Différence et Répétition

Artist list

Anonyme, Volker Atrops, David Bielander, Alexander Blank, Louise Bourgeois, Monika Brugger, Kim Buck, Sungho Cho, Carole Deltenre, Richard Elenbaas, Benedikt Fischer, Warwick Freeman, Gésine Hackenberg, Peter Hoogeboom, Alexandra Hopp, Lauren Kalman, Auli Laitinen, Joe Lee, Benjamin Lignel, Felix Lindner, Kerianne Quick, Yoko Ono, Gisbert Stach, Felieke van der Leest, Manon van Kouswijk, Sofie Boons, Suska Mackert, Barbara Schrobenhauser, Hans Stofer, Dan Volgers, Lisa Walker, Andy Warhol

An exhibition in 3 parts

Chapter I: June 18 - 21
Chapter II: July 5 - 11
Chapter III: July 12 - 19

Contemporary craft finds more often than not in the singular form of the unique piece a way out of its destiny as common object. While contemporary practice always positions itself in relationship to the long history of craft, it does so by setting itself apart from that history’s expected trajectory: it innovates through creative disruptions, and likes to hinge the novelty of its contribution on the figure of an author. By doing so, it subjects itself to what French sociologist Nathalie Heinich calls the regimen of the singular.

At times, however, craft practitioners utilize whatever is generic in craft’s inventory of forms, whatever is repetitive in its gestures, or redundant in its production to lay the foundation of an oeuvre that is both singular and generic: this riskier strategy supposes that re-doing again is compatible with the contemporary definition of what is artistic.

This tension between the singular and the generic affects the entire practice of contemporary jewelry: it informs the type of knowledge it produces, the socio-professional identity of its actors or the economical models between which they oscillate.

What we propose doing here is not so much an exhibition as a reverse demonstration: by presenting a series of objects as so many solutions to a problem they may not have formulated, we hope to establish that our working hypothesis was correct: so there a regimen of creation that combines the repetitive and the singular; so this regimen is that of contemporary craft.

Shall we try?

Curators: Benjamin Lignel, Frédéric F. Martin, Jorunn Veiteberg


1. Rather than display all the objects from this selection at once, I would like to propose four conversations around Différence and Répétition.
2. Each conversation will focus on a different aspects of the subject.
3. Each conversation will last a week
(during that week, the rest of the ‘show’ will be stored away in the single piece of furniture that will inhabit the exhibition space: the display unit)
4. This method will hopefully encourage visitors to spend more time with less work, and enjoy the complex things they suggest, or the silence they create around them.
5. The switch from one set-up to the next will be simple, so as not to burden the gallery staff with unnecessary work.