The Art of Engagement

New Zealand and Australia seem like natural allies. Both counties were colonized by the ‘motherland', and both are geographically isolated from the self-proclaimed jewellery epicenter - Europe.

Yet despite some historical exchanges, and past trans-tasman exhibitions, long lasting jewellery relations remain relegated to a series of ‘almost-rans'. Is the work incompatible? Are our cultural experiences too disparate to allow any meaningful connections?

Back in October 2010, an exhibition of work by fifteen NZ jewellers went to Sydney, Australia under the moniker Touch, Pause, Engage. This time around, the work of fourteen Australian jewellers sits alongside the New Zealand fifteen in an effort to compare and contrast current jewellery practices and to see if we are running on an even playing field.

Touch, Pause, Engage was originally intended to offer the Australian community a glimpse into the Contemporary Jewellery scene in Aotearoa, New Zealand, and to reset the trans-Tasman rivalry between our rugby-loving brothers and sisters.

Known primarily as the call the referee shouts before two rugby teams lock into a scrum, Touch, Pause, Engage, curated by Kristin D'Agostino and Raewyn Walsh, re-presented at Objectspace as The Art of Engagement, has now become an invitation for artists to converse through jewellery, as well as a call to audiences to interact with the work in both its physical and conceptual manifestations.

What: The Art of Engagement

Where: Objectspace, window gallery, 8 Ponsonby Road, Auckland

When: until 26 February, 2011

Cost: Free admission