Schmuck als urbaner Prozess. Artistic Interventions in Urban Space. Documentation of a Research Project

Different student groups in our seminars worked in the city under the guidance of the professors Elisabeth Holder and Gabi Schillig. The students and their works became involved in urban life in various ways. This was done either through direct interaction with urban conditions, in response to specifically found situations, through adorning acts, or by carrying an object or apparatus developed in reference to urban space, exploring public spaces in a different way.

The experimental and artistic experiments developed during this period in the context of a generalised and expanded concept of jewellery led to new objects, performative systems, actions, temporary or permanent spatial installations and interventions related to urban  space that go beyond the current definitions of jewellery. All the projects are linked by an analytical and process-oriented exploration of the Düsseldorf cityscape, as well as by an experimental approach and diverse media documentation of the resulting works. Through them, our perception of urban space is changed and new spaces of interaction and participation are created.

Under the title “Schmuck als urbaner Prozess” the results were presented in an exhibition in Düsseldorf last autumn and are now also available as a book.

*Schmuck, the German term for jewellery, denotes many forms of adornment and decoration that greatly differ from what we normally understand as jewellery. For this reason the title was left untranslated.


Text in German and English.