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2025
Paths and Signposts

What shows us the way? What makes us hesitate, turn back, or take new paths?

Paths and Signposts was an invitation to reflect on decisions, directions, and the spaces in between. Between jewelry and sound, installation and conversation, spaces were created – for encounter, remembrance, and orientation.

From July 25th to August 15th, 2025, the Helmut Hable Gallery in Straden was transformed into a vibrant place of cultural participation.

International and local artists, children and visitors of all generations collaborated to create this multifaceted project.

Curator's text

The exhibition explores the tension between the location "ZwischenLand" (In-Between Land) and the year's theme, "Paths and Signposts." At its heart are the reactions of the invited artists, whose works and concepts reveal personal and artistic decision-making processes: the space between inspiration, life experience, and chosen paths. This in-between space allows for many simultaneous, even reversible, narratives and constantly opens up new directions.

The exhibition aims to foster a shared reflection on decisions and the connection between past, present, and future—especially in a time that often boils down to a fleeting "here and now." The works on display tell of formative moments, childhood memories, detours, conscious non-decisions, returns to abandoned paths, trust in dreams, productive error, and nature as a teacher. From this emerges a common thread of profound, playful lightness, a quality also characteristic of contemporary jewelry art.

A communal and cheerful conclusion is provided by the "Magic Forest," a project by students of the Straden secondary school, created from discarded materials and celebrating the power of collective creation. Other works explore the spaces between disciplines, forms of perception, and architectural levels, for example, through photography as a guide in everyday life.

Upstairs, historical prints of the 18th-century "Grand Tour" enter into dialogue with contemporary perspectives that understand journeys as educational, experiential, and creative processes. Printmaking is presented here as a craft practice characterized by great freedom and a close connection to goldsmithing.

In this way, diverse voices merge into a unified sound that transcends disciplinary boundaries. This openness continues in the exhibition's soundtrack, which gathers words and sounds from many languages – born from the simple question: "What were your guiding lights?" The answer remains open, playful, and audible in the wind.

Artists

jewellery

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Robeir Barsoum

I didn't choose jewelry. It chose me.
When I was fifteen, my father gave me the keys to our family's jewelry safe. That quiet moment changed the course of my life. I gained not only access to gold and precious stones, but also trust, a legacy, and responsibility. That moment ignited a fire within me that has never gone out.
I'm not just a jeweler. I'm a storyteller. Every piece I create carries something real within it: a memory, a symbol, a message meant to stand the test of time. I believe that jewelry isn't just decoration, it's identity. It's passed down, worn close to the heart, and imbued with meaning.
My work is shaped by my heritage, based on craftsmanship, and driven by the need to create something lasting in a constantly changing world. I design with depth and always ask myself: What story will this piece tell when I'm no longer here?
Jewelry is my voice. And through it, I speak not only to today, but also to the next generation.

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    Noah Layr 

    The Graz-based artist Noah Layr has spent years exploring historical metal casting techniques, the art of Urushi lacquer, and the subtle colonization of plants in jewelry.
    His sculptural pieces translate natural structures into wearable miniatures, blending narrative symbolism with questions of material value, contemporary relevance, and the boundaries of adornment. www.noahlayr.com

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    Lilian Mattuschka

    She moves between sculpture and jewelry, merging artisanal precision with conceptual inquiry.
    Her work continuously explores the boundaries of wearability, questioning what adornment can be.
    Through her wooden and body-related sculptures, she creates poetic spaces—between object and body, jewelry and performance, presence and movement.

    www.lilianmattuschka.com

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      Daria Olejniczak 

      Daria Olejniczak is a jewelry artist and lighting designer.

      In her artistic practice, she seeks a state of flow—that deep immersion in an activity where everything else fades into the background. Her works emerge from a meditative, repetitive engagement with small objects, which she deconstructs and restructures in a slow, intuitive process.

      dariaolejniczak.com

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        Flora Vagí 

        Hungarian artist Flóra Vági works with wood, paper, and found objects, transforming humble materials into quiet, evocative forms.
        Her fragmented objects resemble “whispered stories” — delicate traces that speak of both transience and permanence.
        Rooted in a deep sensitivity to material and form, 
        each piece invites reflection, asking us to listen to what is fragile, what is fading, and what remains.

        www.floravagi.net

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          Andrea Auer 

          transforms everyday materials—used, broken, discarded—into individual, poetic pieces of jewelry. Things that are often overlooked or considered worthless are given new meaning and dignity.
          With a keen sense for material and form, she creates small treasures from found objects that tell stories.
          Since 2002, she has been designing jewelry under her label andreaauer that surprises and touches.

          www.andreaauer.at

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            Shahd Essam 

            I design jewelry as a dialogue between architecture and tradition, memory and material, body and object.
            With roots in architecture and traditional art, I explore the emotional impact of jewelry on the body – artisanal techniques combine with modern technology to create timeless forms with contemporary expression.
            Curiosity drives me to constantly discover new materials and meanings that link identity, time, and history.

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              Chiara Longari 

              Milan-born artist Chiara Longari combines her background in scenography with a mastery of fine metal techniques to create conceptual, tactile jewelry and objects.
              Her work captures urban atmospheres and fleeting fragments of nature, transforming them into poetic, wearable compositions that invite reflection and touch. Each piece is a dialogue between structure and emotion, precision and spontaneity. www.kunstwirtschaft.at

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                Fadwa Nayef 

                My jewelry preserves stories – of origin, change, resistance and renewal.
                As a Palestinian designer, I use traditional techniques such as filigree work to keep the past alive and reflect the present.
                Each piece is handcrafted – with patience, care, and the awareness that metal carries memories.

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                  Izabella Petrut 

                  I create jewelry as a medium for reflection and transformation, connecting personal memories with social and philosophical narratives. Each piece invites wearers to explore identity, time, and the emotional presence of objects on the body.

                  izabellapetrut.com

                    Painting and graphic art
                    Installation
                    Culinary
                    Music, theatre and photography
                    painting and graphic art
                    painting and graphic art

                    Workshops

                    Daria Olejniczak

                    27 July from 4 pm to 8 pm
                    Helmut Hable Gallery
                    Wieden-Klausen 47, 8345 Straden

                    NoahWS
                    Cristina d’Alberto and Doris Maninger

                    Part 1
                    August 2nd from 9 am to 5 pm

                    Studio 14

                    Deutsch-Goritz 14

                     

                     

                    AlenaWS.avif
                    Cristina d'Alberto and Doris Maninger

                    Part 2

                    August 9th from 9am to 12pm

                    Helmut Hable Gallery

                    Wieden Straden 47, 8345 Straden

                     

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                    Noah Layr

                    August 1st from 1 pm to 7 pm

                    Helmut Hable Gallery

                    Wieden Straden 47, 8345 Straden

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                    Alena Baich

                    August 4 from 2 pm to 8 pm

                    Helmut Hable Gallery

                    Wieden Straden 47, 8345 Straden

                    GESCHICHTEN ZUM TRAGEN DEIN KERAMIKSCHMUCK-foto(1).jpg

                    Photo gallery

                    We say thank you

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