Metamorphoses, transfigurations, and mutations as mind-opening revelations can be found in many religions, art, and literary traditions. The changes in form and substance, documented by innumerable myths and doctrines, have a common denominator: the ascent of the human being into a higher spiritual sphere.
From Homer and Ovid to Moses' burning bush or Christ's Transfiguration, the djinnis of 1001 Nights and Brother Grimm's folk tales, Goethe's Faust, Rabbi Loew's Golem, or the Japa- nese medieval legends, the message is clear: A sublime power shows its omnipresence through transformation and mutation, and enchants humanity with promise and hope.
Daniel von Weinberger,"SMILEY MAGEN DAVID" - Bodypiece, 2021. Photo: Lilliane Lacasse.
Franz Kafka's famous novel Metamorphosis departs from the spiritual tradition of pre-modernity and ominously foreshadows a society obsessed with order, segregation, and racial hygiene on its way to the war tragedy.
The alchemists expressed humankind's desire for endless knowledge, wealth, and immortality by seeking to convert waste into gold.
Nowadays, upcycling is a common practice. Fashion and luxury brands proudly advertise the pre-used origin of their raw materials. It is ethical and kind, indeed, to recycle; but is it not void of existential meaning? Does it also help us to make con- tact with something bigger than us, such as nature, humanity, the common good, or even God?
Does contemporary jewelry need to be spiritual? Is the quest for something that stays alive forever just a psychological side effect of mutating Covid-19 or are we being led to our archaic roots by the search for a talisman against fear, disease, and loss?
Metamorphoses at Bayerischer Kunstgewerbeverein, Munich
24 February - 2 April 2022 / Schmuck 2022
With: Unk Kraus, Daniel von Weinberger, Hannah Stippl, Peter Vermandere, Miki Asai, Maja Stojkovska, Constance Marie Pretorius, Criselda Lopez, Alison Brown, Yolanda Ky, Margarita Malliri, Jason Stein, Franca Ullrich, Francesca Guarnieri, Masumi Kataoka, Aino- Astrid Gaedtke, Metaxia Hanteli, Christina Panagiotopoulou, Christoph Ziegler, Loukia Richards.
The show is curated by ZLR Betriebsimperium alias Christoph Ziegler & Loukia Richards.
More information:
www.initiation-project.com
www.bayerischer-kunstgewerbeverein.de
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