkos

Changeables



Foldable bracelet / neckpiece: Garland
Stainless steel/14ct gold; stainless steel; yellow or black gold-plated silver ø 6 to 6,6 cm

Creating variable / changeable pieces is still the major focus of my jewellery work. To change the appearance of jewellery offers a facet of interaction or play between wearer and reaches beyond simple display on the body. The wearer decides on the look of the piece and explores the sometimes endless variations of one necklace. Giving the wearer the possibility to change the look of a jewellery piece is in some way handling over the last step in the design proces. This is a challenge for both the designer and the wearer and it leads to a very personal relationship to design or art.
Karola Torkos








Past 04 / 05-12-07

silvester

silver pouring



Lead pouring is an old practice (Austrian costum) using molten lead. A small amount of lead is melted in a tablespoon (by holding a flame under the spoon) and then poured into a bowl. The resulting patterns interpreted to predict the coming year.








Past 08-11-07

Jorge Manilla

Ese hombre



The most recent work of Jorge Manilla shows more than ever the colourful and religious traces of his homecountry Mexico. His creations are a thought-out and consistent continuation of his previous work, where religion, myths and spirituality constantly determine the character of his jewel-objects.
A couple of 17th century Christ’ statues were the starting point for a further investigation of symbolism and material. As a symbiosis of a Catholic and an Indian faith, the Mexican figure of Christ can be distinguished by the extreme representation of his suffering. Cuts, bruises, gaping wounds and a lot of blood characterize these figures. This kind of representation incorporates an authentic Indian way of thinking where its religious rites, like human sacrifices, come into prominence. From this point of view the figure of Christ was seen as an equal, who portrayed the sacrificed.
Next to the specific focus on these characteristic wounds, the artist also goes deeply into the materials used to make the original Christ’ statues. Anmate-paper (from tree-bark) and different woudpastes represent the authentic Indian culture. These materials were also used to make the statues portable.
You can say that the Mexicans adopted Christ. They adore him, carry him with them and see themselves as him. They transform in some kind of ‘city Christs’ who carry a lot of grief around. The suffering and surviving in a city full of contrasts, where battles are fought every day just to survive, well in those battles faith is essential and the figures of Christ give something to hold on to.
The colourful and freakish looking amulets of Jorge Manilla form confronting juwel-objects that attract and reject but above all fascinate. As fragments of an extreme realistic figure of Christ, they can be worn as a protection, but also as an intriguing and enigmatic object.
Evelien Bracke








Past 04-10-07

Helena Schepens

Sound Imagination / Klankverbeelding




"... the work is built up from geometric shapes, creating plain, architectural designs. I am interested in the process of developing new forms trough repetition of one identical unit, which enables me to obtain very lively and varying compositions. The exhibition shows the work I made inspired on the theme of music: taking a piece of music or a musical aspect as my starting point, I challenge myself to develop visual equivalents from the abstract character of the music and express these in my work."
Helena Schepens









Past 06-09-07

Romy Smits

wooky looks
Vitrine 07 // Flanders Fashion Institute


Ph Zeff

“Wooky is an organic shape which symbolizes Romys inner child. Guided by intuition, this shape has been repeated and transformed to graphic and sculptural designs. Romy is fascinated by the endless variations wich can be made out of one shape…”







Past 16-11-2006

Jorge Manilla

consciente in consciente



“He understood that modelling the incoherent and vertiginous matter of which dreams are composed was the most difficult task that a man could undertake, even though he should penetrate all the enigmas of a superior and inferior order (…)”
Jorge Luis Borges, The Circular Ruins.

“The creations express a different and deeper reality in another language. Primarily derived from the Mexican culture, the specific symbolism creates a language of images that hand a different form of perception to the Western spectator.”

“...Uit droomstof gesmeed, verschijnen juwelen als plastische constellaties van symbolen en metaforen; een persoonlijke microkosmos die veraf staat van de ‘kenbare’ werkelijkheid. Dromen verdichten zich tot beelden die een mythische of spirituele dimensie reveleren aan hen die de symboliek kunnen ontcijferen. De creaties spreken over een ‘andere’ en ‘diepere’ werkelijkheid, in een andere taal. Hoofdzakelijk afkomstig uit de Mexicaanse cultuur, creëert het specifieke symbolenveld een beeldtaal, die de Westerse toeschouwer een andere vorm van waarneming aanreikt…”
“…Het syncretisme van de Indiaanse en de Katholieke godsdienst kent een vertaling in symbolisch geladen draagobjecten, zwanger aan betekenissen. Kleine gestileerde vogelsilhouetten in breekbaar wit porselein en stralenkransen van schitterend zilver, lijken nu eens kolibries (een belangrijke godin in de Azteekse cultuur), dan weer Maria-voorstellingen.”
Evelien Bracke







Past 05-10-2006

inZILVER


Ph Siegfried De Buck
De Nomade en zijn vehikel

Max Gielis
Carolien Cuyvers
Koen Wygaerden
Siegfried De Buck

inZILVER pays a tribute to contemporary silver smithing design from Antwerp. The exhibition emphasizes the continuance of Antwerp as a prominent centre of silver smithing design. Currently, there are two leading schools for Higher Art Education in Antwerp that offer a course in jewellery design and silver smithing: Sint Lucas Antwerp (Karel de Grote-Hogeschool Antwerp) and The Royal Academy of Fine Arts (Hogeschool Antwerp). Students at both institutes are asked to challenge limits and possibilities within the fields of jewellery design and silver smithing. The results of a critical, well-considered and revealing application of traditional silver smithing techniques, can be traced in the creations of a generation of young, promising and Antwerp-trained silver smiths.Carolien Cuyvers and Max Gielis are two young talents with an innovative and characteristic view on silver smithing. Both educated in Antwerp, they are now establishing their own workshop and vision. In a fascinating dialogue with the creations of these two rising talents, appears the work of two famous silver smiths/professors: Siegfried De Buck and Koen Wygaerden. ‘Tradition’ and ‘innovation’ occur as the central ideas in all these creations. inZILVER tries to offer a stimulus for the combination of contemporary design and knowledge of traditional techniques within the field of silver smithing. Moreover, it focuses on diverse and different types of ‘silverware’. The exhibition aims at developing a new understanding of contemporary silver smithing design; showing that it can offer far more variations in form and function than traditional ‘table silver’ alone…
Evelien Bracke







Past 07-09-2006

CHRISTOPHE COPPENS






"DREAM YOUR DREAM"
Vitrine 06 // Flanders Fashion Institute







Past 15-06-2006

Pelican Avenue





POWER PLACES is about individuals in search of meaning. People have to function within their sociaiety. There is no space for doubts. Reality is based on facts. An exit from the determined path seems impossible.
To escape from conformity and dispassion people search for a spiritual content, far from functionality and reason. Mysticism is resort that works as a substitute for passion, as a channel for individual emotions. Spiritual symbols function as a tangible devotion. They have a content for the one who decided to be involved to them. It is an individual decision.
It is easy to see the visual language that achieves a spiritual effect and that appeals to emotional needs for mysticism. Imitating those explicit compostition the Power Places allegories are invented without any references to existing contents and are therefor fully refillable by any human longings for something to be devoted to. Their emptiness is emphasized by their industrial appearance mass production makes an economic profit possible.
Caroline Lerch









Past 27-04-2006

Silke Fleischer

Somewhere in between
Instalation


ARTE FACT / 10
Jewellery departement
Sint Lucas, KDG hogeschool Antwerp

The combination of jewellery, silversmithing and ceramics is characteristic of my work. The border is no longer clear or obvious. Objects such as the ring and the cup are insurmountably connected with the body. We can only see whether something is wearable or portable by juxtaposing it with the living, moving, tactile body.







Past 14-01-06

Heidewinne

‘imagination is the voice of daring’



Not only will you be touched by these pieces, in this collection you can get yourself a companion. A winter-collection only using very soft materials combined with details in silver and horn.
As Henry Miller said: 'imagination is the voice of daring',
...wouldn't it be nice to suddenly feel a soft flamingo sleeping around your neck?







Past 29-10-2005

OPENING