ZADAN Lecture series. Luck by Design: The contemporary amulet as a social object by Dr.Kevin Murray

ZADAN - Hopes and Protections on the Body (Jewellery Art lecture series in Fall 2021- Spring 2022).
Title: Luck by Design: The contemporary amulet as a social object

>> Tues.,  7 Dec. 16:00 – 17:15 h, (UTC+1:00)

We cordially invite you to the fifth (online) lecture in the ZADAN series by Dr.Kevin Murray

Is luck something we need in our world today? If so, how do we create it? While most objects in our consumer world are for private use, there is a class we might call "social objects" whose purpose is to maintain the fabric of our relations with others. This fabric includes our offerings, promises, welcomes, apologies and well-wishes. This fabric has been weakened by neoliberalism, particularly in the West with a focus on individual consumption. By looking back to the pre-industrial world, we can learn how to recover the lost functions that are still necessary in our world, such as "luck". We look at the exhibition project Joyaviva, which includes proposals for contemporary amulets, leading to a strategy of "luck by design" that has important applications today.

Dr. Kevin Murray is editor of Garland magazine, a platform for sharing the stories behind objects made by hand today. He is Secretary of World Crafts Council - Australia and board member of World Crafts Council - International.  2000-2007 he was Director of Craft Victoria where he developed the Scarf Festival and the South Project. He has curated many exhibitions, including Water Medicine: Precious Works for an Arid Continent;  and Seven Sisters: Fibre Works from the West. His books include Craft Unbound: Make the Common Precious (Thames & Hudson, 2005) and with Damian Skinner, Place and Adornment: A History of Contemporary Jewellery in Australia and New Zealand (Bateman, 2014). 


ZADAN - Hopes and Protections on the Body
ZADAN series will explore if new talismanic immaterial protections have emerged replacing these magical objects or if the digital space is unable to translate the talismanic of the material object. The series will investigate the hopes, desires, and fears that prompt jewellery makers in the creation of amulets/talismans/charms adornments and objects today.
The aim of ZADAN is to create a common platform, to broaden an understanding of jewellery art based on an exploration of a specific topic. The title ‘ZADAN’(座談) references the Japanese concept of a conversation among peers. With this in mind we welcome students and publics to participate as peers in the consideration of Jewellery Art as a ‘magical’ everyday practice and adornment.

For Hopes and Protections on the Body there will be six online lectures (October 2021 – March 2022) that include presentations in response to the topic from an artist, curator, sociologist, archeologist, and anthropologist.

Find out more about ZADAN visit here: https://craftlaboratory.org/zadan-2021-2022/

 We hope ZADAN will facilitate stronger ties between our education at HDK-Valand and with communities, local, national, and international.
 
The entire lecture series will be recorded and made available on the project website of Craft (www.craftlaboratory.net). The ZADAN project will result in an on-site group exhibition in Gothenburg from March 7 to 13, 2022, which runs parallel to the annual event, Munich Jewellery Week (MJW) in Germany. The exhibition will be connected virtually to MJW.


EXTERNAL PROJECT PARTNER
Four Gallery, Gothenburg.
 
FUNDING INSTITUTIONS
IASPIS / The Swedish Arts Grants Committee.
Göteburgs Slöjdforening.