Photo: Views Athens 2017.
Initiation 2017 @ SIERAAD Amsterdam + Athens Artist Residence/Extreme Culture+Jewellery Trip.
Open call for 6 international jewellery artists who want to participate in Sieraad Amsterdam (9-12 November) with Initiation 2017.
Initiation is a series of jewellery art exhibitions inspired by the impact of ancient culture and mysteries on contemporary life. The first group show Initiation 2017 just took place during Munich Jewellery Week 2017 (8-11 March) and was featuring in Current Obsession’s “Critic’s choices”.
Initiation follows the succesful show series “Myths” (Berlin 2013/Hamburg 2014/Munich Jewellery Week 2015/ Sieraad 2015/Munich Jewellery Week 2016/Grassimesse Leipzig 2016/ Sieraad 2016) which was dedicated in promoting Greek jewellery abroad.
For more information, please visit: http://www.initiation2017.com and http://www.myths2015.de and http://www.testdrive2016.tk and http://www.leaveyourcrisis.com
How it works?
We invite you to visit Athens, explore the endless possibilities of an archaic and still vibrant culture, discover its ancient, medieval and modern treasures, meet local makers&artists and design a new series of jewellery inspired by your experiences of a city that never sleeps.
This NEW jewellery is your participation in our curated exhibition “Initiation 2017” at Sieraad Amsterdam, 9-12 November 2017.
Athens also called “New Berlin” for its undiscovered possibilities to develop and show art work is the place to be for international artists and designers, as the Greek capital gets ready to co-host DOKUMENTA 2017 Kassel-Athens from April 9 to July 15. However, the ones who cannot make it before July 15 will not be disappointed: the best is yet to come as Post-Dokumenta Athens is scheduling a systmatic approach to promotng art and the city with myriad of shows and events that will not let you get bored!
Initiation 2017 at Sieraad Amsterdam offers:
1. Participation in Sieraad Amsterdam with our 8 member team.
2. Original exhibition design.
3. Professional placement of objects and lighting effects (optional).
4. Print/digital invitation and project website featuring artists and works.
5. Communication and PR/networking services through the international Press/social media/partners and sponsors/mailing lists.
6. Professional advice on design/sales/promotion issues.
7. A Six-Nights/ Seven Days Artist Residence in down town Athens/Greece in flat/atelier between – early June – mid October 2017.
8. Customized visits of very important art and jewellery collections in Athens.
9. Customized tours of archaic/ ancient/medieval secret Athens topography — including fabulous archeological sites. Insider tips for spots and venues of interest to contemporary jewellery artists and designers.
1o. Customized workshops on Greek culture and Ancient Greek Jewellery.
11. Introduction to popular Greek jewellery techniques. (Optional workshop )
12. Professional advice on possibilities to exhibit in Athens/Greece and presentation of your work in a Dokumenta 14 Athens venue. (Optional)
And much more.
How to apply?
1. Contact us for details on how to apply and the fees at loukiarichards@gmx.de by March 31.
2. Positive answer? Book your residency in Athens between mid May- mid October 2017 with a big flat and working place at your disposal in the very heart of the city – the local artists and intellectuals area!
3. Book your own ticket and fly to Greece. We will be waiting for you and give you four days of intensive learning, seeing, experiencing culure and jewellery. You also have three days off at your disposal for a revitalising short vacation in Greece’s vibrant capital.
4. See, taste, feel, ask, visit, take notes/pictures, make sketches, try on, ask for book references and tips, talk to locals. Enjoy the experience.
5. Return home. Prepare your Initiation-inspired jewellery for Sieraad 2017. We will consult you online.
6. Come to Amsterdam, get your Sieraad 2017 participant’s free card, find the stand waiting for you to use, promote your experiences and sell your jewellery.
I want to stay longer in Greece. Can I?
We offer you the possibility to stay longer in Athens and explore the city on your own or visit Leonidio, a 19th century town in the Peloponnese, stay in an original 19th century mansion, enjoy the garden, the terraces and the countryside, meet locals, get to know the still living archaic traditions of Arcadia, visit more creeds of Greek civilization: Homeric Mykene, ancient Sparta and byzantine Mystras, work in a spacious atelier for as long as you like and get reborn after a tough day of work by walking through the red canyon’s wild landscape.
For more information write at loukiarichards@gmx.de
MORE Q&As:
1. I like the idea of a trip to Greece and the jewellers’ special program, but I do not want to participate in Sieraad. is it possible to book a trip without the international show?
Yes! Contact us to schedule your customized visit between May – October 2017.
2. I love the idea of visiting Greece and being part of the Initiation team, but I cannot come to Amsterdam. Can you represent, promote and sell my jewellery?
Contact us to discuss terms and conditions for this service.
3. I love the idea of Sieraad but I do not want to visit Greece, I have my own ideas for the Initiation show. Can I participate in your team?
No! Initiation is a team show we design, coordinate, curate. You are free to develop your ideas, but we want designers and artists to interact with us. We do not sublet a stand and present jewelry made by various artists in different styles one next to the other. We do not see any meaning eithet for us or for you in doing so. We want our team to share a common vision and spirit, that’s why we have to meet in Greece. When you are there, you will understand how important it is to see Greece and understand its living mythology.
4. Can’t we meet elsewhere? In Berlin or Hamburg or Amsterdam?
Athens is the hottest place to be for German and international artists right now. Artists get positioned ahead of Dokumenta 2017 and other cultural opportunities which will arise next year in Athens. Artists go to the capital of Greece to find out what’s this new creativity the crisis brought to explosion and everybody talks about; artists get inspired by the „de Chirico“ light, the spatial abundance and the „anarchy“ in Athens urban network; if you want to visit a place everything is under move and change, you do not go anymore to Berlin where establishment has occupied what was available in the early 2000s. If you want to to experience change despite the rough conditions of living in Greece, you go to Athens – the “new Berlin”.
In Greece you see the amazing tradition of using jewelry as a talisman or as a magic chain to connect generations and memory or as a gender symbol or as part of every day life. In addition to that, the collections of archaic and ancient jewellery we will introduce you to and analyse their visual language and meaning will change your perception of what your art and metier is about. It is a must for every contemporary jewellery designer to visit Greece.
5. Why not go on my own and read a guide or tips on the internet?
It is hard, if not impossible, to find all the connections we will make clear for you to understand in a book, an internet article or a classical guide. We won’t show you what the average tourist wants to see, but what a jewellery designer needs to see to understand and to grow in his/her profession.
Loukia is a native Athenian and at the same time an international artist and curator. She will give you customized tips responding to what YOU want and need to see and make you aware of historical, anthropological and cultural connections that will place new knowledge in the context of contemporary art and design. She lives and works in Greece, Germany and the Netherlands and can navigate easily through three distinct cultures and build bridges of meaning.
Christoph is a German artist familiar well involved in the local art scene and fluent in Greek who will show you amazing Athenian spots that no average local guide will ever think of being interesting for a foreigner – and an artist- to see. With studies and long living experience in Berin and Marseille, he will also give you his “foreigner’s tips for living in Greece like a Greek God” and explain to you in a straight forward way the big creative challenges an international artist may find in contemporary Greek society.
6. I am interested in having a show in Greece. What are the possibilities?
Many! It depeds on what you want and when you want it. Contact us to discuss the issue.
7. I would like to join the team but I would like to visit Athens with my husband/wife/partner/friend etc. who is not a designer. Is it possible?
Yes! Please contact us.
8. I like the idea and I would like to stay more in Athens and /or visit Leonidio have vacations and work at the old mansion’s atelier. Is it possible?
Yes! Please contact us.
9. I would like to join the team but I would like to visit Athens with my husband/wife/partner/friend etc. who is a designer but does not want to participate in Initiation. Is it possible?
Yes! Please contact us.
10. I find thrilling what you write, but jewellery is not my thing. Do you have other offers for artists coming from different fields or art lovers?
Yes! Textile – Sculpture – Creative Drawing – Traditional Greek cooking for vegetarians and vegans – Extreme Culture & Extreme Nature – Puppet theater productions for children – Communication & Project Building workshops.
Please contact us at loukiarichards@gmx.de
