REVOLT: Legnica International Jewellery Competition

The 22nd International Jewellery Competition - the main event of the Legnica Jewellery Festival SILVER - is running under the theme of REVOLT, in reference to the European protests of the indignados and the worlwide Occupy Wall Street movement. The competition’s organiser, the Gallery of Art in Legnica, asked the artists whether the standard of slogans seen on the t-shirts, banners or guerilla stickers can become enriched with a more refined message? Are the jewellery designers able to express their own opinion and join in a discussion on a subject other than aesthetics? Their artwork should be the answer.

625 entries by 319 artists from 43 countries were submitted this year. Out of these, the works of 52 artists, mainly European, but also from Argentina, Chile, India, Israel, Japan, Korea, Costa Rica, New Zealand, Taiwan and USA, were accepted for the exhibition. Among them, there are jewellery pieces, objects and statements, in which the maker’s thought and the concept behind the work of art are more important than its functionality, of which some works are completely deprived. The best jewellery “responses” will be showcased in the REVOLT exhibition, on display in Legnica. The winners of the competition will be announced during the festival’s finale, wich will take place on 17th - 19th May 2013, alongside other events (a seminar, concerts, meeting with designers, indoor and outdoor art happenings, presentations and screenings).

The annual International Jewellery Competition, organised by the Gallery of Art in Legnica, runs under the patronage of Minister of Culture and National Heritage, who sponsors the first prize. The competition is purely of an artistic nature, favouring the concept and the value and meaning of the artist’s message. The artists are invited to come up with an artistic response to a theme (changing annualy). Their interpretation of the competition’s theme and the artistic value of their creative expression are the main judging criteria when selecting works for the exhibition. This decision is made every year by a jury composed of distinguished personalities in the field of art jewellery. This year the jury included: Galit Gaon (Israel) – the creative director of Design Museum Holon in Israel and the founder, director and chief curator of the Israeli Cartoon Museum, Jiro Kamata (Japan/Germany) – assistant professor at the Fine Arts Academy in Munich, Hans Stofer (Switzerland/United Kingdom) – professor and Head of Goldsmithing, Silversmithing, Metalwork and Jewellery at the Royal College of Art, and two Polish jury members, Sławomir Fijałkowski - the festival’s head consultant, lecturer and Head of Architecture and Design Faculty at the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdansk and Aneta Lis-Marcinkiewicz - art jeweller, member of LIS2 art group.

The Legnica SILVER Festival (running annualy since 1979) is the most important of events organised by the Gallery of Art in Legnica. Every year, the festival programme consists of numerous collective and individual exhibitions, presenting contemporary goldsmithing and design by Polish and international artists. These include the International Jewellery Competition show, Artists Profiles – recurring retrospective exhibitions of outstanding jewellery artists, Silver Schools – annual presentation of the European jewellery academies, Debuts – series showcasing works of young Polish designers just starting their careers, and Holownia – display of the works submitted to the competition, but not accepted for the main exhibition. In addition to the recurring shows, there are others accompanying them – this year between 30th April and 30th June, 17 more exhibitions will be held in Legnica. Feel invited!


Agata Bartos – Poland, Nicole Beck – Germany, Claudia Betancourt & Ricardo Pulgar – Chile, Krzysztof Borkowski –Poland, Andrzej Boss – Poland, Vernon Bowden – New Zealand, Laura Bradshaw-Heap – Ireland, Bartosz Chmielewski – Poland, Sungho Cho – South Korea, Jeongsun Choi – Korea South, Teresa Dantas – Portugal, Katharina Dettar – Germany / Spain, Sara Gackowska – Poland, Tamara Grüner – Germany, Mieczysław Gryza – Poland, Nils Hint – Estonia, Susanne Holzinger – Germany, Maja Houtman – The Netherlands, Marta Hryc – Poland, Joanna Hryniewicz – Poland, Dorry Hsu – Taiwan / Canada, Mari Ishikawa – Japan, Timothy Information Limited – Great Britain, Luijt Janjaap – The Netherlands, Lee Jeong Hwa – South Korea, Christina Karababa – Greece, Renata Korpas-Sutowicz – Poland, Dominik Kotwicki – Poland, Solveiga Krivičiene & Alfredas Krivičius – Lithuania, Marzena Krupa – Poland, Claudia Küster – Germany, Lena Lindahl – Sweden, Ria Lins – Belgium, Susanne Matsché – Austria, Marek Mrowiński – Poland, Marek Nałęcz-Nieniewski – Poland, Michalina Owczarek – Poland, Andrzej Pacak – Poland, Fiona Parkinson – Great Britain, Krzysztof Piotrowski – Poland, Sari Räthel – Germany, Mandy Rasch – Germany, Berta Riera Ruiz – Spain, Isabell Schaupp – Germany, Kvetoslava Flora Sekanova – Slovakia/ New Zealand, Katarína Siposová – Hungary, Ludmila Šikolová – Czech Republic, Grzegorz Radosław Ślączka – Poland, Terajima Takayoshi – Japan, Bartosz Ulatowski – Poland