On the work of Ute Eitzenhöfer

The Message of Things (by Wilhelm Lindemann)

Drawing on philosophical inspiration and operating at a high intellectual level, Ute Eitzenhöfer explores the phenomenon of jewellery as a means of artistic expression. Through her conceptual approach, she places the piece of jewellery within a conceptual context that extends far beyond the mere act of ‘adornment’; she explores the reality of the world and formulates her own messages from this. She explicitly refers to Wittgenstein’s statement: ‘Everything we see could also be otherwise.’ And she takes a clear stand by, in the manner of a silent protest, saving the packaging waste at the end of society’s consumption process – which plummets from being a high-quality, sales-promoting eye-catcher to worthless rubbish – from destruction; using artistic means to evoke its inherent poetic potential and transform it into a valuable piece of jewellery, which is at the same time an expression and a declaration of a stance towards the world – for both the artist and the person who adorns themselves with it.

Ute Eitzenhöfer fundamentally embraces the notion of ‘adornment’ in her work whilst simultaneously subjecting it to critical scrutiny, particularly through her choice of materials. She employs gold, silver and gemstones – the traditional materials in jewellery that symbolise value, status and beauty – rather sparingly yet with great precision, contrasting them with materials from everyday culture. In doing so, she critically engages with the throwaway mentality that characterises a culture of excess, by bestowing the honour of craftsmanship upon materials usually regarded as worthless, thereby rehabilitating them, as it were.

In her jewellery made from plastic, however, she not only reflects on the raw material in terms of its value and the social processes of its devaluation and revaluation, but also examines its inherent aesthetic qualities and symbolic messages by highlighting and reworking parts – such as the caps from shampoo bottles. In doing so, she develops a multi-layered palette of symbolic signs that lend themselves to philosophical, sociological or even psychological interpretation. For Ute Eitzenhöfer, for example, the transient nature of plastic, its foreseeable disintegration and its relatively predictable half-life are of paramount importance; these are not merely reflected in the existing social recycling chains, but are also inherent to plastic in principle. Through the contrasting combination with precious yet durable materials—in particular stones or gold—she accentuates the transient, ephemeral nature of plastic and the plastic world, as well as that of its inhabitants and their jewellery. The piece of jewellery as a whole, in a process of reconciliation with nature, enters the cycle of natural succession, leaving behind precious stones or gold as cherished symbols of remembrance.

It is a holistic, sensory level beyond words and even beyond apparent perception that Ute Eitzenhöfer strives to achieve with her work.

^{Wilhelm Lindemann, Cultural Officer, City of Idar-Oberstein}