Also jewellery — Assemblage as a new way of wearing

Abstract

The artistic research “Also Jewellery - Assemblage as a New Way of Wearing” is an attempt to untie the knot. A knot that came into formation when the author started to identify herself as a contemporary jewellery artist and noticed a rising query on the definition of wearability in the context of contemporary jewellery. The functionality of jewellery elucidated in the traditional standard as body ornament is suffering from a slow wipeout. The author embarks on an adventure of finding her own answer to the question of what is wearability by invoking the theory of vital materialism by Jane Bennett. Vital materialism acknowledges the agentic forces possessed by the nonhuman which allows manifestation of traces of independence from human subjects. The notion of assemblage is also introduced which points out the heterogeneous groupings of human and nonhuman forces that are constantly being formed in our quotidian life. Considering jewellery as a perfect medium to investigate such concepts, the author creates a body of work during the making of which she examines the dynamic between the maker and the materialities that go into the completion of the work. The study is finalised in the form of a recorded performance. The author therefore is able to propose a new way of looking at the question of wearability, an assemblage where human intentionality is de-centered.