change

At the Scrapyard Challenge, reported on earlier in this blog, I met an Amsterdam based artist called Sonja van Kerkhoff. She told me a great story about 'Change', a performance work she did in the UK in 1996, centred around the concepts of value, objects and human transactions. Sonja made a series of resin coins and took them onto the streets of London and Hull to convince people of their worth as art objects. She asked people to assess their worth, and to offer something comparable in value in return for one of them.

Her full account of this work makes wonderful reading and can be seen at http://www.sonjavank.com/change.htm, but I include an excerpt here, because it relates directly to the significances of jewellery. In this transaction, she has found another artist to be quite difficult to deal with. He has been finding strategies for hiding himself, including behind his own art practice, the notion of fakery, and in discussion about postmodernism. Finally, he relents, and looks for something of value to exchange:

As he searched over his body for pockets and things, I pointed to his ring covered fingers. His face lit up. He pulled off the ring from his little finger and said "yes, it had to be this one". He then asked me to read the inside, which read 'together forever' in French, and then he proceeded to tell me a long story about how it had belonged to his father who had found it as a boy. It seemed to be an old ring, but since his art was creating a fake history for objects, I wasn't sure about the story, but that gaze in his eyes told me he knew, as painful as it was, that this was a suitable trade, and I felt it too, even though I didn't really want to wear a bulky ring on my finger. His eight year old daughter was present during most of this discussion, and in particular when we traded the coin and the ring. She was very upset by this. Apparently the ring really did belong to her grandfather and for her it was a symbol of his presence, which was now on the finger of a stranger.

About three hours later, he came to me with his daughter and said that against his wishes we had to trade the items back because his daughter was getting more upset.

I'd like to thank Sonja for this contribution and for her very interesting discussions, not to mention the Edam cheese.

Tina Rose

Many thanks are due to Tina Rose, editor of the craftscotland website, for helping publicise the ensemble project. Tina sent me this story in August, so I must apologise profusely to her for only getting it onto the blog now:

I have a jewellery story to contribute. My grandmother lived in London, and we would visit every summer. I always loved going through her jewellery box and trying everything on and she said when she died I would get her engagement ring. Well, when she died we discovered this ring had been stolen, so my Mum gave me a ring she had given her. It was bought at the British Empire Exhibition in 1924 by my grandfather as a thank you to my grandmother for having my mother. It always seemed more special to me because of that history. Both my grandmother and mother are dead now, and last year my flat was broken into and all their rings – wedding, etc – that had been left to me were stolen. I was upset most about losing this ring. A week after the burglary I picked up a cheap necklace in my jewellery box and discovered the ring had got tangled with it so I still had it. It is even more special now and it’s nice that it has connections with both my grandmother and mother.

With all best wishes to Tina, and a belated thank you for this tale!

movement workshops

The ensemble project will be hosting a movement workshop at Napier University, Edinburgh, on the evening of Wednesday 1st November.

From 7.30pm, visitors are invited to play with the basic jewellery forms created for the project, informing the design of the soundscape to come. Pieces range from huge cuff forms to rubbery seaweed, and are not your usual everyday twinset and pearls by any means! A wee glass of wine will be available to all who take part, and the meeting will also allow anyone who is interested to contribute a story of their own.

Venue: Room B14 ('the glass box'), Design and Media Arts, Napier University, Colinton Road, Edinburgh EH10 5DT

Time: Wednesday 1st November 2006 :: 7.30 - 9pm

contact: Sarah at s.kettley@napier.ac.uk or on 0131 455 2789

The final installation is planned for the 14 December at the Scottish Book Trust between 7 and 8.30pm. More details will follow.

extended deadline for participation

First of all, a big thank you to those who have sent stories to me via email. After an astonishingly busy late summer, I will be adding these to this site very soon (so if you've been looking for them in vain, I do apologise!).

Second, there has been some coverage of the ensemble project recently on craft and jewellery sites such as craftscotland.org, which is wonderful. Some of the dates differ slightly for the deadline for submitting stories or being interviewed. The deadline has now been extended to the end of November 2006! And we still need you. I am trying to collect as many interviews in the Edinburgh area at the end of October however, to give us a chance to edit them and work them into the soundscape, so please do get in touch if you have half an hour, and be part of a great project!