5th International Biennial of Contemporary Metal Art METALLOphone

The Biennial of Contemporary Metal Art METALLOphone is taking place in Vilnius for the fifth time. This is the only international event dedicated to metal art and jewellery in Lithuania, which has been increasingly gaining in scale and which is beginning to resonate louder and louder both in Lithuania and abroad. Its name is symbolic: a metallophone is an instrument capable of transforming metal into sound, while the sound of metal can become a sonorous narrative about innovative thoughts and visions. For the second time, METALLOphone 2020 will be making its home in the premises of the Lithuanian National Museum. This time it will be in the historic bastion of Vilnius defensive wall – in one of the oldest museums of Vilnius, in the defence building dating back to the first half of the 17th century. The bastion, first used for combat and defence, later became a museum the extraordinarily distinctive spaces of which speak of an urge to defend – if needed, with a weapon – in order to preserve what we have. This obliging, distinct, historically significant space is ready to welcome contemporary metal and jewellery artists. Therefore, the theme of the 2020 edition of METALLOphone is MUSEUM.

Every artist has created works that they consider undoubtedly worthy of a museum; many an art piece author walk the hallways of their imaginary museum. Lastly, museum strategies, such as preserving, accumulating, presenting, interpreting, disseminating, can also serve as a pretext for works of art to emerge.

As many as 90 authors from more than 20 countries are participating in the biennial: Hungary, Austria, Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Germany, Belgium, Lithuania, Latvia, the Netherlands, Portugal, Switzerland, Spain, United Kingdom, Greece, Slovakia and Scotland. The artists taking part in the biennial have gained international acclaim and are true stars of contemporary jewellery, whose works show how incredibly interesting and engaging, as well as radical, relevant and controversial contemporary jewellery can be. Rather than relying on precious metals or gemstones, artists often use light-reflecting materials, rust, hair, paper, eggshells, iron, leather, or even a banana peel. Their works glow in the dark, move when touched, tell the history of Lithuania and present personal stories that are definitely worthy of a museum. Modern jewellery is very close to us: our intuition, fears, dreams, ambitions, feeling of uncertainty, misgivings, hopes and faith. Being very close to the body, jewellery reflects all that fills our days and nights, our consciousness and the subconscious. Therefore, I hope that each viewer will create their personal and unique museum in their memory.

Curator Dr Jurgita Ludavičienė

5th International Biennial of Contemporary Metal Art METALLOphone is open from 30 September to 15 December 2020 at The Bastion of the Vilnius Defensive Wall (Bokšto St. 1, Vilnius).