John Cage's Notations have accompanied me for a long time. They invite experimentation and force you to reflect on yourself as a performer. 

"The notations are instructions for free interpretation, vague guidelines with an open outcome that can always be new and different. An incredible world of possibilities.

A quote from his book Silence became the basis for my approach to making jewelry: “...somebody asked Debussy how he wrote music. He said: I take all tones there are, leave out the ones I don't want and use all others.”

The material from which jewelry is made is important, but it only serves the idea.

The choice of material and technique is subordinate to the goal and does not consider value; gold and plastic are equal, as is the effort involved in goldsmithing techniques.

For me, the question was: how do I translate abstract thoughts into a form that works on the body? They are three-dimensional drawings, sometimes deliberate, sometimes gestural and light. The material on the body as a canvas.

Creating visual worlds from physical theories and abstract observations, John Cage and Marcel Duchamp gave me the initial spark for the implementation and the freedom to directly translate my thoughts into reality. No sketches beforehand, the material is the drawing and at the same time becomes a notation for the viewer.

For this project, Nichka's invitation immediately conjured up images: 

four pieces of jewelry were to be created, based on simple instructions and minimal materials/tools.

The focus was on the material and the two-dimensional aspect of drawing: the lines in the material and the drawing on the body. A white line modulated with a roller, a black line shaped by heat and hands, hatching on a metal band with a hammer, and a rhythm of weight, volume, and color. These instructions were waiting to finally be implemented. The stones are found grinding residues that have been waiting for years to be used. The silver bands are leftovers from the relief brooches of 2014. The black thermoplastic spiral never made it into a final form, and the rolled wire was always visible on the wall as an option.

These pieces of jewelry could now be notations for music, or simply for the composition of your thoughts. The eye runs along the lines and perhaps loses itself in its own vortex of contemplation. 

Worn, it will change your posture and involve your body as part of the piece of jewelry. 

John Cage relied on the random procedures of the ‘I Ching’, the inclusion of “emptiness as a runway for thoughts” (J. Cage)."

IRIS BODEMER

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