Wunderruma

Anita and I visited the Auckland Art Gallery this afternoon to view the Wunderruma jewellery show. It was more exciting than I expected as the curators had chosen to explore the concept of jewellery in many interesting ways. Not only did we see many decorative, wearable pieces but they also provided examples of jewellery in and as image, jewellery as sculpture, as installation and as artefact.I was particularly thrilled to see one of Mikala Dwyer's necklace installations as I had been looking at pictures of them today in relation to the language of things. Mikala Dwyer, Methylated Spiritual (2012) photo taken at Auckland City Art GallerySpeaking of heterogeneous object collections there were several I saw in the exhibition. This one is a collection from the Randell Family cottage, discovered in a small hole behind the chimney.Obviously someones little stash of magical objects! Hany Armanious, Turns in Arabba (2005) Photo taken at Auckland City Art GalleryThis Hany Armanious work has a fascinating collection of objects presented on an altar-like shelf and in various stages of creation and transformation. This work had me pondering around how it expressed the jewellery theme of the exhibition. Was it the casting of the objects? Their decorative shapes and method of display? The way they ornament their altar/shelves? The sound added an extra dimension to the work by seeming to fill the negative space around and between the objects.Another thing of note was the very unusual display strategy of stacked perspex cubes for the smaller pieces. At some points I felt it didn't work as the small items on the lower cubes got a bit lost and I don't think it works to force a viewer to bend over uncomfortably when the intent is display rather than as a function of the artwork. But overall I found the display strategy engaging and interesting, it also allowed for the viewing of many small objects without breaking up the gallery spaces with standardised, waist level display tables.This exhibition appealed to me in particular because of my own interest in jewellery. I found that it opened up my ideas around jewellery and it's possibilities in my art practice. The wide variety of objects and images allowed me to see the concept of 'jewellery' in more than just decorative of wearable terms, but also objects that can be brought into installation or sculptural conversations.