Jewelry Hunting - Die Jagd nach dem Schmuckbild - a project by Naoko Ogawa in cooperation with Schmuck2

Naoko Ogawa's project "Jewelry Hunting - Die Jagd nach dem Schmuckbild" was based on the idea of an individual beauty that exists only in our imagination. The artist's goal was to initiate a hunt in which the manifestation and possession of jewellery is only experienced visually. Moreover, one is sensitised to the awareness of a new perception of worth. According to Ogawa, the possession of something of worth is the most meaningful element of each person, because it is what constitutes the respective individual personality. Similar to the possession of a car, a clock, a work of art, or a house, jewellery is considered to be a specific indicator of self-expression in our society. The artist alludes to this idea in her jewellery hunt.
 
In Ogawa's "Jewelry Hunt," a fleeting image of jewellery is captured, existing only for the moment. For this, the artist makes use of various lighting effects and apparitions. Thus, glowing light, diffused light, light fragments, or a stark colour contrast, as well as silhouettes or casted shadows could be pieces of jewellery in the sense given by the artist.


Visitors were able to go on the jewellery hunt themselves by means of a field map on which the artist had defined possible places to hunt down jewellery in the area of Bad Doberan and Rostock. The point of departure for the hunt was the HOCHsitz Atelier. A piece of jewellery from a successful hunt could be captured in a picture, or just carried home in one's memory.
 
In addition Ogawa developed a “Jewelry Hunting Card“ which is placed in the HOCHsitz Atelier as a permanent contribution. On each hunting card Ogawa describes parameters by which visitors can hunt for a piece of jewelry inside the studio built on stilts.

 
In her project, Naoko Ogawa plays with jewellery in an immaterial form; and at the same time, she succeeds in contributing by example to the discourse on hyperreality and jewellery. Both of these were themes on which Schmuck2 had been focusing its projects for some years. The project is amenable to a number of different interests, while at the same time being unique in its concept.
 
Naoko Ogawa studied at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music in the master class for metalwork. She was then a research student at Tama Art University in Tokyo, where she completed her Bachelor's in the metal class. She has participated in numerous international exhibits and presented her most important solo shows to date in 2013 at the Gallery Deux Poissons in Tokyo and 2011 at the Galerie Biro in Munich.
 
In contrast to most jewellery artists, Ogawa develops jewellery as an object for which the meaning of the wearing of jewellery also plays a significant role. Her work is motivated by the notion of a piece of jewellery whose manifestation only reaches completion through being worn. Naoko Ogawa lives in Berlin.
 

About the author

Susan Pietzsch is a German jewellery artist based in Germany and Japan. In addition to her own artistic work, Pietzsch’s working practice encompasses a wide scope—comprehensive work on projects reflecting contemporary concepts of jewellery, which she has initiated under the name of Schmuck2 since 1997. In so doing, Pietzsch's focus lies on international, artistic collaborations in which she explores unusual and novel representations of current concepts of jewellery.
 
With projects such as: "Wrappinghood," a project in public space for the Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art (2005); the poster project "Glitz and then Some - Things in the Everyday Life of Art" (2007); the "Discursive Picnic" involving audience participation parallel to the Handwerksmesse at the MaximiliansForum in Munich (2011); the workshop and exhibition "JEWELLERY HYPERREAL - How could jewellery be transferred into hyperreality?" (2012-14); and the jewellery hunt "Jewelry Hunting - Die Jagd nach dem Schmuckbild"; along with the HOCHsitz Atelier (2013), Susan Pietzsch formulates multifaceted interpretations of contemporary views of jewellery using conceptions that range between applied and fine arts. In addition, the artist has extensively and carefully documented her work in many publications.