A Well-measured Distance. On Volcanism in Therese Hilbert's Jewellery

The following essay is based on a catalogue text of the same title, written on the occasion of RED, Therese Hilbert’s retrospective solo exhibition at Die Neue Sammlung, from 12 Mar 2023 to 30 Jul 2023. [Catalogue: Therese Hilbert, RED. Jewelry: 1966 – 2020, ed. by The Design Museum, Stuttgart: arnoldsche, 2023.]
 
The essay explores the impact of volcanic phenomena on Hilbert’s work, unfolding in discernible stages as a process, in which experience translates into art and the volcano becomes a metaphor for all that is unknown, unpredictable and eruptive in human nature. The outcome of the process is a series of jewellery objects functioning as wearable documents of an initially unsettling experience of the sublime.

Many thanks to Therese Hilbert and Klimt02 for their generous cooperation.