Symposium organized by Zoé Kiner-Wolff  with the support from Sartoria association.

This international symposium – entitled ‘Jewellery: Making Art with Body Matter (20th–21st centuries)’ – is part of the recent surge in research into jewellery and, more broadly, into adornment and fashion. By bringing together PhD students and researchers from a range of disciplines, artists and jewellery professionals, the aim is to shed light on this multifaceted object, which remains under-researched in France. One of the current issues that this scientific event aims to address is the need to establish a global field of research that enables jewellery to be understood as a coherent subject of study. Through the six panel discussions scheduled over these two study days, speakers are invited to examine the common definition of jewellery – as part of the ‘cultures of appearance’ [cultures des apparences] – by approaching it through the lens of the body and its materiality.

Program

Day 1 – 9:00 am – 6:00 pm : Tuesday, October 20, 2026 – INHA, Galerie Colbert, salle Vasari 

9:00 am > Welcoming 

9:30 > Introduction : Zoé Kiner-Wolff (Sartoria association), PhD candidate in Art History (University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, ED 441/HiCSA, France) 

Session 1 – Jewellery studies: a multidisciplinary approach 

10:00 > Elsa Dos Santos, PhD candidate in Art History (University Paris Nanterre, HAR, France) – Title: « Le bijou contemporain à l’épreuve de la corporéité : analyse de l’exposition Sculpture pour un corps (1983-1984) » 

10:30 > Dr. Jonathan Boyd, Head of Applied Art at the Royal College of Art (Jewellery and Metal MA and Ceramics and Glass MA) – Title: «  On Jewellery and Meaning: Outlining a New Type of ‘Jewellery-thinking’ » 

11:00 > Dr. Nichka Marobin, Italian art historian specializing in Dutch and Flemish art history and independent curator, who graduated from the Faculty of Arts at the University of Padua (Italy) – Title: « FORMS DWELLING IN POSSIBILITY. A study on the life of forms: the “Métissages” between fashion and contemporary jewellery » 

11:30 > Q&A with the audience 

12:00 – 1:30 p.m. > Lunch Break 

Session 2 – Jewellery: body ornament and cultures of appearance 

1:30 > Samira Oulaillah, PhD candidate in Art History (University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, France) – Title: « Le bijou mis en corps : parure, photographie de studio et féminités statuesques en Afrique de l’Ouest (1945–1990) » 

2:00 > Dr. Fernando Ligue Engamba, PhD in Archaeology and Heritage Studies (University of Ngaoundéré, Cameroun) – Title: « Perles et mémoire du corps : les bijoux de l’Est-Cameroun comme patrimoine de résistance et d’identité » 

2:30 > Q&A with the audience 

3:00 – 3:30 p.m. > tea Break 

Session 3 – Making with the body: a material study of jewellery  

3:30 > Saskia van Es, art historian, lecturer (theory and history of jewellery) at Sint Lucas Antwerpen – Title:  ‘The oppression of chthonic forces in jewellery’ 

4:00 > Dr. Annarita Bianco, PhD in Design for Made in Italy at the University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli) – Title:  ‘We Are Soil: contemporary jewellery, trans-corporeality and the political.’ 

4:30 > Q&A with the audience 

5:00 > Roundtable – Titre : ‘Making art with human remains’, moderator : Zoé Kiner-Wolff (Sartoria association) PhD candidate in Art History (University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, ED 441/HiCSA, France), with :  

> Emmanuel Lacoste, Jewellery artist, AFEDAP (Paris, France) 

> Helena Renner, Jewellery Artist, Gemstone and Jewellery Campus, Hochschule Trier (Idar-Oberstein, Germany) 

> Carla Castiajo, Jewellery artist and lecturer (University Lusófona de Porto, Portugal) 

5:45 > Q&A with the audience 

6:00 p. m. > End 

Day 2 : 9:30 am – 6:00 pm :Wednesday, October 21, 2026 – INHA, Galerie Colbert, salle Vasari 

9:30 a.m. : > Welcomings 

10:00 > Introduction : Diana Plachendovskaya, PhD candidate in Art History (EHESS, France) 

Session 4 – Jewellery as Embodiment: A Socio-Material Approach to Ornament 

10:30 : > Dr. Roberta Bernabei, Full Professor without a Chair – Reader in Craft Research. Editor Director of the Journal of Jewellery Research and Director of Jewellery Research Lab at the School of Design and Creative Arts, Loughborough University, UK. Vice Chair of AGC, Italy. & Dr. Maria Maclennan, Associate Professor in Jewellery and Silversmithing (Teaching and Research), and Director of Postgraduate Research in Design at Edinburg College of Art, University of Edinburg – Title: “Exploration Through Matter: Socio Material Enquiry in Forensic and Well Being Jewellery Practices.”  

11:00 : > Helen McCormack, Reader in Art and Design History at The Glasgow School of Art & Silvia Weidenbach, lecturer in Silversmithing & Jewellery at The Glasgow School of Art and a visiting lecturer at HEAD Haute École d’art et de Design Genève, and at the London College of Fashion. – Title: « Performing post-digital ornament: matter and meaning in jewellery objects through AI, AR and VR technologies » 

11:30 : Discussion & questions  

12:00 – 1:30 p.m. > Lunch Break 

Session 5 – Physicality of the object: between materiality and identity 

1:30 : > Mariambibi Khan, lecturer in the Creative Jewellery and Metal Design Division (Stellenbosch University, South Africa) – Title: « Contemporary Jewellery: Material Engagements wih Identity in South Africa, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia » 

2:00 : > Marion Mouchard, PhD candidate in Art History (University Paris IV Sorbonne) – Title: « Parer le corps “à l’antique” : la référence archéologique comme vecteur d’une nouvelle corporéité (1952-1972) » 

2h30 : > Dr. Anaëlle Gobinet-Choukroun, PhD in Art History (University of Strasbourg, France), Lecturer and associate researcher at L’École des Arts Joailliers (Van Cleef & Arpels) – Title: « Le bijou non précieux dans les collections Chanel et Schiaparelli » 

3:00 > Q&A with the audience 

3:30 – 4:00 p.m. > tea Break 

Session 6 – Body Jewellery : le bijou son lien au corps et à la portabilité 

4:00 : > Dr. Lucileee Bach, PhD in Art History (University Paris IV Sorbonne) – Title: « Le bijou ou les conditions de son port qui l’active » 

4:30 : > Anna Wójcik-Korbas, Master in art history (University of Wroclaw, Pologne) – Title: “Carrying the Message: The Agency of Jewellery Between Body, Wearer, and Viewer” 

5:00 > Q&A with the audience 

5:30 – Conclusion : > Maialen Salcedo Berrueta (Presidente of Sartoria association), PhD candidate in Art History (University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, ED 441/HiCSA, France) 

6:00 p.m. > End 

Registration links

Tuesday 20th of october  → Registration link

Wednesday 21st of october  → Registration link