The Forum für Schmuck und Design e.V. in Cologne offers its members the opportunity to participate in an exhibition with a set theme at regular intervals. In 2014, the theme chosen for the exhibition was Shadows.
The members were given a short explanatory summary of the shadow phenomenon – the etymology of the term, its definition, its significance in astronomy and mythology as well as in folk beliefs were explained.
The shadow silhouette of Goethe from the year 1762, Friedrich Nietzsche’s poem The Wanderer and his Shadow, Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, as well as The Woman Without a Shadow by Richard Strauss were offered as inspiration.
61 participants from eight countries accepted the challenge and interpreted Shadows in diverse pieces of jewelry and objects.
The exhibition presents Shadows of Civilization, The Shadowed Side, The Dark Side of the Moon, Drop Shadow, Shadows of the Past, Black Nightshade, Shadows of Memory, Schattenkuss (the name of novels by Inge Löhnig and Laurell K. Hamilton) and Eye Shadow – to name just a few of the original ideas.