Thema: Stahl – Themes in Steel

"Thema: Stahl" is the title of an exhibition that the North Rhine-Westphalian Colloquium proposed and organized for showing in a number of museums. 16 jewelry artists from Germany were selected and asked to show a wide variety of differing ways to grapple with the properties of this material. The colloquium is a non-profit organization that has been awarding a prize for steel art every two years since 1996. The work from this competition also forms a part of this year's exhibition. It was offered to the students of the Pforzheim Goldsmith School that 100 projects were submitted for. This material a lows innumerable surface designs from glossy polished, mat gloss ground and even black/brown corroded steel. But that's not all. There is also the combination with precious metals such as inlayed silver or leaf gold. Although corrosion usually has a negative connotation, students used it as an artistic means to give the "rusted" piece of jewelry a very special aura. You will be able to see "Thema: Stahl" from July 18 to August 29, 2004 in the German Sword Museum in Solingen and in the German Goldsmith House in Hanau from September 10 to the beginning of November of 2004. It will also make a stop at the Klaffenbach Moat Castle in Chemnitz where the exhibition will be from November 21 to February 28, 2005, at the same time as the Silver Triennale taking place there.

www.schmuckmuseum-pforzheim.de