XXL International exhibition of jewelery and adornments

Artist list

Vered Babai, Sara Bacsh, Einav Benzano, Caroline Broadhead, Mia Fkih Mabrouk, Sophie Hanagarth, Elie Hirsch, Lucie Houdkova, Michèle Jarry des Loges, Lia Kirel, Patricia Lemaire, Lena Lindahl, Khajornsak Nakpan, Nanna Obel, Laurence Oppermann, Véronique Selleret, Pilvi Tammoja, Johanna Törnqvist, Karin van Paassen

>>  Version Française


XXL, when jewelry and adornments give wings.
Precious, jewelry and adornments, have been worn on the body for a long time. Displaying, gleaming and seductive or discreet and intimate. Witnesses to a personal, sentimental story, memory, passage (the wedding ring) or linked to a collective story. External signs of wealth, symbols of power (the crown) up to the sacred dimension (the pope's ring). Admire the "Resurrection" panoply of Michèle Jarry des Loges: precious, healing.
However, if all these XXL jewels and adornments are wearable, they will only be worn exceptionally. Because excessive. Sculptures or paroxysms of finery? Both. The prowess of the imagination at the service of know-how with Elie Hirsch, wavy necklace, transformable boa that transforms the bodies with Lucie Houdkova, a monumental ring of Mia Mabrouk.


History revisited.
Always intimate, jewelry and history unite and the embroidered song of Oum Khalthoum accompanies the adventure of Einav Benzano and the peoples of the Middle East. The embroideries of the Bride of Pilvi Tammoja link the very young artist to her Estonian lineage. While Patricia Lemaire's neck ornaments and Nanna Obel's brooches celebrate the splendours of the Renaissance.

The splendours of the ordinary.
No more precious materials, make way for disinherited objects. Flamboyant diversions.
Sara Bacsh's water filters, Patricia Lemaire's used coffee filters, Johanna Törnqvist's pillboxes and Véronique Selleret's synthetic composites are now displayed, rehabilitated. Delightful and joyful adornments. Until the denunciation of vanity with "The Air of Jewelry" performed by Laurence Oppermann and Sophie Hanagarth. Not to mention the absolute subterfuge, the precious confused even in its pearls, which are no more... Optical illusion by the magician Caroline Broadhead.

The force of nature.
Back to basics. At the original treasure. Nature, a real precious and generous deposit. Vered Babai and Lia Kirel's ring grows like a small tree of life. Lena Lindhal and Lucie Houdkova dive into the big blue. Karin Van Paassen sculpts a backbone in horsehair and porcelain, a mutant organ somewhere between human and animal. As for Nakpan Khajornsak, he simply entrusts the living with the task of creating the material for his works. Soil bacteria and skin pigments do the job. Infinitely renewable process.
Jewels and adornments XXL have freed themselves from size and adulated materials. Free, they shine less but, inspired, reflect more and accompany us, bigger, further, higher.

/ Catherine Mutelle


>> Opening Thursday 15 June at 18:00 h.
RSVP, tel: 04 67269412



THE SCENOGRAPHY
Three curators collaborated on the scenography of the XXL exhibition: Jena-Yves Le Mignot (scientific curator, experts in contemporary jewellery), Mathilde Monnier (artist-curator, dancer and choregrapher) and Cédric Torne (associate artistic curator, visual artist, teacher-researcher in architecture and scenography).

Scientific curator
Jean-Yves Le Mignot
Talent scout and founder of major events that have become landmarks on the contemporary jewelry scene in Europe. In 1987, he launched the first European Jewellery Biennial followed by the Triennale du Bijou in Paris until 1992. Exhibition curator for La Ente Fiera de Vicence, for the World Gold Council. Numerous exhibitions at the Museums of Luxembourg, Decorative Arts in Paris, Modern Art in Nice.
For “Jewels of Israel” at the Solidor gallery in Cagnes-sur-Mer, “Design Bijou Suisse” at the Pavillon Le Corbusier in Paris. "Common Language" with the Periscope Gallery in Tel-Aviv… He was in charge of design objects for the shops of the Center Pompidou in Paris and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Nice. Artistic advisor to the School of Jewellery of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Saumur. Its main objective is to reconcile craftsmanship and industry, established designers and young shoots.
 
Artistic curator
Mathilde Monnier
Director of the Montpellier Languedoc-Roussillon Choreographic Center for 20 years, then in 2013 of the National Dance Center in Pantin. Creation of more than 40 choreographic pieces presented on the biggest international stages, from the Avignon Festival to the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris, via New York, Berlin, Vienna and London. Ministry of Culture Prize, SACD Grand Prize. Since 2020 in residence with his Company at the Halle Tropisme in Montpellier.

Cédric Torne
DNS Expression Plastique, Diploma of Fundamental Studies in Architecture. Teaches at ENSA Montpellier.
Works acquired by FRAC Occitanie Montpellier and the city of Agde. Numerous collaborations with choreographers, including Laurent Pichaud and Mathilde Monnier.


A scenographic proposal
A street, at night. The visitor will stroll along a route a islets that evoke so many artists’ studios and yet are designed like so many half-open unfolded jewelry boxes. The spirit of craftsmanship is there: structures in French poplar wood sewing mannequins. A range of variations in volumes, heights, materials makes it possible to single out and enhance each artist. A journey from the smallest to the largest, from jewelry to adornment, leads to a theatrical dimension of jewelry, the culmination of the exploration of XXL jewelry: out of the ordinary.


Guided tours and Readings
- Theatrical visits / Special Family
            Every Friday at 10 a. m / July 14, 21, 28 & August 4, 11, 18, 25
            Duration 1H15
            Meeting point: at Galerie La perle noire / 6 place Molière / Agde

• Guided tours of the “XXL” exhibition and the agathois heritage
  Every Tuesday at 4 p. m / From June 20 to August 22
  Duration 1H30
  In partnership with the Coastal Heritage service of the Cap d’Agde Méditerranée tourist office
  Meeting point: at the tourist office / Place de la Belle Agathoise / Agde
• Visits to the “XXL” exhibition
  Every Thursday at 5 p. m / From June 22 to August 24
  Duration 1H
  Meeting point: at La Galerie la perle noire / Place Molière / Agde

 
Readings
- Friday, June 30 at 7 p. m in the courtyard of the Molière space
Duration 1H
Presented by Philippe Poulain from “La Librairie d’à côté” & Jean-Marc Bourg, actor for the company “Le Canalet”
- Friday, July 28 at 7 p. m in the courtyard of the Molière space
Duration 1H
Presented by Philippe Poulain from “La Librairie d’à côté” & Agnès Belkadi, actress.