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

Cristina D'Alberto

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.



