What will kosmos say?
2013-2015
volcanic pumice stones, stainless steel
group of ≈ 100 brooches, exhibited complete or partly in several occasions
public collections:
• Schmuckmuseum Pforzheim, DE, 2015
• Cominelli Foundation Permanent Collection, IT, 2015
• Ilias Lalaounis Jewelry Museum, GR, 2016
selected publications & press:
• SCHMUCKISMUS, Die Neue Sammlung,
Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, DE, 2019
• SCHMUCK 2017, official IHM catalogue, DE, 2017
• ART AUREA preview SCHMUCK 2017, issue #1-2017
• ITAMI International Craft Exhibition, catalogue
The Museum of Arts & Crafts ITAMI, JP, 2017
• Athens Jewelry Week, catalogue, GR, 2016
• Beijing International Jewelry Art Exhibition "Boundless", catalogue, CHN, 2015
• Edizioni Fondazione Cominelli, permanent collection catalogue, IT, 2015
• ART AUREA article, issue #2-2015
• GRASSIMESSE Leipzig, museum press release, 22.7.2014
installation view during MJW, Munich, DE, 2014
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• AJF 10-Best Stand-Alone Pieces at Schmuck-Munich
• AJF 10-Most Exciting Juxtapositions at Schmuck-Munich
• AJF 10-Most Exciting Juxtapositions at Schmuck-Munich
installation view, Atelier Martina Dempf, Berlin, DE, 2016
exhibition view at
SCHMUCKISMUSDie Neue Sammlung, Munich, DE, 2019
Pinakothek der Moderne, The Design Museum
The current social/political struggles
emphasize the need to rethink and rebuild ways of operating within the society.
Only with theparticipation of the individuals and their active interaction can
eventually occur a change within the collective.
This work talks about the position of jewellery in times like these.
~•~
kosmos = the world = jewellery = the people
Kosmos has diverse definitions beyond the profound that relates to
notions of the universe or the world.
In the Greek language (κόσμος) it has the meaning of order, harmony or beauty.
In old Greek it stands also for jewellery and in neo-Greek usually means “the people”.
By reloading these meanings to the question, its impact changes.
It can evolve to “What will people say?” or “What will jewellery say?”
The title implies several interpretations and sets a bridge between
adornment, self-exposure and engagement in the public domain.
~•~
The brooches are made out of volcanic pumice rocks.
Pumice stones are super-heated, highly pressurized rocks, violently
ejected from a volcano millions of years ago. In 2013 the artist took
a special permission to visit the quarry on the island Yali/Greece,
where she collected the rocks one by one.
She sculpted and textured the surface of the stones by hand
and then hollowed out and assembled them according to their unique
measurements and proportions.
The most widely spread function of this mineral is the beautification
and cleaning of the human body. This custom denotes
the notion of“catharsis”.
Depending on context, catharsis (κάθαρση) can have a literal
connotation, as well as a metaphorical one. The latter can mean
“the purification or purgation of the emotions” primarily through
art, as used by Aristotle in the Poetics.
~•~
The brooches look up to that notion of catharsis.
But catharsis is most of all a condition.
Not a given answer.
It’s a process.
A process based on the idea that social and cultural reform can
occur through individual acts of resistance.
This work is inspired by the notion of the smaller parts working independently,
but also together, in order to reinforce a change within the whole.
Same as in the essence of the kosmos,
where the dependence of the whole upon the miniscule
is undeniable.
~•~
Jewellery is a powerful medium, because it demands involvement
and through this circular function it holds and transmits a statement.
Therefore jewellery is an active broadcaster within the public realm.
Jewellery as tool.
Creating a new kosmos by being this new kosmos in practice.
Making this choice everyday is essential.
An invitation to negotiate reality.
Thinking of jewellery not as an add-on, but as a put-out
2013 / Vivi Touloumidi
