Skip to content

Gone Astray – Jewellery and utensils on the fringe of reason in contemporary gold- and silversmithing

Curated by Ellen Maurer-Zilioli


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 no longer new that some contemporary gold- and silversmiths question the classical canon of their respective genre, as well as their historical roots and traditions, and create 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. These trends are accompanied by social, cultural and political criticism.

The show will be spotlighting jewellery, utensils and other objects that question conventional perspectives. The featured artists will include, among others, Karen Pontoppidan and David Clarke, Myra Mimlitsch-Gray, Betrice Brovia and Nicolas Cheng.

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 are always being abandoned and modified at the same time.