Bruce Metcalf, Band Aid, 1993, painted wood, sterling silver, 18 carat gold, 4 x 2 7/8 inches, Mint Museum of Craft + Design, Gift of Dr. Marty and Judy Bloomfield

Neither jewelry or rock and roll are going to save the world, but it doesn’t stop us trying. One of the more interesting initiatives to exploit jewelry’s social conscience and political potential is the ‘Middle East Portable Discussion’ put together by I Care A Lot, a non-profit, non-governmental group founded in Stockholm, Sweden, by Dana Hakim (jeweller) and Yosef Bercovich (graphic designer). Their proposal is an international exhibition of contemporary jewelry which tackles the thorny issue of the Middle East. (To visit their website, click here.) As the organizers suggest:

Jewelry is an intimate art medium within the private and the public space which offers a personal relationship and an encounter between the wearer, the viewer audience and the actual jewelry. It is an invitation to start a conversation and it can make a meeting possible. The body is a portable showcase and the wearer chooses what and how to exhibit on him/her. Jewelry express the wearer character and sense of humor, it acts as an extension to the wearer personality, indicating his/her group of belonging, it is asking questions or claiming its opinion about the reality in which we live in, about our society, our surrounding and ourselves. By wearing jewelries we attain communication.

Exploiting this potential of adornment, I Care A Lot is looking for jewelry that provocatively and intelligently mines the ability of jewelry to cast new light on old problems, and to put into question our relationship to, understanding of, and sense of commitment towards, the Middle East. Submissions are due on 15 March 2010, for an exhibition online, at Platina Gallery in Stockholm, and through the medium of a catalogue.