Stories of Hip Hop

Hip hop jewellery is often customised to suit its wearers’ individual preferences. Starting from small details, such as the specific style of a chain link to the type or shape of the gemstones, the jewellery conveys something about them. Many hip-hoppers have a liking for extravagant pieces like multi-strand gold chains. The major special exhibition titled Stories of Hip Hop at Pforzheim’s Jewellery Museum will explore the entire hip hop culture. We’ll be telling stories themed around this social phenomenon. / Tom Frietsch, curator of the exhibition.
 
One of the prominent features of hip hop fashion is the conspicuous jewellery, oversized and lavishly encrusted with diamonds or other gemstones. In addition to flashy jewellery creations, fashion and graffiti are other essential elements of the hip hop culture. The rappers of the band Salt ‘N’ Pepa, for example, made the audacious door knocker earrings – eye-catching gold earrings in the shape of door knockers – socially respectable. In hip hop, it’s all about attracting attention and reinventing oneself. This is why singers also change their names: instead of Anis or Paul, they call themselves Bushido or Sido and stylise themselves as superheroes. It is also manifested in their flamboyant bling-bling jewellery, including bronze belt buckles, creole earrings or diamonds. The rapper Lil Uzu Vert even had a pink diamond implanted into his forehead.
 
The exhibition team got in touch with jewellery manufacturers to shed light on the stories behind the very personal exhibits. They have been created by Grill Meister from Berlin, Playground from London or Rouven Groetzki in Pforzheim, among others.
 
In its Stories of Hip Hop exhibition, the Jewellery Museum will be showing portraits of famous hip hop musicians and their statements, as well as a large-format picture gallery by the photographer ONDRO, displaying key figures of hip hop. Album covers will also be on view, many of which depict the rappers wearing their lavish jewellery. With this special exhibition, which will extend throughout the entire building, we aim to convey the sense of life of this movement and make it experientially accessible. For this purpose, we have planned numerous workshops, readings and concerts. / Cornelie Holzach, the Jewellery Museum’s director.
 
Hip hop is more than a music genre; it’s rather a culture and a sense of life that have changed considerably over the course of the decades, explains the journalist Falk Schacht, who also wrote the texts in the exhibition. Everything started in New York in the 1970s as a community of like-minded people, irrespective of their origin or education. Originating in the USA, the phenomenon has quickly spread all over the world and influenced generations of young people. The hip hop community invented the remix culture, copying and mixing until they found their own style. In the 1980s, the movement burst like a colourful robot into the drab, grey German quotidian world and in 1984 sparked a huge wave of enthusiasm in Germany. All the kids were dancing. But after a year, the wave ebbed down, and the culture has remained a preserve of outsiders from then on. But hip hop wanted more than to polarise and shock people. From the start, it was much more about diversity and inclusion, as well as about breaking down prejudices. 'Come as you are, we are family' was the slogan. Sneakers as a hallmark were cheap shoes in the USA and only over the course of time became expensive 'it' pieces. Stories of Hip Hop also tells stories about the difficulties that the increasing commercialisation has entailed.
 
The exhibition designer Jan Saggau will be staging a record store, among other things, at the Jewellery Museum. As a visual hot spot, a replica of the legendary Rucker Park, meeting place of famous rappers and also a symbol of similar public spaces in Los Angeles and Berlin, will be installed in the large exhibition hall. The exhibits on view will include a mixture of bling-bling – both originals and replicas –, rings, necklaces, sunglasses, hats, Grillz and hip hop fashion. There will also be an evening event with Hiphop Kitchen whose chefs will be creating a five-course, hip-hop-themed dinner. The special exhibition will be reflecting the enormous spectrum of hip hop as a mirror of our society.
 
Following the motto of 'Pforzheim Design Meets Hip Hop', a collaboration with the School of Design at Pforzheim University has been initiated. Students from the fashion, jewellery, and accessories design courses have embarked on a search for clues and are exploring the relationship between design and hip hop. They are creating one-of-a-kind pieces for hip hoppers chosen by them, such as Bush.ida or Finna, which will be displayed afterwards in the exhibition. The project is being supervised by Professor Claudia Throm and the instructor Markus Müller from the Fashion Department, as well as by Professor Evelyn Echle from the Department of Art History and Cultural Sciences, and is supported by ONDRO.
 
The exhibition is being curated by Tom Frietsch from Stuttgart. The music journalist Falk Schacht could be won over as a consultant and to write the texts in the exhibition. The photographer ONDRO is involved as well, and will be showing a selection of his own works. Jan Saggau (Studio JASA in Berlin) is responsible for the exhibition design and also took on some curatorial tasks.


Opening hours: Tue–Sun and holidays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (except for Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve).

Admission to the special exhibition € 10, reduced price € 8.50, family ticket € 18 | Admission to the permanent exhibition € 4.50, reduced price € 2.50.
Admission to both the permanent and special exhibition € 12.50, reduced price € 10, family ticket € 22.
Free admission for children no older than 14 and holders of a Museums-Pass-Musées.
Guided tours for groups by appointment | Public guided tours through the permanent exhibition Sun 3 p.m., € 6.50, reduced price € 4.50.

Supporters’ association: ISSP, www.issp-schmuckmuseum.de.
Partners: Pforzheimer Zeitung and SWR2.