SMCK ON REEL

POLITICAL JEWELRY

Ornaments inspire people to keep fighting for a just cause.

SMCK On Reel, the video festival inspired by jewelry and wearable art participates in Legnica SILVER Festival with the three video documentaries "Political Jewelry", "Greetings from Ukraine" and "Secrets Of The Reels". The movies emphasize jewelry's impact on political communication and its potential to increase our understanding of world changing events, and cement our empathy.

Political Jewelry

•  Watch Political Jewelry (2024) - 34:50 minutes.  •

Twelve video chapters present artists working on the following issues: state control, heritage of the poor, memory, communism, faith, heritage, food, water, October 7, political assassinations, perspective change, US elections 2024.

With: Mihaela Coman (Romania/UK), Chris Kiseno (Colombia/Spain), Ba An Le (Australia), Jason Stein (USA), Elin Flognman (Sweden), Narinée Tchilinguirian (Lebanon/Canada), Adriana Radulescu (USA), Dania Chelminsky (Israel), Christoph Straube (Germany), Christiane Englsberger (Germany), Gunther Pfeffer (Germany), Christoph Ziegler (Germany/Greece), Loukia Richards (Greece/UK).

Concept, development: Loukia Richards and Christoph Ziegler.

Video credits Danner Prize videos: Christoph Straube, Christiane Englsberger, Gunther Pfeffer.
Concept: Isolde Bazlen, production: bluelake media, © Danner Foundation.

Production: SMCK Magazine.

Greetings From Ukraine

•  Watch Greetings From Ukraine (2024) - 20:45 minutes.  •

"Artists are ambassadors, chosen by fate, carrying their creations and culture of their people to the world."  (Stanislav Drokin)

A designer's item - a ceramic rooster still standing after a bomb destroyed the building, a brooch made of enemy's projectiles, a ring reflecting fear and bravery - can forge national identity, and inspire people to resist the aggressor. Four internationally acclaimed designers and artists, Stanislav Drokin, Yuri Plehanov, and GuniaProject talk about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the losses they suffered, and what inspires them to keep creating, resisting, fighting for victory and justice.

With: Yurii Plekhanov, Natalia Kamenska, Maria Gavryliuk, Stanislav Drokin.

Script & concept: Loukia Richards.
Cut, sound & editing: Christoph Ziegler.
Designs and jewelry: Yurii Plekhanov, GuniaProject, Stanislav Drokin.
Video footage: Yurii Plekhanov, Stanislav Drokin, GuniaProject, Christoph Ziegler, Maidan Museum Borodianka.
Sound: GuniaProject, Christoph Ziegler.

Production: SMCK Magazine.

Secrets of the reels

•  Watch Secrets Of The Reels (2024) - 21:50 minutes.  •

If we search for the roots of art, we will encounter magical thinking. Numerous jewels from different eras and cultures show that in archaic societies jewelry was believed to have powers that protected the wearer from evil.

The ancient Greek philosopher Pythagoras called the universe the cosmos - after the Greek word cosmos for jewelry - to describe the beauty of the stars shining like diamonds through the holes of the black velvet textile with which Gods covered the sun.

Jewelry can be seen as a tiny piece, a particle of the cosmos we carry with us; this cosmos is represented by the stones, metals, and other materials, as well as by the elements of wood, fire, wind, water used to make jewelry.

SMCK On Reel presents the video lecture Secrets Of The Reels on the aesthetical, educational, and communication significance of the medium. The video has been produced exclusively for the grand opening of Legnica SILVER Festival on 10 & 11 May 2024. The lecture analyzes the challenges jewelry artists face to promote their work and reach the international public, while it explains the mechanisms of obtaining funding and winning awards.

The video also presents the Danner Talk which took place in January 2024 in Landshut / Germany.

Concept, development: Loukia Richards and Christoph Ziegler.
Credits for Danner Talk: Simone Nickl in cooperation with Danner Foundation and bluelake media/ Isolde Bazlen.

Production: SMCk Magazine.