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This fragment is part of the "CulturalxCollabs - Weaving the Future" carpet.
Through the fragment we trace the journey of the fragment owners and their collabs as they explore, experiment and creatively advance socially relevant themes. Here is the fragment as we are sending it on this three and a half-year journey.
Follow this story to observe the transformations the fragment undergoes over the course of these years...
...THE JOURNEY CONTINUES
...with Ramón de la Blanca Torres
Technical images taken by our photography students so that the carpet can be studied in detail by teachers and students of the school through other artistic perspectives.
...and on we go...
...with MAO's team
SURVIVORS.
The Project #CulturalxCollabs - Weaving the Future.
Fragments of a Tragic History as an Example of Rebirth
Culture in pieces... pieces of culture. By changing a simple preposition, the pain inflicted by destruction is transformed into the hope brought by art. However, this play on words does seem insufficient to reshape the reality in which we live. Nevertheless, we want to try at MAO in Turin, within the frame of Trad u/i zioni d’Eurasia exhibition, presenting the project #CulturalxCollabs – Weaving the future promoted by the Museum for Islamic Art in Berlin. This project unfolds the tragic story of a Caucasian carpet burnt by a bomb at the end of World War II. Restored in 2004 for the museum’s centennial, the carpet is reborn in 2023 with a copy becoming the protagonist of the project that unites individuals worldwide. Its purpose is to learn from the past, celebrate the present and collectively shape a future based on appreciation, shared responsibility and mutual curiosity. The 1:1 scale copy of the carpet was later cut into 100 equal pieces. These fragments will continue to travel the world, entrusted to temporary owners, until they return to Berlin in 2027, where they will be reassembled in the museum’s renovated large carpet gallery, side by side with the original. At MAO, in the monumental Mazzonis Hall, fragment #2/100 is on display (the Bruschettini Foundation for Islamic and Asian Art in Genoa, which received it at the launch of the project, has decided to designate the MAO as its next owner, and the fragment will continue from Turin on its journey worldwide). The contemporary fragment is placed in dialogue with two historical examples of Caucasian carpets (16th - 17th centuries) and the installation MOSADEGH (2023) by Shadi Harouni (1985, Hamedan, Iran).
The word MOSADEGH, the starting point of the artist’s reflection, evolves over time to become MOSADEGH and then MOSADEGH, a name that transcends its lexical confines to signify ‘truth’, then ultimately ‘death by heartbreak’. Legend has it that the bombing’s devastation, which led to the destruction of at least 20 of the most important antique carpets in Berlin’s museums, led in 1945 to the ‘death by heartbreak’ of Friedrich Sarre who, together with Wilhelm von Bode, founder of the Museum of Islamic Art in 1904, had created the museum’s extraordinary collection of carpets. This intricate interplay of narratives within the exhibition invites profound introspection on the complexity of relationships and the possibilities of circulation of art objects, defying geographic and political boundaries alike. In this complexity of meanings, the contemporary fragment, as well as its translated original, becomes a ‘surviving piece’ reborn from the destruction and pain of conflict. Through the #CulturalxCollabs - Weaving the future initiative, each fragment becomes a powerful mediator and catalyst of experiences and inspirations that encapsulates hundreds of interwoven stories: a broken tradition translated into a powerful and saving message of rebirth.
The journey begins... with Elisabetta Raffo
No boundaries of space and time
The desire to exhibit fragment #2 at the MAO - Museum of Oriental Art in Turin stems from the close collaboration between the Turin museum institution and the Bruschettini Foundation for Islamic and Asian Art.
The carpet was included in the temporary exhibition ‘Tradu/izioni d'Eurasia. Two Thousand Years of Visual and Material Culture Between the Mediterranean and East Asia', which recounts the historical and cultural intertwining that has taken place, and continues to take place in the contemporary world, between the Asian and European continents.
Carpet fragment #2, which survived the bombings of World War II, acts as a counterpoint to the contemporary work MOSADEGH by Shadi Harouni, both traces of layered narratives that, at different times, recount first-hand human events characterised by the horrors of war.
The curatorial desire to exhibit works that deal with themes such as war and violence leads the exhibition to show how suffering and destruction are themes that, although in totally different times and ways, know no boundaries of space and time.
Front and Back
About the Project
The Museum for Islamic Art's project, #CulturalxCollabs - Weaving the future, celebrates the transformative power of cultural exchange and the shared threads that unite us all. All the things we love, have loved and will ever love come from cultural exchange, migration and diversity, or as we like to call it #CulturalxCollabs.
100 carpet fragments, cut from a replica of the iconic dragon carpet, will travel the world (delivered by DHL). The fragments will ignite #CulturalxCollabs with co-creators, inspiring human ingenuity, fostering community and ultimately demonstrating how cultural exchange enriches all our lives.
Follow #CulturalxCollabs on Instagram as the project unfolds...
...or learn more here
Weaving the Future
Join us on a journey with 100 carpet fragments as they travel around the world for three and a half years, finding temporary homes while bridging cultural boundaries, fostering worldwide community united by the power of human stories.
Fragment Journeys
100 carpet fragments part of the "CulturalxCollabs - Weaving the Future" project. Follow their journeys through the ever changing owners' over three and a half years.
Where is the Dragon?
The star of the "CulturalxCollabs - Weaving the Future" project is a so-called Caucasian dragon carpet from the 17th century. A dragon carpet - all well and good - but: where is the dragon?
