Otto Künzli

In his artistic jewellery work, Jiro Kamata (b. 1978) deals with optical phenomena in connection with the perception of values. In doing so he also thematises traditional production methods. He processes found and sometimes used materials into rings, brooches and pendants. Kamata's works are generated in respect of an 'experienced memory'; only through experience and interaction with them do they attain their value. Kamata keeps the entire process in view at the same time: from manufacture to performance as worn on the wearers' bodies. Lenses, mirrors, even adhesive tapes offer insights, outlooks and perspectives, link wearers with their environments and query the assumed positions at the same time: How do we see the world and how does the world see us? Text in English, Chinese and Japanese.

Mari Ishikawa sees a parallel world off the beaten track of everyday living that she wants to make visible with her art. Such counter-worlds are discovered in photographs with long exposures, which are taken up in art jewellery. Together these pairings result in an overall picture that is almost mystical. Silver casts taken from nature are reborn as jewellery in combination with diamonds, pieces of charcoal, or paper. Thus Mari Ishikawa interrupts for a brief moment the flow of transience; a precious object is created that has been wrenched from the cycle of life and death to stand for itself and for the moment.