Elisabeth Pira. PXL-MAD School of Arts. New Talents Award Nominee 2025

Name of graduation student: Elisabeth Pira
Name of guiding teachers: Anneleen Swillen, Nedda El-Asmar, David Huycke, Maria Konschake, Lore Langendries, Audi Pauwels, Kitty Spaenjers, Charlotte Vanhoubroeck, Arne De Winde and Karen Wuytens.

Nominated by PXL-MAD School of Arts.


The concept of love has long been a central theme in art and jewellery, traditionally presented through familiar symbols like hearts or flowers. Elisabeth takes this idea further. Rather than simply representing love, she creates jewellery that performs it, art objects that come to life only through the interaction of two people.

Her project unfolded as a powerful and original synthesis of performance, jewellery, and narrative. Once removed from their display, the jewellery pieces become essential elements of a shared performance, making the experience of love tangible and immediate.
The jury observed in silence, deeply impressed by how thoroughly Elisabeth resolved both concept and making. The result is a project that is both intellectually grounded and emotionally resonant.

Elisabeth’s craftsmanship and attention to detail became even more evident upon closer inspection. Tiny boxes carved from a marble block, functioning as paired brooches, are worn by two people and connected by a silver chain. Larger works include steel structures and cast glass neckpieces, jewellery that physically expresses the emotional weight of relationships. Because even when it's about love, it’s not always light or easy.
/ Prof. David Huycke


Statement of the artist:​
WIJ is a series of five body-related objects that exist in the intimate space between two bodies. Designed to be worn by two people at once, each object acts as a medium for shared actions and movements. These interactions reveal as well as delimit; they trigger a silent choreography in which closeness becomes palpable, and the rituals of togetherness tangible.
The objects do not illustrate love, but embody it. They are physical translations of everyday exchanges between people who love each other deeply; the pauses, the tensions, the tacit understandings. Whereas traditional jewellery commonly symbolises love through universal icons such as hearts or flowers, these works choose a more direct path: love as action, presence, shared burden and desire. Only in interaction do the objects acquire their whole meaning. They function as shared jewellery as well as performative tools that make intimacy visible. They are not static forms, but changeable carriers of experience.
The project culminates in a live performance, undocumented and remembered only by those who experienced it. Each performance is unique; shaped by the moment, the bodies, the emotions. In this way, the work underlines the ephemeral, ever-shifting nature of love: impossible to capture, only to experience.


Summary of the Master thesis
WIJ, een daad van liefde is a study that stems from a fascination with the kind of love that arises between strangers; a bond without blood, without obligation, yet deeply felt. What holds this fragile connection in place? What gives it form, weight, presence?
This research unfolds as a layered textual artefact. The first layer is poetic: a series of fragments drawn from personal experience, offering an atmosphere rather than a narrative. A second layer gives voice to the body: a set of instructions for the performative activation of the objects. Here, the objects become co-players, shaping and responding to the wearers’ movements.
In a third layer, the text enters into dialogue with philosophers and writers who have tried to grasp the unfathomable nature of love: its contradictions, silences, insistence. And in a fourth, artistic references create a constellation of works that resonate with the spirit of this project.
There is never a description of the objects themselves. This is a deliberate gesture. By leaving them undefined, space is made for the imagination; for the reader to inhabit the work on their own terms.
Like the concept it explores, the project resists capture. It culminates in a live, undocumented performance; fleeting, unrepeatable. What remains is not an image or a text, but the trace of a shared moment. In this way, WIJ, een daad van liefde becomes not just a study of love, but an act of it.


Contact:
Email: elisabeth.Pira@hotmail.com
Instagram: @elisabeth_pira

Find out more about PXL-MAD School of Arts