PREZIOSA 2006

No Body Decoration. Research Jewellery as a re-definition of the Human Body

Maria Cristina Bergesio, curator

Compared with the other arts, jewellery has one peculiarity: its final destination is the human body.
The exhibition highlights the evolution of the body-jewellery relationship in the field of artistic research and innovation, in contrast to the usual perception of jewellery as decoration or fashion accessory.
The human body acquires a fundamental role as a source of inspiration and a necessary completion of  the creative process.
It is not simply decorated, but is made to participate in an aesthetic transformation, itself becoming an exhibition space for works born out of experimentation.

Wearing a piece of artistic jewellery requires the awareness that one is using one’s own body as a tool for non-verbal communication.

The ornament becomes a dual sign, both of the creative universe of the person who made it and, simultaneously, of the personality of the person who has decided to wear it.

Research jewellery is the expression of a Weltanschauung, an outlook on life, just as paintings, sculpture and architecture can be.

“The painter uses the canvas as a means of expressing his ideas; jewellery is exactly the same for me” (Gijs Bakker, Zeichen am Körper, 1987).