Lauren Kalman
(USA, 1980)
Winner Françoise van den Bosch Award 2020
Lauren Kalman is a maker of objects relating to the body, creating wearable objects as well as performative pieces and installations that expand the concept of body ornamentation. Her practice is a crossover between craft, performance and visual art. Using the body as a metaphor, she creates visually provocative pieces that challenge what jewellery and body adornment can be. Through her work she investigates sex, gender, power and beauty, relevant themes that are bigger than the jewellery discipline alone.
The jury of the 2020 Françoise van den Bosch Award:
Jo Bloxham
Lin Cheung
Vanessa de Gruijter
Anders Ljungberg
Theo Smeets
Martijn van Ooststroom (chair)
Read the jury report here
Eleonora Radke designed the trophy for Lauren Kalman
Designing Adornment, Questioning Beauty
In our image-dominated culture the presentation of the body has become central to how we think about ourselves and others. This domination of the self-image affects every aspect of our culture and our ideas about how the body should look – and how it could be enhanced. Beauty ideals are historically linked to the female body that is constantly scrutinized, objectified and commodified, and feed into an idea that women are incomplete or lacking and require ‘improvement’ in the form of adornment, makeup or cosmetic surgery. A growing number of – mostly female – artists is challenging these ideas, reclaiming the female body as an artistic medium of criticism and resistance to dominant beliefs following cultural standards.
The symposium was structured around themes connected to the work of artist Lauren Kalman. The event will explore topics such as beauty ideals, commodification of beauty, the objectification of the female body, body image and gender. A keynote lecture was given by Dr. Meredith Jones. She is a transdisciplinary scholar who works at the intersections of feminist theories of the body, media and communications, gender studies, and cultural studies
View the entire symposium here on the Stedelijk Museum’s YouTube channel.
Saskia van Es wrote a review about the symposium taking place at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, November 14th, 2021
Click here to read the full article.