I am a Jewel

“I am a Jewel”

This is a performing installation project that aims to establish an action device to allow Contemporary Jewelry to cross its common borders and integrate the structures of the designated current art. An invitation to reflect on some concepts and (pre-conceptions), an appeal to the construction of new meanings in a frame full of bipolar realities. How is a jewel defined?, how is a contemporary jewel defined?, how is a work of art recognised? how is a work of contemporary art identified?

All possible answers will have a subjective and mutable character derived from the inevitable plurality of definitions that go along the constant metamorphic movement of the current reality. It is not a dead end but rather the opening of borders where the different realities cross and feed each other in a hybrid manner. We are not in front of a limitation, but of liberation.

“I am a Jewel” could be a jewel despite its particular characteristics: made of printed paper, with a precise and ephemeral application. In a self-reference process within the conceptual realm of the Contemporary Jewelry, this piece states: “I am a jewel, I am not a black paper circle with white letters. I am a jewel, precious and unique”. It is neither the materials nor the techniques that define the value of a contemporary jewel.

Furthermore, the dynamic of this project only makes sense through its transfer to reality. We have, above all, a performing installation device with the potential to experience real space, in real time, with real people. The device is activated in the city streets, in the public spaces inhabited by people, diverse persons, all of them carriers of a unique character. Every time that we activate this device, flyers are distributed to people with three questions: “Are you unique? Are you precious? Are you a jewel?”. Simultaneously, it is offered the possibility to attach to each person’s clothing a “jewel” that estates “I am a Jewel”. The “jewels” are attached with pistols that tag them to the clothes.

We can then understand that the project “I am a Jewel” inverts as well the roles normally endorsed to decoration objects. Here, the main relevance is not the artistic object but rather the user. The symbolic value is transferred to the individual who carries the object. Actually, it is a process of mutual reference: in a way the individual refers to the jewel, on the other hand the jewel refers to the individual who transports it.

I understand this way that the “jewel” stripped of its self-referential value becomes a means of expression for the consciousness of whoever uses it:

Everybody’s certainty is to feel unique and precious. The individual is self-defined by being a jewel. The individual recognizes its unique and precious value. The person does not acquire social status value because s/he carries a jewel materially valuable (with gold or diamonds, for example) or a jewel aesthetically stunning. On the contrary, the person is valued for him/herself, without the need of decoration.

The true value of this project is to facilitate the expression of the individual’s self-awareness who realises, assumes and claims his/her uniqueness and essential value. We can extract another reflection point: the “jewels” are all the same, a black circle with white letters that say “I am a Jewel”. We could then think that this sameness could even or stifle the unique and distinct character of each individual. On the contrary, even if people consider to use, wear, or carry the same objects, they would never stop being themselves, unique and precious. It is intended in this project to reaffirm that it is not the exterior object that classifies the person but rather the person who classifies the object and bestows his/her character of uniqueness. Last, the “jewel” looses all its symbolic value and acquires superfluous value in face of the real individual. Returning to the Contemporary Jewelry’s borders, let’s imagine that we could gather some people who use the “I am a Jewel” jewel and ask them to hold each other’s hands to compose a gigantic circle. Each person is here understood as a pearl, all together forming an immense necklace. Could we create a big, unique and valuable “Pearl necklace”?

How is this project registered?

We register it on a graphic level each time that the device is activated in this project. The persons who wear the jewel are photographed individually in a given space or moment. Later on, a poster summarizing and registering this action is created. We will produce several posters throughout the year as a result of the different performing installations carried out. All the photographic and graphic design work is responsibility of Chiara Zenzani.

Language used.

This device can be used in any language depending on the geographical and cultural spaces where applied.

Enjoya´t 07

This project was launched in the context of the Enjoia’t 07 contest, organized by the Goldsmiths Association FAD in Barcelona on the 30th November 2007. This action took place in Spanish.

Next action will take place in English at the Plaza de Cataluña and Las Rambals in Barcelona.