WALKA STUDIO Jewelry School Contest: ANCESTRAL 2013

Walka Studio Jewelry School 2013 Contest.

In this era of predominating technology, obsessive repetitions and accelerated lifestyles, we seem to forget the importance of contemplating life through a more poetic lens. Banal desires and everyday duties drive us away from spontaneity and naturalness, tradition is set aside to an absolute past.

In order to understand human nature it is necessary to understand where we come from. In the course of centuries our ancestors have given shape to a heritage of history, knowledge, values and beliefs that nurture our contemporary life experiences. In this manner, past and present coexist within each one of us, enriching our individual character. Jorge Luis Borges masterfully expresses this idea in Dr. Brodie's Report (1971): “ Actually no opposition exists between the traditional and the new, between order and adventure. Tradition is made up of a secular network of adventures”.

The human impulse for self-ornamentation is ancestral. The production of body ornament is one of the oldest creative activities in the history of human kind. In all world cultures, jewelers have been considered individuals who harness great wisdom and power; their knowledge is passed from one generation onto the next in order to maintain a craft that has generated marvels throughout centuries.

When attempting to dig deeper about our genetic relationships and social ties, we realize that the question lies on attempting to identify who our ancestors were. Ancestors could be defined as the direct line of our forbears, those who passed on their values, beliefs and fundamental and indestructible ideologies to future generations. Ancestry can be seen on an individual level or as the different ramifications that conform a common ancestry.

We wish to discover and understand the minute differences that make individuality possible despite a common ancestry.

During the last five years WALKA STUDIO JEWELRY SCHOOL has consolidated itself as one of the few contemporary jewelry schools in Latin America. Students from Chile and other Latin American countries, as well as teachers from around the world have walked through these spaces. They have all honored the craft of jewelry making and have transformed it to a rich medium of artistic expression.

The WALKA STUDIO JEWELRY SCHOOL proudly launches its first jewelry contest on the subject “Ancestral”. 
All students of the school are invited to participate by creating body ornaments that commemorate the origins of jewelry making and, at the same time, express a profound comprehension of the contemporary world; objects that are capable of reinstating poetry back to the lives of those who wear or observe them, challenging our expectations about what we know about jewelry and surprising us with adventurous ideas. This contest is proposed as a celebration of Latin American cultures and their ability to communicate globally. The results will, most certainly, conform an exhibition that will venture beyond frontiers and enrich the panorama of international contemporary jewelry.
We eagerly await your participation.

Valeria Vallarta Siemelink and Jorge Manilla

Selected alumnis: María Ignacia Walker, Isidora de Solminihac, Paulina Allaf, Victoria Briones, María Paz Cuadra, Mercedes Castro Corbat, Renata Meirelles, Nathalia Canamary, Magdalena Tagle, Tita Cardemil, Monika Gonzalez, Cristina Grisar, Alejandra Rojas, Luz Arias, Paola Molina

>> Información en castellano

Jury:

Jorge Manilla
Artist, Designer, Professor, Jewelry Curator
His work is collected, exhibited, published and studied on a global scale. He received the Henry Van de Velde Young Talents award in 2010. He was select for SCHMUCK 2012.He has been a curator of the European Triennial for Contemporary Jewelry. He Teaches jewellery design and silversmithing at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, ARTESIS Antwer. He is maybe the most respected artist for the Latin American Contemporary Jewelry scene.

Valeria Vallarta
Curator, Contemporary Jewelry Theoretician, Cultural Manager
Her texts, exhibitions and seminars (especially around the subject of Latin American Contemporary Jewelry and its relationships with the rest of the globe) are followed internationally. She is the most energetic and effective agent in positioning Latin American Contemporary Jewelry on a global level. Her texts have been published in the The Compendium Finale of Contemporary Jewellers 2008 (Darling Publications), among others. Her work as a curator includes : Think Twice: The New Latin American Jewelry at the MAD MUSEUM, NYC; the Gray Area Exhibition in México and Plata Radical in Chile.

Registration:
There is no registration fee.

Please proceed as follows:
1. Send an email to concursowalka@gmail.com to request an application form.

2. Return the filled application form to the same email address above.

Delivery of Works:
Via mail: Works will be received via mail (foreign and regional) until September 24, 2013, 20:00 hours (Continental Chilean Time).

In person: Works can be personally delivered exclusively on September 24, 2013 between 10.00- 14.00 and 15.00-20.00 hours (Continental Chilean Time).
 
Work & Packaging:
All pieces should be packaged in closed reusable packaging that properly protects the piece(s) and allows its proper handling. The final packaging should be enclosed in an envelope that clearly identifies the work´s title and the artist´s pseudonym. The following information has to be included with the piece:
- Title
- Artist´s pseudonym
- Artist´s Real Name
- Postal Address
- Email Address
- Telephone Number
- CV
- Years in Jewelry Making or Years as a Contemporary - Jewelry Student (whichever applies)
- Applied Materials
- Applied Techniques
- Short Description of the Piece (optional, no longer than 25 lines).

The contest organizers are in direct charge of the registration, reception and handling of pieces and will safeguard any information submitted by participants, none of which will be disclosed until the last phase of the jury selection has been reached. 

Legal Dispositions:
Participants transfer the organizers the rights of use, registry and publication of the pieces, for them to responsibly exercise as they deem appropriate. 
The contest organizers shall safeguard the integrity of all submissions, but are not liable for damages inflicted by third parties and/or acts of God or other extraordinary circumstances. 
The date and place of exhibitions of the selected pieces will be informed via email and on the contest´s web page.
The selected works will remain in power of the contest organizers for one year, in order to be exhibited in future events.
Neither the organizers nor the School´s professors or current assistants thereof, are eligible for participation.
The participants are responsible for paying the participation fees and any costs of shipment and insurance of the selected pieces to the various international exhibition locations. 
The sponsors, and not the organizers, are responsible for delivering any awards in the form of services. Contest winners are responsible for scheduling all necessary meetings and appointments to benefit from their awards. The contest organizers are not liable if a winner fails to claim his or her awards or make the necessary arrangements with the providing sponsors.
The contest organizers reserve the right to changes in the members of the jury or the places of exhibition. 
Works that are not selected must be collected, after previously arranging an appointment via email, at the same address to which they were delivered, at a time similar to the one stated above for reception. All participants in other regions should have a representative in Santiago to pick up their pieces for them after the contest is over. International participants will cover the costs incurred by the organizers for return shipping.

WALKA STUDIO Jewelry School
Claudia Betancourt + Nano Pulgar
www.walka.cl

To contact and request an application form: concursowalka@gmail.com

There is no information by phone.

Thor Heyerdal 2105
Vitacura · Santiago, Chile

Dates and price

Total estimated value of awards: 8000 EUROS


1st Place:
ALCHIMIA SCHOOL OF JEWELRY, Italy : a two-week intensive course in contemporary jewelry.
TEA NUI HOTEL, Rapa Nui: weekend stay for two in a double bedroom with breakfast.
KLADIWA GEMOLOGY CENTER, Chile: gemology course, 14 sessions.
OLE BÜRO, Chile: consultancy service in Brand Identity and Graphic Design.
OTRO DISEÑO FOUNDATION, Netherlands: catalog of the Grey Area Seminar.
CURRENT OBSESSION: CONTEMPORARY JEWELLERY MAGAZINE: Annual subscription.
LIESBETH DEN BESTEN, Dutch curator: Autographed copy of her book “On Jewelry”
FYC ATTORNEYS, Chile: Legal counseling (for Chile) in matters related to starting up a business or jewelry workshop, including counseling in the necessary paperwork to incorporate a legal business entity plus counseling in copyright matters and the necessary paperwork to register author rights for the participating submission in the Copyright Department of the Directorate of Libraries, Archives and Museums.


2nd Place:
JORGE CASTAÑON, LA NAVE, SCHOOL-ATELIER, Argentina: a two-week intensive course in contemporary jewelry.
GARDNER HAMILTON: Photography Session, including a portrait of the artist taken in Viña del Mar together with the selected piece.
OTRO DISEÑO FOUNDATION, The Netherlands: Catalog of the Grey Area Seminar.
CURRENT OBSESSION: CONTEMPORARY JEWELLERY MAGAZINE: 1 issue.
LIESBETH DEN BESTEN, Dutch curator: Autographed copy of her book “On Jewelry”

3rd Place:
WALKA STUDIO JEWELRY SCHOOL, Chile: International Contemporary Jewelry Workshop (1 Taller viajero-Travelling workshop).
OTRO DISEÑO FOUNDATION, Thwe Netherlands: Catalog of the Grey Area Seminar.
CURRENT OBSESSION: CONTEMPORARY JEWELLERY MAGAZINE: 1 issue.
LIESBETH DEN BESTEN, Dutch curator: Autographed copy of her book “On Jewelry”

HONOR MENTIONS
(The jury will determine who is awarded the following prizes):

BENJAMIN LIGNEL, French artist and curator: 3 Autographed book.
CHARON KRANSEN ARTS, USA: Selection of contemporary jewerly books.

DANIEL GIL PHOTOGRAPHY+MAN PRODUCTIONS: Editorial of fashion photography (Photography+Art Direction+Production+Model+Styling) to be published in publicity medium with a selection of the submitted pieces.