Museum Contest Schoonhoven Silver Award 2018

Call for Application: Museum Contest Schoonhoven Silver Award 2018

The Schoonhoven Silver Award is an initiative of the ‘Stichting Zilverkunst’ (Silver Art Foundation).

Since its inception in 2001 the Award has had six winners:

Oliver Schmidt, Germany (2002),
Monika Gimborn-Jochum, Germany (2004),
Jan Matthesius, The Netherlands (2006)
Hiroshi Suzuki, UK / Japan (2009),
Stratos Kantzelis/ Greece (2012),
Yuki Ferndinadsen Japan/ Denmark (2015)

In 2010 the organisation of the award was transferred to the Nederlands Zilvermuseum in Schoonhoven and the competition has since taken place under the museum’s auspices. The Award’s most recent editions have been dedicated to promoting contemporary ‘great, silver art’ to a broader, art-minded audience, with the emphasis on innovative silver concepts.

Aim and Objective

The Schoonhoven Silver Award 2018 continues to be devoted to the goal of reaching a wider audience and inspiring artists to test and explore the boundaries of their traditional art and craft. More particularly, the Nederlands Zilvermuseum Schoonhoven seeks to invite submissions that bear a direct relationship with the spearheads of the museum’s policy, i.e. stimulating the exploration of new technologies and uses, and innovative art forms. Innovation, as envisioned in the Award’s present edition, would centre on the rejuvenation of older, time-honoured techniques, and on the preservation of an immaterial heritage by injecting dynamic new life.

The above could be pursued by:

Presenting today’s silversmiths with new artistic and technical challenges;
Fostering partnerships with silversmiths and other design disciplines, to inspire a new vision and perspective on the traditional techniques applied in silver art and craft;
Stimulating a knowledge search of silversmithing skills and competencies of bygone eras.

Winner last edition : Silence by Yuki Ferdinandsen

Selection and Nomination

The selection procedure for participation in the Schoonhoven Silver Award 2018 reflects the museum’s low-threshold policy, while the criteria for submissions express the museum’s forward looking philosophy and ambitions. Also, the preconditions were set in a manner that reduces the investment participants would need to commit.

Participants are asked, before 31 July 2018, to forward a photograph and short description (background info) of the object they wish to submit, in the English language.
Submissions can be sent to ssa@zilvermuseum.nl
Objects dating January 2015 and later are considered eligible for submission. It is not necessary for the object to have been created exclusively for the Schoonhoven Silver Award.
On the basis of the photography and texts received, an international jury will select the nominations.
Only when an object has been nominated will the maker be asked to forward the object.
The maker does not need to be in possession of the object, however, the object must be available for jury assessment as well as for the entire duration of the exhibition.
All nominations are considered for an award and are displayed in the exhibition.

Participation Criteria

Submissions are expected to meet the following criteria:

Use of a classic technique, innovative in application and concept, is an important criterion. Classic techniques may include:
enamelling, in all forms;
chasing;
etching;
filigree;
metal patina work;
niello;
granulating;
damascening;
Materials other than silver are permitted, however, a sufficient amount of silver must be present for the object to convince as a work of silver art;
Partnerships with other disciplines, aimed at innovative practices or approaches to traditional techniques are emphatically encouraged;
Designer / constructor partnerships are allowed;
Unique objects and prototypes for machine production are equally considered;
Jewellery is excluded from competition.

Jury

The jury consists of

Jeroen Martens (Director of Diva Antwerp),
Jan Matthesius (silversmith and former award winner) and
Angela Cork (Chair of Contemporary British Silversmiths).

The jury will convene twice; first, to select nominations based on received imagery and text, and secondly, to judge the nominated objects and appoint the winning submissions.

Prizes

The Schoonhoven Silver Award 2018 offers at least one prize, which is awarded at the jury’s sole discretion. This prize is made available by courtesy of the municipality of Krimpenerwaard. In addition, the museum wishes to increase the award’s appeal among professionals and start-ups, to which end the museum actively seeks funds and sponsors. The museum, furthermore, invites recent graduates and students to submit to the Schoonhoven Silver Award 2018 and will be looking to appoint an additional prize for young professionals (up to age 29 incl.).

In the course of the exhibition at the Nederlands Zilvermuseum Schoonhoven, a special prize is awarded for the public’s favourite object.

Venue

Kazerneplein 4, Schoonhoven, Zh 2871 CZ Netherlands

zilvermuseum.com