‘Treasures, Trials & Troubles’ shows the artistic research of jewellery artists Liesbet Bussche (BE/NL), Maria Konschake (DE/BE) and Charlotte Vanhoubroeck (BE). At present, these makers are each affiliated as PhD scholars at Hasselt University and PXL-MAD School of Arts where they are part of MAD-Research, within the MANUFrACTURE research group.

In this collective presentation, all three artists explore in what ways their worlds of making and thinking are treasured, trialled and troubled. Worlds that involve urban musings and minutiae, objects perfected by deviation, and the lost sentiments of a queen. Several kinds of treasures – the archetypical ones, yet also the historical, personal and forgotten ones – ignite an urge to act and initiate the thinking and the making. Along the way, every course of action is subjected to trials that trigger the need to reflect, to revise, to deepen. Troubles occur that sometimes paralyse, but also challenge and even amuse. Eventually, new treasures arise. They make you notice the never seen territories between the maker’s studio and the street. They make you comfortable with what is considered to be disturbed and disrupted. They make you believe that oblivion isn’t the end, only a doorway to new, imaginative realities. They are the treasures that show you how to contemplate the world in different, still unknown ways.

Liesbet Bussche (1980, Belgium) is an Amsterdam-based jewellery designer who is known for her installations, objects and printed matter in which public space acts as both a source of inspiration and an area of intervention. She studied at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie (NL) and St Lucas School of Arts Antwerp (BE). Currently she is pursuing a PhD in the Arts at Hasselt University, PXL-MAD School of Arts (BE), researching the relation between jewellery and the city from a practice of noticing using jewellery-related features as catalysts.

Maria Konschake (1990, Germany) is a visual artist and jewellery maker whose artworks are craft-based explorations that reflect on historical, political and socio-critical themes. She was trained at the Staatliche Zeichenakademie (DE), studied at the Hochschule Wismar (DE) and combined her practice with teaching and freelance work. Currently she is pursuing a PhD in the Arts at Hasselt University, PXL-MAD School of Arts (BE), researching deviation as a process to create art objects based on identity-related jewellery.

Charlotte Vanhoubroeck (1991, Belgium) is an art historian and jewellery artist whose work challenges oblivion. By using history as a tool, she reactivates gradually fading heritage in the contemporary art scene. She studied at Ghent University (BE) and d’Academie Beeld Sint-Niklaas (BE), and continued her research at Bishopsland Educational Trust (UK) and Le Arti Orafe (IT). Currently she is pursuing a PhD in the Arts at Hasselt University, PXL-MAD School of Arts (BE), researching the lost sentimental jewellery of Queen Louise-Marie d’Orléans.

Liesbet Bussche’s (BOF20DOC01) and Maria Konschake’s (BOF21DOC04) research is supported by the Special Research Fund (Bijzonder Onderzoekfonds, BOF) of Hasselt University. Charlotte Vanhoubroeck’s research (11A5321N) is financed by the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO).