Ornamenta

About
Ornamenta is a regional quinquennial for arts and design in Germany’s Northern Black Forest. Held first in 1989, Ornamenta returns in 2024 as a European platform for contemporary cultural development, which takes place through site-specific exhibitions, public installations, and events. Local citizens, curious neighbours, and adventurous national and international visitors are invited to discover the Northern Black Forest area through different exhibition routes set out by Ornamenta. The Northern Black Forest region includes the cities of Pforzheim, Calw, Bad-Wildbad, Nagold, and Maulbronn, and is a popular destination for nature tourism. Besides its perpetual natural beauty, the region is also home to fine metal industries, small spa towns, and a rich variety of people, communities and cultures.

History of Ornamenta
Launched in 1989, the first edition of Ornamenta focused on jewelry and media art. Conceptualised as a world-expo of ‘Schmuck’ (jewelry art), ORNAMENTA 1989 presented designers and artists from more than twenty-three countries around the Reuchlinhaus in Pforzheim, which houses Europe’s biggest collection of jewelry in the Jewelry Museum Pforzheim and which nowadays also hosts the Kunstverein Pforzheim. The exhibitions of ORNAMENTA 1989 were complemented by a public programme that brought together diverse perspectives on jewelry, design, culture, and commerce through a series of symposia, lectures, and workshops. Despite its local success, the program was not continued. Thirty-five years later, ORNAMENTA 2024 is set to welcome both residents and visitors with a quinquennial programme that builds on these multidisciplinary roots.