Mouth by Naomi Filmer

Last spring I saw a Boris Charmatz performance in London titled Manger. The piece was focused on the mouth, consumption, sensation, communication, expression, looking also at the relationship of fingers with the mouth in the act of eating - making a choreography of the mouth itself. While watching the performance I considered the research subject at St Lucas Antwerp this year, ‘Speaking jewellery’. The physical action of speaking brings attention to the mouth, and the mouth brings our attention to an abundance of associations and sensation.

The mouth is the entry point in our bodies for breath and nourishment - where we consume food and water. Where we taste, lick, chew and swallow. It is also an essential tool for communication. From where we talk, smile, laugh, kiss, pout, whistle, sing, shout. A complex set of movements from muscles in the face and the tongue in our mouth are required to achieve pronunciation in all languages…including the deaf who work with movements of the mouth as an extension of the visuals of signing. Movements of the mouth differ from one language to the next, from one generation to another, from person to person. It is a place of physical experience and sensation. Intimate, wet, warm, internal. It is a hollow space, a continuously changing negative form. The space in our body that houses lips, tongue, teeth, tonsils, lined with strange textures and delicious pinks. It is sensual. It is hidden. It is through this place that we sense and express ourselves.
For this workshop I want to focus on Mouth as a catalyst for communication and experience.
How do you want to explore your mouth in the context of jewellery?
How can you document your explorations and translate that into object, image, performance?"


Date: 7 Dec2015 - 11 Dec 2015
Duration: 8 hours/day
Fee: € 200 (materials not included), Graduates from St Lucas Antwerp: free
Language: English
Number of participants: 15
Requirements: A good understanding and spoken level of English & at least Bachelor 3 or Master level


About the Artist:
Naomi Filmer is a contemporary jewellery designer/artist, who describes her work as ‘objects about the body’ rather than jewellery. After completing a master’s degree in Metalwork and Jewellery at the Royal College of Art, London 1993, Filmer acquired a reputation for catwalk collaborations with designers such as Hussein Chalayan, Alexander McQueen and Anne Valerie Hash. More recently her works feature in international contemporary Fashion and Applied Art exhibitions, recognised for her sculptural forms and experimental use of materials (ice, chocolate, glass, rubber). By combining craftsmanship with new media and exploring recurrent themes such as fragmentation and isolation of the body, Filmer pushes boundaries between art and accessories, creating objects that occupy a middle ground between art and design. (www.hesge.ch/head/en/users/naomi-filmer)