POP – AMBER
“It’s hard to be avant-garde today. People have got used to everything.”
(Vivienne Westwood – British fashion designer)
A long, long time ago, when not everything was manufactured in China and Andy Warhol was only beginning to plot the direction of the evolution, whose results Damien Hirst so successfully takes advantage of today – the term “POP” was not associated exclusively with shallow and mindless commercialism. Today’s transglobal “pop-culture,” effectively plugged by the Hollywood entertainment industry, can only be judged pejoratively or – at best – with indulgence. The consequence of the universal unification of cultural models, which we have already grown accustomed to and even ceased to notice, comes not only as the homogenising of behaviour and customs, but also the standardising of aesthetic canons. Consumer habits are also subject to “formatting,” while constantly perfected manipulation techniques (such as neuromarketing) are being developed in order to define the target ever more precisely and get us to buy ever new objects of mirage. The same goal lies behind the ephemeral character of stylistic solutions, “digested” again and again, according to the self-perpetuating mechanism of restyling, which has become de rigeur in fashion. Today’s jewellery is also increasingly often “manufactured” according to randomly selected reinterpretations of symbols, images, emoticons and signs mixed with impunity into the oddest combinations, whose semantic superficiality impresses no one anymore. In the convention thrust upon us, religious, ethnic and mythological symbols are “read into” aesthetics taken straight from computer games, text message hieroglyphs and infantile Emo or Kawaii graphics. This mechanism of the quick obsolescence of all images is subject to the logic of seasonality, while the ease with which some ideas find ever new followers and ever new, ever cheaper imitations makes contemporary design increasingly the domain of trendhunters rather than designers.
Up to now individual creators and artists reacted by ostentatiously distancing themselves from everything that could be tagged as POP in the public consciousness. Usually such an attitude is justified by the need to maintain the exclusive character of a work of art. Sometimes, the consequence of such uncompromisingly defined, and thus highly questionable, “elitism” means that the artistic activity fails to account for the need to confront an audience and becomes only a therapy for the artists themselves. This strategy of voluntary alienation usually turns out to be permanently counterproductive versus such an overwhelming phenomenon; all the more so since even the most radically manifested rebellion can be quickly neutralised and repackaged as a new and fashionable trend with a short sell-by date.
The subject of this year’s competition aims at provoking artists and designers to critically reflect upon the reasons for and consequences of the trend that is commonly known as POP. Amber, more than most materials, is encumbered by a centuries-old tradition of craft. All the more then does it need artistic interpretation referring to the here and now.
In POP – AMBER, for the first time we so clearly expect solutions referring to current stylistic trends: in a critical, analytical or affirmative way.
- Sławomir Fijałkowski -
Amberif Design Award 2009
POP AMBER
13. International Contest for the Design of Jewellery with Amber
accompanying
16. International Fair of Amber Jewellery and Gemstones AMBERIF 2009
REGULATIONS
we are honoured to announce the contest aimed at promoting creative ideas
in the design of jewellery with amber and specific properties of the Baltic amber
1.The Goal and the Object of the Competition – the goal of the contest is to promote amber as a source of artistic expression. The object of the competition is the design of original, unique jewellery made with amber, inspired by the subject of the contest. Competitors are allowed to use all other materials provided that amber plays the essential role.
2.Participants – the competition is open to all designers and makers of jewellery. Designer and manufacturing teams are allowed. A member of a team may not participate individually. Works can be entered only under the contestant’s own name.
3.Number of entries – each participant may submit no more than two entries. A single entry is understood as a single object or set of jewellery. Each entry should have its own separate code. Should more than two entries be submitted, the participant shall be disqualified.
4.Presentation of entries – only presentations on (2-D) charts with the design produced in any graphic technique or a photograph of a ready object or model will be accepted. Each entry should be submitted in the form of a single 30 x 30 cm chart. If the designer considers it essential, he/she may present an additional chart of the same format. Additional charts will not be included in exhibition nor in the catalogue. Any explanatory text to be included on the chart must be in English. Each entry chart must be legibly marked with the six-digit entry code written in its bottom right-hand corner (the use of six identical digits is disallowed). Entry charts must not contain any information or distinguishing marks, which might allow the author of the design or its place of origin to be identified. Designs containing any such information shall be disqualified. A completed entry form must be attached to the design along with proof of payment of the participation fee. The entry form must be placed in a sealed envelope on which the six-digit entry code is written in legible manner.Entries including any ready pieces of jewellery sent instead or together with cards presenting the design shall not be accepted or collected from the post.
5.Participation fee – 20 EUR ( tax included ) for contestants from abroad. This fee entitles each participant to receive one copy of the AMBERIF 2009 catalogue and an invitation to the AMBERIF 2009 Fair in Gdańsk, between 11 and 14 March 2009.
Please transfer the participation fee into the following bank account:
Międzynarodowe Targi Gdańskie S.A.
PEKAO S.A. IV/O Gdańsk
Account No. 66124012711978000014920862
SWIFT code PKO PPLPW, IBAN 66
Please mark transfer with note: ELEKTRONOS 2009
6.Return of designs – Designs shall remain in the possession of the Organiser until the end of June 2009 and might be presented in galleries in Gdańsk. After this time designs shall be sent back by registered mail.
7.Deadline for entry – designs must be submitted at the designer’s own cost so that the entries reach the Head Office of the Organiser by 31 January 2009.
8.The Jury and the Curator – the following persons have been invited to sit in the Jury:
• Prof. Dimitar Deltchev – jewellery designer, National Academy of Arts, Sofia
• Ulf Erichson – ethnographer, director of Amber Museum, Ribnitz-Damgarten
• Prof. Ludmiła Ostrogórska – sculptress, rector of Academy of Fine Arts, Gdańsk
• Lidia Polpiel –photographer, Ambassador of Amber
• Prof. Theo Smeeth – Fh Idar-Oberstein,
The Curator of the competition is Dr. Sławomir Fijałkowski. The Curator does not participate in the Jury session. The session of the Jury will take place on 2 February 2008 in Gdańsk. The Jurors shall know neither the names nor the nationalities of the participants prior to reaching the verdict.
9.Competition criteria – the Jury shall award prizes and shall choose works for presentation in the catalogue and at the exhibition, guided by artistic criteria. Designs must be original and must not have been publicly exhibited prior to the competition.
They must constitute the author’s own work as understood under copyright law. The designer must confirm this in the entry form.
The Jury shall consider the following when reaching its verdict:
- conceptual and creative interpretation of the topic
- original and creative use of amber, taking into account the specific qualities of this and other proposed materials
- the artistic and aesthetic values of the designed jewellery
The possibility of the reproduction or direct use of the entry in applied design shall not be a criterion for assessment.The verdict of the Jury is final and not open to any legal recourse.
10.Prizes – the following prizes will be awarded:
- Major of the City of Gdańsk Prize: 10 000 PLN exchange rate approx. 3,8 PLN / 1EUR
- Amber Prize of International Amber Association : 2 kg of amber
- Silver Prize of YES company: 3 kg of silver
11.The Exhibition – the winning designs and other entries qualified by the Jury shall be exhibited during 16. International Fair of Amber, Jewellery and Gemstones AMBERIF 2009 between 11 and 14 March in Gdańsk, Poland.
12.The Catalogue – the winning designs, 20 works qualified by the Jury and the list of competition participants shall be published in the Exhibitors’ Catalogue of the AMBERIF 2009 Fair.
13.Award Ceremony – will take place during the AMBERIF 2009 Fair on 12th March.
14.Competition Documentation – designs entered for the competition shall be photographed and stored in electronic form by the Organiser. Designer might supply own digital pfoto of the entry. The Organiser reserves the right to publish works entered for the competition.
15.Amber – for row material we recommend to contact companieis :
Golden Amber www.golden-amber.pl tel. 0 663 163 113
Wikwol www.wikwol.eu tel 0 58 712 60 03
16.Contact persons
- dr Sławomir Fijałkowski – curator of the contest, s.fijalkowski@onet.pl
- Marta Kruszczyńska – secretary of the contest, tel. +48 58 55 49 337 ada@mtgsa.com.pl – Ewa Rachoń – executive manager tel.: + 48 58 55 49 134 ewa.rachon@mtgsa.com.pl
fax: + 48 58 5549 207
Organiser: Gdańsk International Fair Co. 5 Beniowskiego Street, 80-382 Gdańsk
