For more than thirty years, the Gallery of Art in Legnica has specialised in promoting contemporary jewellery and artistic objects with a special focus on silver.
The most important event they organize is the “Legnica Silver Festival” with its core, the international competition.
It is one of the few competitions where participants have to send the actual pieces !!!!!!

On one hand this can be a problem for makers, because of sending expenses and the fact that the pieces will not be available for some time even if you are not chosen for the exhibition and the catalogue.
BUT on the other hand this system has the great advantage that the jury can see, touch and judge the REAL PIECE which is something quite different from a photo.
(Most jury sessions are just with photographs)

So we really recommend participation !!!!!

As every year the choice of the theme is connecting with the cultural situation in the world and this years theme “Revolt” is particularly challenging for us as jewelry makers.

Revolt
It is better not to turn on the television today. We are being attacked by images of economic crises, stock market crashes, falling ratings, budget deficits, cost cutting programs and increasing unemployment from everywhere. As a reaction to the overwhelming impression of a lack of opportunities there are emerging movements such as “Occupy …”, helplessly protesting against banksters, corporations and governments. Doesn’t speaking in such circumstances about jewellery – the subject invariably associated with the demonstration of wealth and selfish hedonism – seem socially unacceptable and even ethically suspect? After all, the burning of ATMs and the broken glass of jeweller’s shops have become part of the frustration of all the Indignados.
But there is also another aspect of the design and use of jewellery – which – like no other product of the imagination – can be an effective message, manifesting the point of view of the user – a voice of protest, being anti-or pro-, attitudes of rebellion, rebellion and guerrilla warfare. Can a standard set of slogans written out on banners, T-shirts and slap tags be complemented with another more sophisticated message? Are jewellery designers able to demonstrate their own opinion and join the discussion concerning anaesthetic issues? Is the tradition of exclusive gold jewellery going to be our irreversible remorse? And will the chorus “Diamonds are a girl’s best friend” always sound as infantile as the recent testimony before the European Court of Justice in The Hague of the famous model Naomi Campbell, who at one time accepted an embarrassing gift from the dictator of Liberia, tried for war crimes, so evocatively reconstructed in the movie “Blood Diamond” with Leo DiCaprio as a ruthless mercenary?
Looking forward to your reply. Join the culture jamming!

- Sławomir Fijałkowski

Here the conditions of participation and don’t forget : There must be some silver in the piece

Conditions and terms of participation
1. The competition is open to all artists from Poland and abroad.
2. There are no restrictions as to the number of works submitted by a participant, provided that:
– the copyright is with the artist,
– the works are submitted under the artist’s name,
– all the works submitted by the artist can be contained within a case measuring 40 x 40 x 35 cm; by the Organizer’s earlier permission, the arrangements can be made to accept objects of dimensions exceeding those specified above.
3. The artist declaring his or her participation in the competition is obliged to:
– submit the objects, accompanied by a properly filled-in invoice and application form, sent or otherwise delivered (at the artist’s own expense) to the Gallery by the deadline of 29th March 2013 (the deadline concerns the actual arrival of the work, not the postmark).
– send the submitted works in an appropriate and secure packaging that will protect the objects from damage and can be re-used for returning them to the artist.
4. The packages will be opened by a commission.
5. The works not qualified for the exhibition will be returned by the end of August 2013 according to the instructions provided by the artist on the application form.
6. Since the aim of the exhibition is to be exposed in other cities, the selected works will remain under the Organizers disposal till July 2014, and then they will be sent back to the participants till the end of July 2014 together with documentation of the work`s presentation.
under the patronage of The Minister of Culture and National Heritage 22nd Legnica International Jewellery Competition in the framework of The Legnica Jewellery Festival Silver

The jury
1. The works will be assessed by the international jury.
2. The Jury will meet on 4 – 5 April 2013. The Organizers invited to the jury: Galit Gaon (Israel), Jiro Kamata (Japan/Germany), Hans Stofer (Switzerland/Great Britain) and from Poland: Aneta Lis-Marcinkiewicz and Sławomir Fijałkowski.
3. The artist’s interpretation of the theme of the competition and using silver will be the basic criterion for the Jury to qualify works for the exhibition and award prizes. The submitted works may be accompanied by a commentary (one sentence) which will be included in the catalogue.
4. The Jury’s decisions are final and cannot be challenged in the court of law.
5. The list of the classified persons will be published on the Gallery’s site: www.galeria.legnica.pl and Festival’s site www.silver.legnica. pl till 16th April 2013.

Awards and prizes in the competence of the Jury
I. Grand Prix 10.000 PLN (c.a 2440 euro)* + 1 kg of silver
II. 2nd Award 5.000 PLN (c.a 1220 euro)* + 1 kg of silver
III. Award of the Mayor of the City of Legnica 3.000 PLN (c.a 730 euro)* + 1 kg of silver
IV. Award of the Gallery of Art in Legnica solo exhibition with catalogue worth 1000 euro
V. The Organizers’ Special Award for creative courage, uncompromising attitude, innovation or sense of humour statuette “Silver Spur” + 1 kg of silver

Prizes beyond the competence of the Jury
INHORGENTA MUNICH Award free stand at INHORGENTA MUNICH in 2014 worth 2000 euro
The Joachim Sokólski Award established by the Polish Modern Art Foundation 1 kg of silver
Polish Jewellery Award free stand at Summer Trade Fair JUBINALE in Cracow in 2014
Polish Jewellery Award advertisement in Polish Jewellery in 2014
Award of Six Group statuette “SIX ounces”
Honorable mention of the Goldsmithing Artists` Association statuette and diploma
Honorable mention of the Director of the Gallery of Art in Legnica diploma
In this category the choice of the prize-winner is made by the founders of the award or upon their permission by the Jury.

There will be also a lot of interesting side-events this year in Legnica, the most important one is Schmuck 2013 but there will be others that might make it really worth while to go to Poland.

Details later on!!