The European Triennial for contemporary Jewellery 2016 - 2018 Opening at WCC, Mons, Belgium and then travelled to Gustavsbergs Konsthall Sweden and Atelier de Paris, France For the sixth European Triennial for Contemporary Jewellery in Mons, three countries have been invited, Belgium, Sweden, France and I curated the Swedish part of the exhibition. I have followed what has been done in the last three years by artists who use art jewellery as their visual expression. Themes that I have seen in several artists’ work have been the basis for the selection but the work can be seen from different perspectives. Materials and techniques mix with unique expressions as a result. Variation and rapid changes can be seen as typical of our time, likewise the artists' versatile approaches to establish contacts with an equally diverse audience. Several of the artists frequently work with social involvement, environmental engagement and are aware of gender issues. The selection reflect the variation that can be seen in Swedish contemporary art jewellery. Choosing fifteen jewellery artists to represent Sweden is as difficult as defining what contemporary jewellery is. Is it jewellery made by Swedish artists? But what is meant by being a Swedish artist? Is it jewellery made in Sweden? However, Swedish citizens make jewellery outside Sweden's borders. Is it what an audience considers to be Swedish? And what do we mean when we say contemporary art jewellery? Opinions and definitions differ and there are several aspects to consider. A selection is always subjective. For the sixth European Triennial for Contemporary Jewellery in Mons, Belgium, I have followed what has been done in the last three years by artists who have their base in Sweden, who call themselves jewellery artists, work in the discipline of jewellery art, make art with jewellery references or in other ways say that they use art jewellery as their visual expression. Themes that I have seen in several artists’ work have been the basis for the selection. But the themes are undetermined, works can be seen from different perspectives, materials and techniques mix with unique expressions as a result. Variation and rapid changes can be seen as typical of our time. Likewise, the artists' versatile approaches to establish contacts with an equally diverse audience. Catarina Hällzon digs into the ground and creates jewellery from the sand she finds, wherever she happens to be. Sanna Svedestedt works with reindeer leather as the material she knows from where she grew up. There is concern for what surrounds us even if it is collected from far away. Li Liang's jewellery transforms waves and lines, influenced by cultural similarities as differences, of ocean and inland but also movement and drawing. Linnea Eriksson reflects on her urban environment with elements of graffiti and heavy beats. Mia Fkih Mabrouk lives and works in an area known for stone cutting and she shows heavy sculptural rings made of iron and stone. Jelizaveta Suska also works with stone but here the material is ground to powder and the expression becomes something completely different. Experimenting with materials and to use materiality to express our time can be seen in Agnes Larsson's blonde abstract jewellery of horsehair and aluminium. Kajsa Lindberg's use of unconventional jewellery materials, such as receipts and measuring tools, illuminates systems and codes around us and challenges what jewellery art is and can do. Several of the artists frequently work with material recycling and with an environmental engagement. Helena Johansson Lindell questions hierarchies, she mixes high and low in compositions of colourful plastic and wood materials she acquires in flea markets and second-hand stores. Johanna Törnqvist criticizes the commercial fashion industry when she makes jewellery of recycled garbage. Karin Roy Anderson turns used plastic packaging into fish-skin patterns and shapes that twist around the body, while she is fascinated by the ability of fish to change gender and identity. Gender is a theme that is always present and may, therefore, not be seen as a theme in itself but the awareness is there and is reflected in the work by several of the participants. Tobias Alm and Lisa Björke reflect on craftsmen, their materials and tools, but also on gender stereotypes. Social involvement in which the audience engages in the process turns into performative jewellery activities. Taking the role of Dr Knap - The Jewellery Artist, Agnieszka Knap lets the audience comment on what they see and she uses that in further work. The group A5, Adam Grinovich and Annika Pettersson, challenge the idea of the artist as a genius and the hand's participation in the artistic process when they let others create jewellery by printing the pieces during the exhibition. The varied selection may reflect the time we are in now, from my perspective and that of the chosen artists. It is also up to each and everyone in the audience to interpret from the basis of their own experiences. In this way, content and expression are broadened and we get a multifaceted picture of what is going on in Swedish contemporary art jewellery.