Legnica Jewellery Festival SILVER has proudly reached its 36^th year of age. The culmination of the present edition, which fell on the 15^th and 16^th of May, traditionally attracted a multitude of Polish and foreign guests – the artists, the people of the branch, along with the fans of the avant‑garde jewellery. The “silvery” weekend saw the openings of 24 exhibitions, supported by the accompanying events, amongst which it is worth to mention a session of popular science, entitled “Boundaries of The Global Art”, which has been a fellow part of the Festival for an intermittent 16 years. That very session hosted interesting presentations of the theorists: professor Jan Kurowicki, Andrzej Mazur, Paweł Rosner, and Marta Andrzejczak, and the practitioners: Tasso Mattar, Eva Burton, Andy Gut, and Marta Hryc. Moreover, the programme of the Festival was enriched by the “Silver Screen” series’ projections, by a jazz concert played by Cracow Jazz Trio, which took place in Letia Business Centre, or by the announcement of the BOUNDARIES photo contest’s results. In the city, the Festival was being foretold by happenings of visual art. It was the latter events that stood behind the embellishing of the marketplace’s giant stony ring with a “diamond”, and behind the employing of the barricade tape to blaze the trail between the venues of exhibition, curiously marked – for the spectators’ convenience – by border poles.

 

The crowded openings of the avant-garde jewellery exhibitions were honoured by the presence of the Polish, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Swiss, German, Swedish, Lithuanian, and also Argentinean, and South Korean authors of the exhibitions. On openings we`ve heard artists and curators: authors of the exhibitions from the cycle „About the Artist” (Eunmi Chun, Mia Kwon, Elisabetta Duprè, Ewa Effenberg, Marta Hryc, Anna Król), Eva Burton (Sur o no Sur), Katja Köditz, Heidemarie Herb (Amber Chamber), Wim Wandekerckhove (Gdańsk Baltic Amber Biennale), Laima Keriene ("Silver Schools" - Lithuania), Andi Gut, Frieda Dörfer, Katrin Feulner (On and on and on), Ewa Rachoń (Amberif Design Award), Marcin Tymiński (XXV STFZ), Jarosław Kolec, Waleria Ługowska (Polish Groups), Maria Antonina Łęcicka oraz Karolina Szymanowska ("Debuts"), Piotr Rybaczek from La Basílica Galería ("We from Jedwabne...").

 

During the most important ceremony – the announcement of the results of the 24th International Jewellery Competition BOUNDARIES – the artists were awarded with the prizes of the total value that exceeded 40 thousand zloty, including also 4.5 kg of the silver granules founded by KGHM. This year’s theme, BOUNDARIES, had attracted the record high number of artists (337 designers from 42 countries). The pieces that found their way to Legnica had been made of heterogeneous materials; both these traditionally used by jewellery (noble metals and gemstones), and these atypical: artificial and natural (e.g. plastic, wood, glass, fabric, animal bones). The Grand Prix had been split into two, as it was given, on the one hand, to the duet of Polish designers: Bogumiła and Andrzej Adamski, and, on the other hand, to Jarosław Westermark. The awards’ ceremony evoked a true climax of emotions, hence the names of the winners had not been previously known.

 

Among the other festive moments, it is worthwhile to reminisce the act of awarding Zbigniew Kraska, the Director of The Gallery of Art, with the gilded statuette of David. That was done by Tasso Mattar, a merited jeweller and the author of that statuette which, for 30 years, has been given away to honour people and institutions working for the benefit of the contemporary jewellery. Yet another surprise was the birthday cake, handed to the numerously gathered designers, representing Goldsmithing Artists' Association (STFZ). The latter event took place at the opening of the exhibition that celebrated STFZ’s 25thanniversary. Moreover, STFZ granted diplomas of honour to the few dozens of the artists that had contributed to “We from Jedwabne” exhibition, with regard to its initiator – Piotr Rybaczek from La Basílica Galería.