Virág Motesiczky

(BA student Jewellery – Linking Bodies, Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam, 1990)

trophy commission for Lin Cheung, winner of the Françoise van den Bosch Award 2018
awarded on November 10, 2019 during The Relevance of Craft symposium at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam

brooch Not So Sad Anymore, 2019
buttons (plastic, epoxy, various metals, shell, flax thread, remanium)
edition of two

letters, 2019
paper, thread
edition of two

The trophy piece specifically responses to ​the brooch Slightly Sad​ of Lin Cheung. Lin’s piece reacts honestly to the current political situation in the United Kingdom. Slightly Sad tells us how the European Union has lost a star from its flag.

Based on the motivation of loss Virág Motesiczky wanted to find something at the same time – to activate people and to trigger them for an act through social collaboration. The EU practically consists of 28 member states. On the other hand, theoretically it holds 27. From all these ‘theoretical’ countries people have sent Lin a handwritten greeting together with a button by post to show and offer a gesture of support and protest.

The brooch Not So Sad Anymore​ is a collection of 27 star shaped garment buttons that mimics the traditional characteristics of a pin badge. The visual appearance and the combined elements are also referring to the phenomena how garment buttons evolved into badges. The formal and functional evolution through history shows a clear timeline between the merge of the needle and the button. This tiny ornament​ ​(button) represents cultural classification, crafts, industrial revolution and loud political statements, even if the ‘human’ size of it makes its existence highly concentrated.

Photo: Lin Cheung