Ted Noten is celebrating his 30th anniversary as a jewellery designer/artist this year. In honour of this, his work will be on display at Museum JAN from 4 October 2023 to 4 February 2024. Noten questions the function of jewellery including associated themes like value, originality, and status. These themes are also apparent in his installations and performances, as well as in emerging and established fellow artists featured in this exhibition.

Ted Noten (1956)

Noten trained as a jewellery designer at the Maastricht Academy of Fine Arts and the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. He became known for his bags and jewellery where objects like pistols, jewellery as well as dead animals like a chameleon were moulded into blocks of acrylate (PMMA).

In his creative quest, Ted Noten kicks against shins and sacred cows, but all this with an appropriate sense of humour. The world is his studio; inspiration may come from long journeys or chance encounters, but also on the streets of the Dutch city of Den Bosch. On the one hand Noten may be characterised as being down-to-earth and humorous, while at the same time he is critical. As a result of this special combination, his opinion regarding his own area of expertise and social issues can be quite critical. The materials he uses (like chewing gum and acrylic) are unconventional and surprising. Like Noten's famous bag with revolver cast in acrylic as well as the brooches that buyers could model themselves from chewing gum.

Ted Noten, Grandma’s bag, 2009, particuliere collectie, photo Atelier Ted Noten and Ted Noten, Chastity Belt, 2012, collectie Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, photo Atelier Ted Noten

Recent works

Ted Noten & co. also shows Noten's most recent work: twelve Incubators, a series of jewellery dedicated to personalities that inspired him. In a piece of jewellery, he expresses what this person evoked in him, such as disgust, admiration, or emotion. The emotions that were evoked in Noten by Lady Gaga, Spock from Star Trek or the first female bricklayer can now be seen in Museum JAN.

Wanna swap your ring? (This artwork has been completed, the rings can no longer be swapped)

Ted Noten and Museum JAN invite visitors to become part of the installation Wanna Swap Your Ring? You can swap your ring for a 3D printed Miss Piggy ring by Noten. This installation has already been on view in several other cities and the result has been different everywhere. The submitted rings become part of the large project The Ring Defines a City / The Ring Defines a Culture. What value will Amstelveen give to the ring?

& co.

Museum JAN compiled the exhibition based on themes that Noten 'struggles' with: originality, value, choice of materials and status. He is not unique in this; other artists and designers, no matter whether they are at the beginning of their career or in the middle of it, are experiencing this as well. That is the reason why they accompany Noten in the exhibition.

 Contributors to the exhibition Ted Noten & co. – on value are:

Maarten Bel, Merle Bergers, Elsemarijn Bruys, Koos Buster, Das Leben am Haverkamp, Yamuna Forzani, Corrina Goutos, Kalkidan Hoex, Bastienne Kramer, Tirzo Martha, Jelle Mastenbroek, Ted Noten, Joyce Overheul, Lex Pott, Saar Scheerlings, Joana Schneider, Anton Shebetko, Sebastiaan Straatsma, Sanne Terweij, Studio Lernert & Sander, Georgina Treviño, Mart Veldhuis, Sander Wassink.