With these words, the exhibition MINERAL ERROR opens a space for critical material thinking. It refuses to see stone as a fixed, eternal substance and instead explores it as a cultural, technological, and symbolic construct. At its center is the work of Mia Čopíková, a designer and doctoral candidate at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava who previously studied for her masters degree at the Gemstone and Jewellery Campus in Idar-Oberstein. In her dissertation, she investigates one of the most iconic materials in jewelry: the diamond — not for its sparkle, but for what it represents: hardness, hierarchy, stereotypes, and idealized value.
The pieces on display are not traditional jewelry, but material responses — artifacts made of microwave-born carbide, brooches crafted from worn-out tools, and synthetic stones that ask questions rather than provide answers. Each object reveals traces of laboratory logic and critical design. In MINERAL ERROR, error is not failure — it is method. The exhibition steps beyond the realm of jewelry into a terrain where geology, design, ecological awareness, and cultural archaeology converge.
Curated by Damián Cehlárik — designer, curator, and educator based in Bratislava — and with graphic design by Adam Morong, the exhibition proposes a space in which jewelry becomes a medium of research, and matter becomes meaning.
Venue: Staromestská Gallery Zichy, Ventúrska 9, Bratislava
Opening: June 5, 2025, 5:00 PM
Exhibition dates: June 6 – 29, 2025
Opening hours: Tuesday – Sunday, 3:00 PM – 7:00 PM
Admission: Free
You can find more information about Mia Čopíková here.
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