The cyclical International Jewellery Competition is the leading event of the Legnica Jewellery Festival SILVER organized by the Gallery of Art in Legnica since 1979.

The competition is dedicated to the designers and creators of contemporary jewellery and has been promoting creative explorations in the field of goldsmithing and, at the same time, creative statements on the problems of the contemporary world for over 30 years. The theme of the current edition of the Competition is TOUCH, a sense inseparably associated with the jewellery, carrying a special charge of intimacy and safety, but also - in times of a global pandemic and escalation of military conflicts - fear and danger.

The jury evaluated 426 works by 240 artists from 30 countries, qualifying works by 51 artists from 13 countries for the main exhibition.

This time - in the online era - we would like to refer to the feature that defines jewellery in its most material and - at the same time - the most sensual aspect.

Let us invoke touch - the first sense through which we get to know the world, which gives us a sense of security, intimacy and trust.

Jewellery worn on the body, coming into contact with skin receptors, provoking haptic contact, has always been the wearer's closest prop. We offer you a contemporary interpretation of this nostalgia in the hope that the objects of the most personal use will not be replaced by touch screens.

                                                                                                                                                                                                              prof. Sławomir Fijałkowski

Just as a piece of jewellery that is worn all the time is only noticed when it is taken off or missing, in recent times human touch has been acutely noticeable by its absence.  We have become most aware of the need for touch and connection but also the fear of touch as a source of contamination and danger. 

How can jewellery explore the sense of touch, physically and emotionally? What can the sense of touch convey?  What sort of touch?  How does it feel?  Could it comfort you?  Could it change you?  What might its impact be? How can this non-visual characteristic of jewellery be communicated?

                                                                                                                                                                                                             prof. Caroline Broadhead

The jury members:

Sławomir Fijałkowski

Sofia Björkman

Miroslav Cogan

Nastya Ivlieva

Małgorzata Kalińska

PARTICIPANTS OF THE EXHIBITION:

Bogumiła i Andrzej Adamscy (Poland), Violeta Adomaitytė (Lithuania), Miriam Arentz (Germany), Agata Bieńkowska (Poland), Mariana Bilbao (Spain)Andrzej Boss (Poland), Carla Castiajo (Portugal), Young-Ji Chi (South Korea), Mirta Congost Nualart (Spain), Agata Danielak-Kujda (Poland), Sophie van Dooren  (The Netherlands), Agnieszka Działo-Jabłońska (Poland), Anna Maria Eichlinger (Germany), Eva Fernandez (Spain), Julia Funk (Germany), Jolanta Gazda (Poland), Katarzyna Gemborys (Poland), Elena Gorbunova (Russia), Martin Grosman (Czech Republic), Karolína Hauserová (Czech Republic), Dorottya Hoffmann (Hungary), Tomáš Holub (Czech Republic), Jonathan Holz (Germany), Tadeusz Jaśkowiak (Poland), Laima Kėrienė (Lithuania), Marta Kleinrok (Poland), Hanna Kowalska (Poland), Sergiusz Kuchczyński (Poland), Beata i Karolina Legierskie (Poland), Peter Machata (Slovakia), Wojciech Małek (Poland), Claudia Milić (Germany), Joanna Muzyka (Poland), Maria Myrosznyczenko (Poland), Agnieszka Nowicka (Poland), Jasmin Nussbaum (Germany), Martina Obid Mlakar (Slovenia), Michalina Owczarek-Siwak (Poland), Sham Patwardhan-Joshi (Germany), Silke Rehermann (Germany), Rudolf M. Scheffold (Germany), Elisa Schneider (Germany), Yookyung Song (South Korea), Ulrike Strempel (Germany), Andrzej Szadkowski (Poland), Miroslava Veselá (Czech Republic), Zhipeng Wang (China), Hanna Wiklendt-Jensen (Poland), Zhang YuXuan (China).

Andrzej Szadkowski – Poland

Painful Touch of Time brooch, silver, aluminum, lapis lazuli, paper, 28,7 g, 70 x 70 x 15 mm, 2022
Grand Prix of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage

Rudolf Michael Scheffold – Germany

Springtime bracelet, stainless steel, 17 g, ø 95 mm, 1997
II Award

Agnieszka Działo-Jabłońska – Poland

Touch-painted love colours brooch, silver, mouline, 28 g, 120 x 65 mm, 2022
III Award of the Mayor of the Legnica City
YES Gallery Award

TOUCH-PAINTED LOVE COLOURS

We look for love, a sense of security, intimacy, and trust among our relatives… According to the conducted research, thirty percent of adult Poles indicated that they were the PERPETRATOR OF VIOLENCE IN THE FAMILY. Hence, it is over 9 million people in Poland! They are mostly men, but there are also women. In this group, 24% admitted to using psychological violence and 11% to physical violence. Statistics from other European countries do not differ in numbers... The offenders are the people around us, they are the people among us. Some of them, outside the home, have a reputation for being polite, kind and helpful. The phenomenon of violence is not influenced by social status, level of education or addictions. The abuser is often characterized by low self-esteem, emotional disorders, the need for power, poor self-control combined with the need to control others, a decreased levels of empathy and criticism, and lack of guilt. We only see the bruise. It heals overtime, the wound heals. But how to look inside, how to recognize if it is just an innocent mark on the body or the top of a tangle of feelings that destroy the victim? The devastation of the interior deepens with each offensive word, with every blow. How to help stop the penetrating deeper and deeper panic fear, shame, humiliation, anger at the torturer and at himself...? A small number of abused people come for help. Even fewer of them undertake therapy and try to recover. Let us be attentive to other people, let us not underestimate the harm and disturbing symptoms. Are you a victim or witness of domestic violence? Be sure to call: National Ambulance Service for Victims of Violence “Blue Line” 800-120-002 (open 24 hours a day)

Miriam Arentz – Germany

Touched to Shreds brooch, silver, guilloche, 43 g, 65 x 60 x 5 mm, 2022
Inhorgenta Munich Award
International Amber Association Award

Inspired by these lines from a poem by Gunnar Ekelof:

“The black image

Framed in silver

Worn to shreds by kisses…”

Peter Machata – Slovakia

Portrait… brooch, plexiglass, silver, 32 g, 85 x 65 x 15 mm, 2021
Award of the Gallery of Art in Legnica
Honourable Mention of the Mydaybyday Gallery

Zhipeng Wang – China/Germany

Untitled rings, Chinese tea, German coffee, spirulina, 10 g, 35 x 35 x 44 mm; 17 x 28 x 32 mm; 6 g, 29 x 30 x 32 mm, 2021-2022
Silver Spur. The Organizers Special Award for creative courage and uncompromising attitude, innovation or sense of humour

As a Chinese living in Europe, the impact of drinking culture is particularly significant in my daily life. Tea is the representative of drinks with oriental characteristics, while coffee is the representative of drinks with Western characteristics. They have great similarities in origin and development. Their origins are full of mythological color and endowed with mysterious cultural images. In the early days, coffee was only circulated among aristocrats in Europe. And tea was also only suppled to the Emperor`s family in ancient China.

Signet ring as a symbol of identity and authority became an indispensable part of the middle ages Western aristocracy.

I try to fuse tea and coffee, combined with the traditional European signet ring to reinterpret and to create a contemporary identity ring of an ordinary Chinese living in Europe.

When people see the rings that I made for the first time, they always think they are carved in  stone and must be very heavy. But when people wear them they find out that the rings are actually very light. And the most interesting thing is that you can smell the aroma of coffee and tea from the rings.

Martina Obid Mlakar – Slovenia

The Pillow of Touches brooch, reflective fabric, red thread, sterling silver, 13,7 g, 50 x 110 x 55 mm, 2022
Honourable Mention of the Director of the Gallery of Art in Legnica

Jolanta Gazda – Poland

Is it safe to hug again? necklace, silver, 110 g, 450 x 150 x 70 mm, 2022
Hopea Company Award

Agata Bieńkowska – Poland

Untitled brooch, silver 925, 24 g, 90 x 135 mm, 2022

Andrzej Boss – Poland

Hand ring, silver, copper, amber, wood, 36 g, 90 x 60 x 60 mm, 2022

Anna Maria Eichlinger – Germany

Many necklace, 22 carat gold, silver, silicon, wood rests, 34 g, 4000 x 150 mm, 2017

Poem, written by Anna Eichlinger

My skin feels and perceives things.

It looks like surface of a wrinkled tangerine.

Darkened by the sun, dried by the wind, washed out by the water,

and textured by many fine lines, one realizes what it has witnessed before.

Its structure is reminiscent of a piece of parchment.

Thin, fine, delicate, and sensitive like an infant’s skin.

With openness, it encounters other structures and surface.

Scanning and touching, it senses their experiences and decay.

Transience is a morbid beauty, which tells stories.  

Bogumiła i Andrzej Adamscy – Poland

Life, Motherhood, Breath diptych brooch, sterling silver, 23,5 g, 78 x 50 x 8 mm, 2022

Carla Castiajo – Portugal

Sensual Sensation necklace, human hair, net, leather, oxidized silver, thread, 5,6 g, 350 x 350 x 250 mm, 2022

Elena Gorbunova – Russia

Cuddle brooch to be in touch, blue HDPE, steel, 30 g, 90 x 60 x 30 mm, 2022

Eva Fernandez – Spain

Pins & needles 3 necklace, steel, stainless steel, nylon, oxidised silver plating, silver plated, 250 g, 500 x 120 x 40 mm, 2020

Laima Kėrienė – Lithuania

Mother’s Blessing brooch, silver, 35 g, 65 x 125 mm, 2020

Mariana Bilbao – Spain

Another Language brooch, silver 999, sterling silver, steel needle, 47,72 g, 50 x 60 mm, 2022

Martin Grosman – Czech Republic

Internal Touch, silicone, plexiglass, 200 g, 72 x 72 x 27 mm, 2022 

Michalina Owczarek-Siwak – Poland

To feel more, touch less set of overlays blocking the use of the phone, serpentine, silver, 20 g, 31 x 21 x 15 mm; 27 x 16 x 14 mm, 2022

Smartphones, social media, too much, too often. They block thoughts,  make us indifferent, devour our time, make our feelings shallow. Discard the phone, stop staring at the screen. Touch less to feel more!

Violeta Adomaitytė – Lithuania

Broken Glass brooch (to be worn on the heart), silver, glass, 48 g, 80 x 50 x 10 mm, 2020

Yookyung Song – Republic of Korea

Merged Images I brooch, stainless steel, sterling silver, aluminum, magnet, 65 g, 80 x 80 x 23 mm, 2021
Merged Images II pendant, stainless steel, sterling silver, aluminum, magnet, 70 g, 70 x 98 x 35 mm, 2021

 Young-Ji Chi – Republic of Korea

Dotted Brooch, sterling silver, fine silver, brass, amber, leather, 45 g, 95 x 90 x 20 mm, 2022