Koru 2 Exhibition

KORU 2 is an extensive international contemporary jewellery exhibition, bringing together 34 artists from Europe and Japan, who explore a variety of media (installation, photography, objects). Each artist applies an individual approach in their artwork to adornment, exploring and pushing boundaries in the borderland between fine art and applied art, to slightly open a window to the intimate world of contemporary jewellery. Based on their individual and collective memories, they desire to generate greater understanding between ways of seeing and doing things.

Following Koru1 (Lappeenranta 2003), the goal of Koru 2 is to bring together young talents with recognised ones. In the selection there are artists who reverse the role of jewellery in a social context, while others incorporate new significance in conventional precious materials. The evolution of contemporary jewellery is a complex process and should be seen rather as a contemporary manifestation of art than mere tradition.

KORU 2, a worldwide event at the edge of the world, creates an experimental field in Lappeenranta, in the European periphery. The successive achievements of Finnish contemporary jewellery of the last two decades and the strong backing from the unit of art and design of the South-Carelia Polytechnic, the South-Karelia Art Museum and the Arts Council of Southeast Finland motivated us to complete this project.

Finally, we want to express our gratitude for the enthusiastic commitment of the artists participating in the exhibition. We would also like to thank the Finnish Ministry of Education, the Finnish Cultural Foundation and the William and Ester Otsakorpi Foundation for their financial support.


KORU 2
Eija Mustonen
Eeva-Kaisa Hakulinen
Antonio Altarriba