METALLOphone: Bonds (2016)

When creating, artists often forget that they belong to a large community which brings all the creators together by invisible links. Being in the community inspires, allows to learn and share ideas as well as discover new horizons. To bring artists together to a single event – this was the idea of the contemporary metal biennial “METALLOphone” when it was launched five years ago. Today the biennial unites the global community of metal artists and is the only event dedicated solely for metal art in Lithuania.

So it is unsurprising that the third international contemporary metal art biennial taking place in Vilnius talks about the metal connection. As a unified speech, this material, having mediational characteristics, not only brings together artists from around the world but also has the ability to embody the intangible connection between the artist and the environment through a creative process. Each person sees the world in his own way, describes different events in his own words so the connections embodied in metal in this “METALOphone” reveals authentic, unique stories of the artists.

The works presented at the biennial take visitors aback not only by the variety of shapes but also by unexpected combinations of materials. Here, various metals are combined with organic and synthetic materials, ready-mades, found or recycled items, while the shapes of the creations vary from jewellery works that maintained their functionality to conceptual, small plastic objects. Such a wide variety of metal art, bringing together artists who value a conceptual approach and who work in different areas of the world, reveals the versatility of metal.

This year “METALOphone” generated especially a lot of interest not only in Europe but also in Asia, Australia, North and South America so the event featured 63 artists from 28 countries: Turkey, Romania, Poland, Germany, Greece, Belgium, Japan, USA, Sweden, Denmark, Lithuania, Holland, Taiwan, Colombia, Canada, Estonia, Austria, England, Latvia, Pakistan, South Korea, Israel, Italy, Brazil, Thailand, Finland, Spain, New Zealand.

Aisegul Telli, 2016, Turkey

Aisegul Telli, Turkey

Ana Cristina Berrio, 2016, Colombia

Ana Cristina Berrio, Colombia

Andrea White, 2016, USA

Andrea White, USA

Andreia Gabriela Popescu, 2016, Romania

Andreia Gabriela Popescu, Romania

Andrzej Boss, 2016, Poland

Andrzej Boss, Poland

Anja Eichler, 2016, Germany

Anja Eichler, Germany

Anna Vlahos, 2016, Greece

Anna Vlahos, Greece

Anne-Sophie Vallée, 2016, Canada

Anne-Sophie Vallée, Canada

Anneli Oppar, 2016, Estonia

Anneli Oppar, Estonia

Aric Verrastro, 2016, USA

Aric Verrastro, USA

Brice Garrett, 2016, USA

Brice Garrett, USA

Christa Lühtje, 2016, Germany

Christa Lühtje, Germany

Claire Lavendhome, 2016, Belgium

Claire Lavendhome, Belgium

Ditė Dilginienė, 2016, Lithuania

Ditė Dilginienė, Lithuania

Dovilė Bernadišiūtė, 2016, Lithuania

Dovilė Bernadišiūtė, Lithuania

Dukno Joon, 2016, USA

Dukno Joon, USA

Eglė Čėjauskaitė-Gintalė, 2016, Lithuania

Eglė Čėjauskaitė-Gintalė, Lithuania

Ela Cindoruk, 2016, Turkey

Ela Cindoruk, Turkey

Elisabeth Habig, 2016, Austria

Elisabeth Habig, Austria

Felicia Mülbaier, 2016, Germany

Felicia Mülbaier, Germany

Hester Popma van de Kolk, 2016, Netherlands

Hester Popma van de Kolk, Netherlands

Holland Houdek, 2016, USA

Holland Houdek, USA

Ilze Kibure, 2016, Latvia

Ilze Kibure, Latvia

Jee Hye Kwon, 2016, USA

Jee Hye Kwon, USA

Joo Hyung Park, 2016, South Korea

Joo Hyung Park, South Korea

Jordi Aparicio, 2016, Spain

Jordi Aparicio, Spain

Kamran Babrak, 2016, Pakistan

Kamran Babrak, Pakistan

Kate Bajic, 2016, UK

Kate Bajic, UK

Katja Toporski, 2016, USA

Katja Toporski, USA

Kätrin Beljaev, 2016, Estonia

Kätrin Beljaev, Estonia

Katrin Feulner, 2016, Germany

Katrin Feulner, Germany

Kim Ji-Young, 2016, South Korea

Kim Ji-Young, South Korea

Lena Lindahl, 2016, Sweden

Lena Lindahl, Sweden

Lital Mendel, 2016, Israel

Lital Mendel, Israel

Louise Seijen ten Hoorn, Israel

Maja Houtman, 2016, Netherlands

Maja Houtman, Netherlands

Marie Grewenig, 2016, Germany

Marie Grewenig, Germany

Marie-Louise Kristensen, 2016, Denmark

Marie-Louise Kristensen, Denmark

Marina Sheetikoff, 2016, Brasil

Marina Sheetikoff, Brasil

Masako Onodera, 2016, USA

Masako Onodera, USA

Melis Agabigum, 2016, USA

Melis Agabigum, USA

Michihiro Sato, 2016, Japan

Michihiro Sato, Japan

Minna Karhu, 2016, Finland

Minna Karhu, Finland

Nazan Pak, 2016, Turkey

Nazan Pak, Turkey

Nicole Jacquard, 2016, USA

Nicole Jacquard, USA

Nik Hanton, 2016, New Zealand

Nik Hanton, New Zealand

Niklas Link, 2016, Germany

Niklas Link, Germany

Ramunė Jundaitė-Misevičienė, 2016, Lithuania

Ramunė Jundaitė-Misevičienė, Lithuania

Ria Lins, 2016, Belgium

Ria Lins, Belgium

Roberta Pavone, 2016, Italy

Roberta Pavone, Italy

Romualdas Inčirauskas, 2016, Lithuania

Romualdas Inčirauskas, Lithuania

Rudee Tancharoen, 2016, Thailand

Rudee Tancharoen, Thailand

Rūta Jurkūnaitė-Bruožienė, 2016, Lithuania

Rūta Jurkūnaitė-Bruožienė, Lithuania

Ruudt Peters, 2016, Netherlands

Ruudt Peters, Netherlands

Serena Holm, 2016, Sweden

Serena Holm, Sweden

Simona Girelli, 2016, Italy

Simona Girelli, Italy

Una Mikuda, 2016, Latvia

Una Mikuda, Latvia

Vincent Pontillo-Verrastro, 2016, USA

Vincent Pontillo-Verrastro, USA

Vita Pukštaitė-Bružė, 2016, Lithuania

Vita Pukštaitė-Bružė, Lithuania

Wu Ching Chih, 2016, Taiwan

Wu Ching Chih, Taiwan

Ying-Hsien (Eunice) Kuo, 2016, UK

Ying-Hsien (Eunice) Kuo, UK

Yu Hiraishi, 2016, Japan

Yu Hiraishi, Japan

“METALOphone: Bonds” in 2016 involved a new programme – an online international lecture cycle.

During the programme, speakers from various countries and schools presented their environment, share their knowledge and insights into the creation of modern metal art, art trends and the combination of a conceptual approach with special technologies. 

  • Seminar “Jewelry Connections in São Paulo, Brazil” with Marina Sheetikoff (Brazil), jewelry artist.
  • Seminar “The (Beginners) Guide to Estonian Jewellery – 10 basic questions around metal” with Ketli Tiitsar (Estonia), jewelry artist.
  • Seminar “Art Jewelry in Sweden” with Miro Sazdic (Sweden), jewellery artist and senior lecturer at department of jewellery “Ädellab” at Konstfack, visual/jewelry artist Rebecca Deans (Sweden) and Dovilė Bernadišiūtė (Lithuania/Sweden) jewellery artist and recent graduate from Konstfack, Jewellery and Corpus.
Seminar “Jewelry NL” with Ruudt Peters (Netherlands), jeweler and sculptor, and artists Liesbet Bussche, Gesine Hakkenberg, Chequita Nahar and Ted Noten
Seminar with Vincent Pontillo-Verrastro (USA), artist and Metals and Contemporary Art Jewelry professor at University of Wisconsin-Stout
Seminar “Bonds between Telsiai, Lithuania and jewellery” with Gabrielė Pranevičiūtė (Lithuania), jeweller and the head of Telšiai Gallery of Vilnius Academy of Arts.

METALLOphone is harmonised by

Soul and curator
dr. Jurgita Ludavičienė

The project is funded by
Lithuanian Council for Culture