HS Alumni exhibitions (curated)
The CURATION programme of the HANDSHAKE project connects ex-Handshakers with new challenges and expanded network opportunities, including international exhibitions.
These curated exhibitions are single‑focused, evolving primarily from requests or opportunities from galleries, curators, and events, in partnership with M101 organisers. They may arise from an artist’s call for elaborate curatorial themes, collaborations, or new challenges, or from the chance for artworks developed in past and current practices to be exhibited in new locations and circumstances.
Each HS exhibition is unique, shaped by a different mix of artists, curatorial focus, exhibition setup, and local context. The HS organisers work closely with (co‑)curators and gallery partners to negotiate the curation and selection of works.
This additional programme extends opportunities for continuation, focus, and growth in the creative field. Through it, artistic excellence, creative strength, resilience, development, and networking can thrive.
Current:
Aotearoa Exchange, Munich 2026
Aotearoa Exchange is a performative intervention by Mia Straka, Jessica Winchcombe, Grace Yu Piper, Hilda Gascard, Lisa van Hulst, and Peter Deckers. It will open SCHMUCKmuenchen 2026 at the Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, on Friday 6 March. Featuring more than 40 wearable works by active Handshake alumni, the project unites artists through a shared history with the Handshake project and a commitment to artist-led practice, peer exchange, and international dialogue.
Bringing together 20 artists and more than 40 wearable works by active Handshake alumni, the project unites practitioners through a shared history with the Handshake programme and a commitment to artist‑led practice, peer exchange, and international dialogue.
To mark its 100th anniversary, the Pinakothek has invited leading jewellery institutions to present alumni- and student-led interventions—celebrating global educational excellence and the future of contemporary jewellery. Internationally recognised as a pioneering alumni-driven programme, Handshake contributes a performative response that foregrounds collaboration, sharing, mobility, and poetic encounter.
The Aotearoa Exchange collaboration—Mia Straka, Jessica Winchcombe, Grace Yu Piper, and Peter Deckers—who share a common commitment to the Handshake Project, each nominated ten active HS alumni artists whose practices align with the project’s intent. From these nominations, selected artists will contribute works, designed to be worn on specially created capes.
This project is proudly supported in part by Creative New Zealand and Makers 101 Ltd.
Past:
HS alumni at Stanley Street Gallery, Sydney
April 10 – May 4, 2024
An exhibition by Reawyn Walsh, Nina van Duijnhoven, Aphra Cheesman, Nadene Carr, Becky Bliss, Sarah Walker-Holt, Neke Moa, and Caroline Thomas who contemplate themes of discovery, origins, integration, transformation, virtue, cultural respect, differences, and conflict.
CHAINreaction (10-year anniversary)
March – April 2021
MAKERS of Traditional CHANGE: The Conventional Reformed
HS alumni EXHIBITION at Stanley Street Gallery, Sydney, 30 September – 24 October, 2020
Selected NZ jewellery artists from the HANDSHAKE project exhibited artworks connected to the context of traditional jewellery.
These artists respond to widely known jewellery traditions, e.g. reformatted versions of how and why jewellery exists or is worn.
CLICK here for more
TE AO HURIHURI – EVER CHANGING WORLD
Journeys through jewellery from New Zealand and the UK. The Crypt gallery, London 23 – 27 October 2018
curated by Mark Hutchins-Pond and Peter Deckers
Pātaka Art + Museum, Toi Gallery, Porirua, 14 September – 14 October 2018
at the Residenz Palaz, Munich, Germany, 25–27 February 2016 (Munich Jewellery Week)
Click here for more details about the setup process of this show
DOWNLOAD Munich SPECIALS catalogue PDF
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