Deadline: August 16, 2026
Co-Adorn seeks proposals from Canadian art jewellers for a collaborative digital exhibition presented during NYC Jewellery Week 2026.
About the Exhibition
Art jewellery is often encountered as a finished object, while the knowledge, gestures, and material decisions that bring it into being remain largely invisible. The Digital Witness invites artists to reveal these otherwise unseen moments of making through a series of short video responses to creative prompts. Rather than photographing a finished work, the project focuses on process as a form of artistic expression—capturing the rhythms of the studio, the intelligence of the hand, and the relationship between maker and material. Edited into concise 15-second works, each video becomes a distilled portrait of an artist's practice and an accessible point of entry into art jewellery for a broad public audience.
The Opportunity
Selected artists will submit a series of short video clips of their process toward making a finished piece. The submitted clips will be compiled into a final, edited 15-second video of the journey from raw material to completed work. The finished videos will play on a public digital display located near a NYCJW26 hub during a dedicated daily screening window from November 18–20. The display location is published on the NYCJW26 digital map so attendees can find it. Each artist's video will loop approximately 300 times over the three-day exhibition, reaching an estimated audience of 2,000 New Yorkers and NYCJW26 attendees.
The exhibition will extend well beyond its public screen presentation through a dedicated online exhibition hosted on Co-Adorn.com. Participating artists will also have the option to offer the featured work for sale through the Co-Adorn website during NYCJW26, creating an additional opportunity for public engagement and acquisition.
The project will be promoted through Co-Adorn's Instagram and the NYC Jewelry Week Instagram account (102K followers), expanding its reach to an international audience of collectors, curators, makers, and jewellery enthusiasts.
To further support the exhibition, Co-Adorn plans to host a panel discussion exploring the ideas and processes behind the project. Recorded by NYC Jewelry Week, the discussion will be featured on the NYCJW26 virtual program schedule for up to nine months following the festival. It will remain available indefinitely on the NYC Jewelry Week YouTube channel, which has more than 2,250 subscribers. Together, these platforms provide participating artists with sustained visibility long after the three-day public installation concludes.
The exhibition will extend well beyond its public screen presentation through a dedicated online exhibition hosted on Co-Adorn.com. Participating artists will also have the option to offer the featured work for sale through the Co-Adorn website during NYCJW26, creating an additional opportunity for public engagement and acquisition.
The project will be promoted through Co-Adorn's Instagram and the NYC Jewelry Week Instagram account (102K followers), expanding its reach to an international audience of collectors, curators, makers, and jewellery enthusiasts.
To further support the exhibition, Co-Adorn plans to host a panel discussion exploring the ideas and processes behind the project. Recorded by NYC Jewelry Week, the discussion will be featured on the NYCJW26 virtual program schedule for up to nine months following the festival. It will remain available indefinitely on the NYC Jewelry Week YouTube channel, which has more than 2,250 subscribers. Together, these platforms provide participating artists with sustained visibility long after the three-day public installation concludes.
Submission Fee
- Members of the Canadian Art Jewellery Directory: Free
- Non-members: $40 CAD
Participation Fee
A participation fee of $100 CAD is required of selected artists to help offset the costs of digital screen placement. Following the exhibition, each artist will receive a copy of their video for their own use.
What to Submit
This opportunity is open to Canadian citizens, permanent residents, and individuals currently residing in Canada (including international students).
Complete the online application form by August 16, 2026.
You will need to prepare:
Complete the online application form by August 16, 2026.
You will need to prepare:
- A description of the making process you propose to document, including the techniques, materials, or studio processes you expect to highlight. (200 words max)
- 3 images of previous work that demonstrate your practice (these are for reference only and do not need to relate directly to your proposed piece).
- A short artist biography (100 words maximum).
Selection Criteria
We are particularly interested in proposals that foreground making as a creative act. Consider what viewers might discover by witnessing your process—whether through repetitive handwork, experimentation, material transformation, technical innovation, problem-solving, or unexpected moments in the studio.
We welcome a wide range of approaches to contemporary jewellery and encourage artists working across diverse materials, technologies, and fabrication methods to apply. We are especially interested in showcasing the breadth of contemporary practice, including techniques and processes that are less commonly seen by the public. As demonstrations of traditional metalsmithing will already be well represented elsewhere during the festival, this project seeks to highlight other ways of making, expanding audiences' understanding of what art jewellery can be and how it comes into being.
Proposals will be reviewed based on:
We welcome a wide range of approaches to contemporary jewellery and encourage artists working across diverse materials, technologies, and fabrication methods to apply. We are especially interested in showcasing the breadth of contemporary practice, including techniques and processes that are less commonly seen by the public. As demonstrations of traditional metalsmithing will already be well represented elsewhere during the festival, this project seeks to highlight other ways of making, expanding audiences' understanding of what art jewellery can be and how it comes into being.
Proposals will be reviewed based on:
- The potential for an engaging visual making process.
- Representation of diverse materials, techniques, and approaches to contemporary jewellery.
- How the proposal contributes to the exhibition's overall narrative and balance.
Selected Artists
Artists selected for the exhibition will:
- Document up to 5 key stages of a piece’s making through photographs and short video clips based on prompts provided by Co-Adorn (guidelines will be provided after selection).
- Submit the finished documentation by the project deadline.
Timeline
- Proposal Deadline: August 16
- Artists Selected: September 1
- Documentation Guidelines Distributed: September 1
- Final Work & Documentation Due: October 9
- NYCJW26: November 16-22, 2026
We look forward to seeing your ideas and celebrating the many ways contemporary jewellery is imagined, made, and brought into being.