With Tenement/Timelines, Iris Eichenberg fulfills the promise of her penultimate series of works, presented under the title Heimat in 2004. The latter embodied a provisional endpoint of a ten-year search for the meaning, the sense, of the self, of life, of life itself, initially undertaken as an exploration of the most internal parts of the body, which gradually led to the conclusion that such meaning, such sense, can only, and primarily be found in the connections that every body, every self forges with other bodies, other selves, as much as in the links between the body and its (im)material others, whether in the form of others objects, other materialities, surrounding landscapes, or even larger constitutive outsides. The series of works produced after this provisional conclusion, and before the current exhibition, appeared under the appropriate title Weiss (2005). Literally a white space, a blank page, that represented both a marking of time and the empty sheet of paper, from which the search could be started anew. A search that could no longer be undertaken on a strictly personal level, or be assumed individually. The result is Tenement/Timelines.
Immediately inspired by the curious collection of objects and paraphernalia stored in the vaults of the Tenement Museum in New York, objects waiting to be numbered, classified, and archived, these works constitute an almost literal attempt to give substance to, if not materially to actualize the multiple connections with an extended outside world, in all their branchings-out into an at least as extended timeline. Tenements, the cheaply constructed apartment buildings arising in New York City, especially on the Lower East Side, to house the waves of immigrants that arrived, full of expectation, during the second half of the twentieth century to explore the New World, became these newcomers’ first, and often permanent, residence in the United States. A typical tenement building was from five to six stories high, with four apartments on each floor, in which families of ten to twelve lived together, crammed into a kitchen, a parlor room, and sometimes, one bedroom. The buildings’ working-class inhabitants often worked from the home: many immigrants found employment in the garment industry, they rolled cigars in the overpopulated parlor room, made leather tackle, or occupied themselves with other forms of handicraft and cottage industry. Around 1900, the Lower East Side was one of the most densely populated neighborhoods in the world.
What enticed these people to leave their home countries, their families, and the familiarity of their social environment behind to try their proverbial luck in the land of the equally proverbial Boundless Opportunities? What did they hope to find in their new, unknown home country? The promise of the American Dream is perhaps best represented and symbolized by an object frequently recovered from the ruins of the Tenements: a large ring with an enormous bunch of—often rusty—keys, in all shapes and sizes, attached to it. The key that literally offered entry into a new home. The key that opens the door to a new existence. The key to a new world. The key to somebody’s heart. The key to happiness. In its almost threadbare symbolic associations, the key assumes a central role in the lives of immigrants.
That bunch of keys, with all of its positive as well as negative associations—a key, after all, also locks off, in addition to opening up—we encounter in a variety of transformations in a symbol that is at least as threadbare in its symbolic resonance, i.e., the human hand, in this new series of Eichenbergs work. What does a hand do? Just like a key, a hand may close off as easily as it may open up. A business deal, a first step into intimacy, a farewell. In all of their ambivalence, big bunches of hands reemerge in the experience of the artist’s own immigrant existence—an existence in which her own history connects itself with the life histories that are encapsulated in the bunches of keys dug up from the Tenements. Bunches of hands. Hands forging new connections, both in their diverse materialities—there are hands of copper, silver, leather, Bakelite, wood, tweed, and brass—and in their function, each tracing or establishing their own timelines, so that, as soon as we ourselves lay hand on them, attach them to our own bodies, we individually and collectively become entangled with or cut off from all those people who, each in their own small or large ways have given a turn to human history as a whole. Even if we have never actually left our own familiar surroundings, we know ourselves to be connected with the materiality these hands have produced. The dresses they have sewn, the cigars they have rolled, the packaging they have, whether or not at the conveyer belt, produced and inserted into our everyday lives.
The traditional methods of production, the piecework, with which the first waves of immigrants in the United States earned themselves a living, surface in other works in this series. Traditional handicrafts that could be practiced at home, such as leather-work, or simple knitting, become palpable in the materials as much as in the forms of these pieces of jewelry. There are no bracelets, rings, or necklaces here. The larger part of the pieces take shape as chatelaines—a chain or cord formerly worn by women at the waist to carry a purse or a bunch of keys—that simultaneously suggest the belt or chain worn by artisans to carry their tools or instruments on their bodies.
This direct connection to the body—inherent in all forms of jewelry, of course, but enforced with an all but too imposing literalness because of the specific shape of these works—as much as the ineluctable symbolic value of the metaphors of hand and key ring, urge us to reflect upon the ways in which timelines are being drawn. Without professing a downright political message, Eichenberg encourages us to think about that which connects us with former and current emigrants and immigrants, and to rejoice in the material and figurative meanings of connections, of assemblages, of the course of history, as well as to consider the enormous gaps—between people, between things—that have been caused by the ineluctable, whimsical courses such timelines may take. Not particularly reassuring, this work, for those who wish to see and experience the complexity of its implications. But beautiful work, too, that brings into practice a love for craftsmanship without in any way romanticizing it.
Renée C. Hoogland
2007
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Iris Eichenberg, 1965 Göttingen, Germany
Education
1998-2000 Teacher Training Course, University of Amsterdam, NL
1989-1994 Study Jewellery Design, Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam, NL
1985-1988 Nurse’s training, Protestant Hospital Göttingen, D
1984 A-level (Abitur), Hainberg High School, Göttingen, D
Public collections
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam NL: several pieces | Gemeentemuseum Arnhem, NL: several pieces | Textielmuseum Tilburg, NL: several pieces | Schmuck Museum Pforzheim, NL: several pieces 1 EKWC, 's Hertogenbosch, NL: several pieces | Muszeum Cesueho Raje, Turnov, Czech Republic | Mint Museum, North Carolina, USA | Francoise van der Bosch Stichting, NL: several pieces | Rotasa Foundation,California, USA | Fondation National d’Art Contemporain, Paris, FR
Grants, Stipends, & Awards
2005 Incentive Grant, The Netherlands Foundation for Visual Arts, Design and Architecture (Fonds BKVB), Amsterdam, NL
2003 Nomination Harrie Tillie Prize, Stedelijk Museum, Roermond, NL
2002 Incentive Grant, Fonds BKVB, Amsterdam, NL
2001 Basic Grant, Fonds BKVB, Amsterdam, NL | Nomination Design Award, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, NL | H. Hofmann Award, Schmuckszene' 99, Munchen, D | Artist in Residence, European Ceramic Workcenter (EKWC) s’-Hertogenbosch, NL
2000 Artist Stimulation Award, Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst, Amsterdam, NL
1999 Artist in Residence, European Ceramic Workcenter (EKWC) s’-Hertogenbosch, NL | Gerrit Rietveld Academy Award, NL
1997 Starter Stipend, Fonds BKVB, Amsterdam, NL
1996 Nomination RA-Award, Gallery Ra, Amsterdam, NL
1995 Nomination Artist Stimulation Award, Amstelveen, NL
1994 Gerrit Rietveld Academy Award, NL | Starter Stipend, Fonds BKVB, Amsterdam, NL
Exhibitions
2008 Gallery Noel Guyomarc’H,’Golden Clogs, Dutch Mountains’, Montreal, Canada | Gallery Anna Leonowens, ’Golden Clogs, Dutch Mountains’, Halifax, Canada
2007 Solo exhibition, Galerie Louise Smit, Amsterdam, NL | Solo exhibition,Gallery Ornamentum, S.O.F.A., New York,USA | Schmuckmuseum Pforzheim, Pforzheim, D | Gallery Velvet da Vinci,’Golden Clogs, Dutch Mountains’, San Francisco,USA | Gallery Sharon Campbell ,’Golden Clogs, Dutch Mountains’, Seattle, USA | Gallery Ornamentum ,’Golden Clogs, Dutch Mountains’, Hudson, NY, USA
2006 Museo Tambo Qirquincho, Elegancia Holandesa, La Paz, Bolivia | Victoria and Albert Museum, Gallery Louise Smit, ‘Collect’’, London, GB | Museum Het Kruithuis, ‘Strong Stories’, Den Bosch, NL | Erasmus Huis,‘Strong Stories’, Jakarta, Indonesia | Gallery Ornamentum, S.O.F.A.,Chicago, USA | Gallery Ornamentum, S.O.F.A, New York, USA | Museum of Art and Design,‘Schmuck 2006’, New York, USA | Handwerkskammer Munchen und Oberbayern ,‘Schmuck 2006’, Munchen, D | Textielmuseum,’embroided’, Tilburg,NL | Studio GR 20, Plastic/ Contemporary Gold, Milan, Padua, I | Studio GR 20, Natura in Bianco e Negro, Padua, I
2005 Solo exhibition, Gallery Metallum, ’Heimat/Systhems’, Stockholm, S | Solo exhibition, Galerie Louise Smit, ’weiss’, Amsterdam, N | Solo exhibition, Galerie SO,’Abwesenheit’, Solothurn, CH | Victoria and Albert Museum, Gallery Louise Smit, ’Collect’, London, GB | Studio GR 20, 'Gli Artisti', Padua, I | Gallery Platina, ‘Inspired by Nature?’ Bergianska Botanical Garden, Stockholm, S
2004 Solo exhibition, Gallery Metal, ’Heimat’, Kopenhagen, DK | Solo exhibition, Galerie Louise Smit, ’Heimat,’ Amsterdam, NL | Stedelijk Bureau Amsterdam,’loss’, Amsterdam, NL | Fundacao Calouste Gulbenkian, Lissabon, P | Handwerkskammer Munchen und Oberbayern ,‘Schmuck 2004’, Munchen, D | Victoria and Albert Museum, Gallery Louise Smit, ‘Collect’’, London, GB | Gallery Lesley Craze, London, GB | Deutsche Akademie Villa Massimo ,‘The eternal body’, Rome, IT | Universiteitsmuseum Utrecht, ‘The eternal body’,Utrecht ,NL
2003 Solo exhibition Huis Rechts, Amsterdam, NL | Stedelijk Museum, ‘Blur’, Amsterdam, NL | Salon de Mobile, ’Dutch Souvenirs’, Milan, IT | CaixaForum,’Inner Luxury‘ Int. contemporary jewellery, Barcelona, ESP | Stedelijk Museum Roermond, Harrie Tillieprize, Roermond, NL | Tallin Applied Art Museum, ‘Bare Boundaries’, Tallin, EE | OXOXO, ’9th Anniversary’, Baltimore, USA | Gallerie Binnen, ‘Dutch Souvenirs’, , Amsterdam, NL | Mikromegas, IT
2002 Solo-exhibition, Gallery Louise Smit,’Sunen’ Kunstrai 2002, Amsterdam, NL | Solo exhibition Gallery Louise Smit, ‘Sunen’, Amsterdam, NL | Solo-exhibition, Verzameld Werk, 'Waldeslust 2 ', Gent, B | Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, ’Display ‘, Municipal Acquisitions 2001, NL | Handwerkskammer Munchen und Oberbayern ‘Schmuck 2002’, Munchen, D | The Dick Institute "Schmuck' 2002", Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, GB | Frans Hals Museum, "British / Dutch Ceramics", Haarlem, NL | Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, "British / Dutch Ceramics, Norwich, GB | Gallery Lesley Craze,’Dutch Diversity’, London, GB | Crafts Council Gallery, ‘Home Made Holland’, London, GB | Maison Descartes, ‘the third floor’, Amsterdam,NL | Gallery Yksi, Eindhoven, NL | Fanshop, ‘Frau Wilhem’, Amsterdam, NL | ‘Mikromegas’, CH
2001 Solo exhibition, Gallery Tactile, Geneva, CH |Solo exhibition, Gallery Louise Smit, Artfair, Art Twente, NL | Bayerischer Kunstgewerbe Verein, 'Mikromegas', Munchen, D | Gallery V&V, ‘Waldeslus’", Wien, AU | Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Design Award, Rotterdam, NL | Schmuckmuseum Pforzheim, ‘Schmuck lebt’, Pforzheim, D | Beurs van Berlage, 'Rietveld naar de Beurs', Amsterdam, NL | Fashion Institute Vienna, ‘vernetzt’, Wien, AU | Designfair, ‘Designers Present’, Eindhoven, NL | Museum for applied Art ‘Blood’, Frankfurt, D
2000 Solo-exhibition, Gallery Louise Smit, Amsterdam, NL | 'An Amalgam of Art, Science and Technology', Birmingham, GB | Tropenmuseum Amsterdam, 'The rhythm of the human size', NL 1 Gallery Louise Smit, Ceramic exhibition, Amsterdam, NL | Textielmuseum Tilburg, 'SLIPSTITCH', NL | Beurs van Berlage, 'Rietveld naar de Beurs', Amsterdam, NL 1 Studio GR 20, 'Gli Artisti', Venezia, I | Kondagaon, 'Mela Bastar', India | The Society of Arts and Crafts, Boston, USA | Museum Waterland, Purmerend, NL | Braggiotti Gallery, 'The Woollen Tables', Amsterdam, NL | Beurs van Berlage, 'Oro DJ', Amsterdam, NL | Museum fur Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, D | MIAT, 'SLIPSTITCH', Gent, B | Gallery Louise Smit, Kunstrai 2000, Amsterdam, NL | Koningin Fabiolazaal, 'Het Versierde Ego', Antwerpen, B | Kunstlerhaus, ‘Kunst Hautnah’ Wien, AU | Bayrischer Kunstgewerbe Verein, ‘Mikromegas’, Muenchen, D
1999 Solo-exhibition Verzameld Werk, , Gent, B | Tarbekunstmuuseum,Tallinn, EST | Beurs van Berlage, 'Rietveld naar de Beurs', Amsterdam, NL | OXOXO Gallery, 'A Matter of Materials', Baltimore, USA | Villa Eksternest, ‘Eye-catchers', Roeselare, B | Koningin Fabiolazaal, 'Eye-catchers', Antwerpen, B | 'Schmuck'99', Munchen, D (H. Hoffmann Prize) | Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, 'AEX', Municipal Acquisitions Applied Arts '98, NL | 'The Eye's Delight', Bundesverband Kunsthandwerk, Erfurt, D | 'L'Alternativa al Preziosa', Studio GR 20, Padova, I | Beurs van Berlage, ' Rook', Amsterdam, NL
1998 Solo exhibition, Verzameld Werk, Gent, B | Solo exhibition, Gallery Louise Smit, , Amsterdam, NL | Gallery Intermezzo, Dordrecht, NL | Handmade Prints, Marcel Kalksma, Amsterdam, NL | Beurs van Berlage, 'Rietveld naar de Beurs', Amsterdam, NL | Gallery Schmucksache, Köln, D | Gallery Metallum, Stockholm, S | Textielmuseum Tilburg, 'Eye-catchers', NL | Kunsthal Rotterdam, 'Positions', NL | The Stones Gallery, San Francisco, USA | 'Art-tour' Monnickendam, NL
1997 Solo-exhibition, Gallery Gundula M. Cancola, , Salzburg, A | Solo-exhibition, Verzameld Werk, Gent, B | Gallery Ra, '20 years RA', Amsterdam, NL |Beurs van Berlage, 'Rietveld naar de Beurs', Amsterdam, NL | Gallery Louise Smit, Amsterdam, NL | Lappeenranta College of Crafts and Design, F | Crafts Victoria Gallery, Melbourne, Australia | Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, 'Scanning', Municipal Acquisitions Applied Arts ' 96, NL
1996 Zimmerhof, Bad Rappenau, D | Muszeum Cescueho Raje, 'Sympozium Sperk a Drahokam v Turnove', Turnov, CR | Klessheim Castle, ‘Schmuck im Schloss’, Salzburg, A
1995 Stichting Beeldende Kunst, Gelderland, NL | Gallery Mei Ling Knibbe, Edam, NL | Museum of Applied Arts, Gent, B | Schouwburg, Presentation Artist Stimulation Award, Amstelveen, NL | Kunstuitleen Krabbedans, Eindhoven, NL | Goldsmith Hall Department Design and Technology,’ The Class of '95’, London GB
1994 Gallery/ Museum Amstelle, Exam work, Amstelveen, NL | Gallery Ra, Exam work, Amsterdam, NL | Gallery Marzee, degree- show, Nijmegen, NL
1993 Collage Foundation, 'Sculptures for Blinds and Seeing', Kortehoef, NL
Organisation and teaching
2007 Head of the Metalsmithing Department, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Michigan, USA | Member of the Advisory Panel of the Fonds BKVB, NL | Workshop/Lecture, Alchimia, Florence, IT | Workshop/Seminar ‘Flags’, Konstfak, Stockholm, S
2006 Guest teaching, Hiko Mizuno College, Tokyo, Japan | Guest teaching, University of Stellenbosch, S.Africa | Guest teaching, State University of New York, New Paltz, USA | Guest teaching, Cranbrook Academy, Michigan, USA | Lecture, Interactive Africa/Design Indaba, Cape Town, S.Africa
2005 Workshop/Seminar ‘Identity’, Konstfak, Stockholm, S |Lecture, Zeichenakademie Hanau, D | Lecture, Design Institut, Hong Kong, China | Guest-teaching, Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education, H.K. , China
2004 Workshop ’Science and Art’ Minerva Academy, Groningen, NL |Guest lecture ‘The eternal body’ Nederlands Instituut Rome, IT | Guest lecture ‘The eternal body’ Museum Catharijneconvent, Utrecht, NL | Guest lecture ‘The eternal body’ Academie Beeldende Kunsten Maastricht, NL
2003 Guest lecture, Applied Art Museum, ‘Bare Boundaries’, Tallin, EE
2000 Organization Artist Stimulation Award, Amstelveen, NL
2000-2007 Head of the Jewellery Department, Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam, NL
1997 Teaching, Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam, NL
1997-2005 Organization Fair/ Exhibition 'Rietveld naar de Beurs', Amsterdam, NL
1994-1997 Guest-teaching, Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam, NL
1996-2001 Guest-teaching, South Carelia Polytechnic, Lappeenranta, F
1995; 1997 Organization, Haldenhof Symposium, D
Commissions
2003 Stichting Cultuurfonds, Den Haag, business gift
2002 EKWC, "Dutch Souvenirs", 's Hertogenbosch
2001 Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum Business Club
1999 Schmuckforum Deutschland, Köln, business gift
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2007 Golden Clogs, Dutch Mountain, Contemporary Young Dutch Jewelry Art,USA (cat.)
2006 Acquisitions 1993-2003, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Rudi Fuchs, NL (cat.) | Gioielleria Contemporanea,’ Natura in Bianco E Negro’, Milan, Padua, I (cat.) | Elegancia Holandesa, Dutch Dress Up, 40 Dutch Designers, Bolivia, (cat.) | Museum Het Kruithuis, ‘Strong Stories’, Den Bosch, NL (cat.) | Kunsthandwerk 2 /2006, “der Schmuck entdeckt Amerika”, Ursula Neuman (art.) | Erasmus Huis,‘Strong Stories’, Jakarta, Indonesia (cat.) | Handwerkskammer Munchen und Oberbayern ‘Schmuck' 2006’ (cat.) | Victoria and Albert Museum, Gallery Louise Smit, ‘Collect’’, London, GB(cat.) | Studio GR 20, Plastic/ Contemporary Gold, Milan, Padua, I(cat.)
2005 Galerie Louise Smit, ’Collect’ London / Amsterdam (cat.) |Galerie Louise Smit, weiss, solo- exhibition (cat.) |Kunstbeeld, nr 09 2005, weiss ,by Anne Berk (art.) | Opzij, dec, 'Pionier in deTextielkunst' (art.)
2004 1000 Rings, Lark Books (cat.) | Victoria and Albert Museum, ‘Collect’’, London, GB (cat.) | Handwerkskammer Munchen und Oberbayern ‘Schmuck' 2004’, Munchen, D (cat.) | Tallin Applied Art Mueum, ‘Bare Boundaries’, Tallin, EE (cat.) | Fundacao Calouste Gulbenkian, Lissabon, P (cat.) | Nieuwsbrief Bureau Amsterdam, no 83, ’loss’, Amsterdam | Stedelijk Museum Bulletin no 6, ‘loss’, Amsterdam | SMBA Stedelijk Museum, ‘loss’, ,Amsterdam, NL (cat.) | Manifesto ‘The eternal body’, Nederlands | Instituut Rome, ‘Deutsche Akademie Villa Massimo’ Rome,(cat.) | Elegance, November (art.) | Het Nederlandse Sieraad in de 20ste eeuw, Marjan Unger, Bussum, NL
2003 Tableau nr. 6, ‘Denken door je vingers’ by Chis Reinewald (art.) |Kunsthandwerk & Design, ‘vernetzt’ (art.) | Fundacio la Caixa, ‘Luxe Interior’ Barcelona (cat.) | Artein numero 84, ‘Gioie protestanti’ by Roberto Chilleri (art.)
2002 Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam,’Display ‘, Municipal Acquisitions (cat.) |Gallery Louise Smit, ’Sunen’, Kunstrai 2002, solo- exhibition (cat.) | Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, ’Display’, Municipal Acquisitions (cat.) | Handwerkskammer Munchen und Oberbayern ‘Schmuck' 2002’ (cat.) | Crafts Council Gallery, ‘Home Made Holland’ (cat.) | Frans Hals Museum "British / Dutch Ceramics"(cat.)
2001 Rondo Nr.125, ‘Waldeslust’ (art.) | Femina Nr.36, ’en toute libert’"(art.) |Tribune De Geneve 15 .9.2001, ’tricote des bijoux fous’ (art.) | Le Courier 22 sept.’des bijoux hybrides, ni toc ni chic’ (art.) | Schmuckmuseum Pforzheim, ‘Schmuck lebt’ (cat) | Eyewear & Fashion Nr. 9, ‘Il neonaturalismo nei gioielli’ (art.)
2000 'L'Alternativa al Preziosa' Studio GR 20 (cat.) | Vitrine ( Museum Tijdschrift Openbaar Kunstbezit) 'Van Kachelpijp tot Lieveheersbeestje' -Het Sieraad als Beeldende Kunst- (art.) | Man, nov (art) |‘Het versierde ego’, Jan Walgrave, Antwerpen (cat.)
1999 Elegance, nr 1 'Breipatronen' (art.) | de Volkskrant, 'Mode, macht en aanzien karakteriseren vormgeving'(art.) | Handwerkskammer Munchen und Oberbayern ‘Schmuck' 1999’ (cat.) | Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, 'AEX' (cat) | Auria NR 1 'Hollantiantilianen Koru Vuosituhannen Vaihteesa’(art.)
1998 Galerie Louise Smit 'Nieuw Werk' (cat.) | Dutch, nov (art.) | Blvd, nov (art.)
1997 HP/de Tijd, mei, 'Kunst en de Knikkers' (art.) |Het Parool, juni, 'Menselijk Lichaam als Bron voor Sieraden' (art.) | Items, nr 8, 'Gezellig Grenen in een Grijs Jasje' (art.)
1996 Kunstmagazine Ruimte NL 'De Grenzen van het Sieraad' (art.) |Alchemy Workshop Lappeenranta 'The Stone of Wisdom' (cat.) | Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam 'Scanning' (cat.) | Gallery Ra 'Passion and Profession' (cat.) | Items dec. 'Voorgoed van elkaar vervreemd' (art.) | Tentokrat 'Sympozium Sperk a Drahokam v Turnove' (cat.)
1995 The Goldsmith' Arts Trust Fund, London GB 'Class of 1995’ (cat.) |Pinhole Photography 'Een Cirkel van Licht' (ca.) | Kunstaanmoedigingsprijs (Art Stimulation Award), Amstelveen (cat.)
1994 'Au Claire de la Lune' (cat.) | Bijvoorbeeld nr 3, 'Ziel en Zaligheid' (art.)
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Selected art jewellery artists listed by countries and name. Includes information of the artists, images of the work, cv, statement, publications, exhibitions, coming events, contact.
