6 October 2023 through 14 January 2024
Opens on Thursday, 5 October, 7 p.m.

Where does usefulness end, and where does experimenting far beyond functionality begin? After all, it’s not a new thing anymore that some contemporary gold- and silversmiths question the classical canon of their respective genre, as well as their historical roots and traditions, creating wildly unusual things that violate taboos of their trade and bear witness to disobedience and to breaking rules. »They unhinge golden rules and challenge or satirise aesthetic norms, transmuting jewellery, utensils and other objects into paraphrases of their craft,« explains the curator Ellen Maurer Zilioli. These trends are accompanied by social, cultural and political criticism. The show spotlightied jewellery, utensils and other objects created by 29 artists who question conventional perspectives. 

They all work in an in-between space that allows intercultural links to be created. Their objects and inventive forms and shapes can be located on this fine line where definitions and traditional concepts serve as the foundation for highly intelligent, complex thinking about utensils, vessels and jewellery, but at the same time are always being abandoned or modified.

The exhibition will also be on view at the CODA Museum in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands, from 19 May through 22 September 2024.

Artists featured:
Tobias Alm, Sawa Aso, Astrid Becksteiner-Rasche, Naama Bergman, Tobias Birgersson, Beatrice Brovia/Nicolas Cheng, David Clarke, Kanako Ebisawa, Ute Eitzenhöfer, Åsa Elmstam, Anne Fischer, Karolina Hägg, Nils Hint, Kateřina Jirsová, Junwon Jung, Anders Ljungberg, Kateřina Michálková, Myra Mimlitsch-Gray, Eija Mustonen, Markus Pollinger, Karen Pontoppidan, Anna Rikkinen, Hans Stofer, Vivi Touloumidi, Tarja Tuupanen, Luzia Vogt, Stella Wanisch, Jing Yang

Exhibition catalogue:
Ellen Maurer Zilioli & Cornelie Holzach (ed.): Gone Astray | Auf Abwegen – The Art of Gold- and Silversmithing on the Edge of Reason: Hollowware – Jewelry – Utensils | Zeitgenössische Gold- und Silberschmiedekunst am Rande der Vernunft: Gefäß – Schmuck – Gerät. 160 pages, 20 x 26.5 cm, hardcover, approx. 220 ills., German/English, ISBN 978-3-89790-700-3, € 34

Admission € 6, reduced price € 3.50, combined (permanent & special exhibition) ticket € 8.50