International Visitors Programme
Up-and-coming jewellery designer Loan Favan, based in Bali and New Caledonia, was invited by the Jewellery in Culture platform to visit the Netherlands in November 2023 as part of the publication of the platform’s magazine Current Obsession #8: The Placeholder Issue. Favan’s visit resulted in the final chapter of this issue, entitled Becoming-With, which concluded a year of research into the theme of placeholders. Loan Favan’s visit was made possible by the Nieuwe Instituut’s International Visitors Programme.
On 29 November, Loan Favan visited the Wereldmuseum’s depot with Jewellery in Culture in ’s-Gravenzande, where she had the opportunity to view, engage with, document and discuss the pieces in the Wereldmuseum’s Oceania Wing collection. Harm Linsen, collection manager at the Wereldmuseum, prepared and laid out specific pieces that the team had requested in advance. Vanessa de Gruijter, exhibition curator at the Wereldmuseum and chair of the Françoise van den Bosch Foundation, and Dr Fanny Wonu Veys, curator of Oceania at the Wereldmuseum, as well as members of our team and photographer/videographer Tyson Ernste, joined the activities of the day. On 30 November, Loan Favan visited the Wereldmuseum in Leiden, where Marina Elenskaya moderated an interview with her by Dr Fanny Wonu Veys. The discussion touched on the rituals and rites of passage associated with body modification, such as scarification and tattooing. Under discussion was Specific symbology, interpretations and how these traditions look today.
The visit established a vital link between Loan Favan and the Wereldmuseum team and opened up the possibility of further collaboration. Loan was offered the position of resident researcher, which would give her unique access and support from the depot and museum curatorial teams.
The interview at the Wereldmuseum Leiden was published in print and distributed by Current Obsession’s distributor, Public Knowledge. London. Jewellery in Culture has also commissioned a video featuring Loan’s work, which is currently on display at the Design Museum Den Bosch.