en
- de
- en
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 Adefunke Oluwatoyin Oni
Fragment #4 had a beautiful journey with me across Abuja, Lagos, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Istanbul, Addis Ababa, Moscow and Saint Petersburg, connecting with many wonderful people along the way.
Voices for the Fragment: A Performance in Abuja
Fragment #4 paused at a special place: a classroom at Aduvie International School.
There, the story of the Dragon Carpet turned into spoken word. As part of the Voices to the Fragment project, students developed their own creative responses to the fragment — in poems, artworks, and stories. The programme opened with a performance by two students, Obaloluwa and Vanessa, who brought the Dragon Carpet's history to life in a call-and-response piece titled The Fire Beneath the Threads: from the imperial courts of the Ming Dynasty, where the five-clawed dragon was reserved for the emperor alone, through the symbolism of clouds and colours, to the question that carries their performance: how does a carpet tell history — not only in China and Persia, but also in Nigeria, in Aso-Oke, Kente, and Adire? Their conclusion: even beneath your own feet lies not mere fabric, but a kingdom.
The Fire Beneath the Threads
A dialogue between Obaloluwa and Vanessa
Obaloluwa: Have you ever seen a story woven instead of written?
Vanessa: Have you ever watched fire… frozen in fabric?
Obaloluwa: Have you ever stood before a carpet
Vanessa: …and felt it looking back at you?
Obaloluwa: This is not just cloth.
Vanessa: Not just dye.
Obaloluwa: Not just patient hands knotting wool into silence.
Both (slowly): This… is the Dragon Carpet.
Vanessa: Born from ancient looms…
Obaloluwa: In lands where mountains scrape the sky
Vanessa: …and deserts whisper old secrets.
Obaloluwa: Lands like China.
Vanessa: And Persia.
Obaloluwa: The Dragon Carpet did not begin as decoration.
Vanessa: It began as power.
Obaloluwa: In imperial courts.
Vanessa: Beneath golden rooftops.
Obaloluwa: Inside the palaces of emperors
Vanessa: Who believed they ruled under heaven.
Obaloluwa: Dragons were not monsters.
Vanessa: They were majesty.
Obaloluwa: During the great Ming Dynasty, the dragon coiled across silk…
Vanessa: Like lightning trapped in thread.
Obaloluwa: Five claws stretched wide.
Vanessa: A symbol reserved for the emperor alone.
Obaloluwa: Not four.
Vanessa: Not three.
Both: Five.
Obaloluwa: Because five meant authority.
Vanessa: Five meant divine right.
Both: Five meant Heaven has spoken.
Vanessa: Look closely at the carpet.
Obaloluwa: See the scales.
Vanessa: Each one knotted by hand.
Obaloluwa: Each one a quiet promise of patience.
Vanessa: See the dragon’s body twist through clouds
Obaloluwa: Clouds the colour of storm and sunrise.
Vanessa: Blue like deep ocean currents.
Obaloluwa: Gold like sunlight spilling across palace floors.
Vanessa: Red like courage stitched into history.
Obaloluwa: But listen…
Vanessa: Across oceans
Obaloluwa: Across deserts
Vanessa: Across the wide heartbeat of Africa
Obaloluwa: We understand this language of thread.
Vanessa: Because in Nigeria
Obaloluwa: Cloth also carries stories.
Vanessa: In the proud folds of Aso-Oke
Obaloluwa: In the bright rhythms of Kente
Vanessa: In the deep indigo whispers of Adire
Both: Africa weaves memory into fabric.
Vanessa: Kings have walked on woven history.
Obaloluwa: Queens have wrapped themselves in symbols.
Vanessa: Every pattern…
Obaloluwa: Every colour…
Both: Every thread tells a story.
Obaloluwa: The dragon does not lie still.
Vanessa: Even in fabric…
Both: …it moves.
Vanessa: Its whiskers ripple.
Obaloluwa: Its claws reach.
Vanessa: Its eyes burn…
Obaloluwa: Not with anger.
Both: But with knowing.
Vanessa: And oh… the clouds.
Obaloluwa: Soft spirals of cream and silver.
Vanessa: Curling like breath in winter air.
Obaloluwa: Because the dragon is not just fire.
Vanessa: It is water.
Obaloluwa: It is sky.
Both: It is balance.
Vanessa: In Chinese culture, the dragon calls the rain.
Obaloluwa: It guards wisdom.
Vanessa: It protects prosperity.
Obaloluwa: It rises with thunder.
Vanessa: And dances in festivals.
Obaloluwa: Every year during the Chinese New Year…
Vanessa: Where drums echo like ancient heartbeats…
Both: And dragons leap through streets in waves of silk and sound.
Vanessa: But stories travel.
Obaloluwa: Across borders.
Vanessa: Across centuries.
Obaloluwa: Across continents.
Vanessa: And today…
Obaloluwa: Far from the ancient palaces of emperors…
Vanessa: Far from the looms where it was born…
Both: The Dragon Carpet rests in Berlin.
Vanessa: Inside quiet museum halls…
Obaloluwa: Where history whispers through glass.
Vanessa: People from every nation come close…
Obaloluwa: Not to walk on it…
Both: But to stand before it.
Vanessa: Imagine the weaver.
Obaloluwa: Bent over the loom.
Vanessa: Hands steady.
Obaloluwa: Eyes focused.
Both: Knot after knot after knot.
Vanessa: So the next time you see a dragon curled in colour and thread…
Obaloluwa: Do not call it just a carpet.
Vanessa: Call it legacy.
Obaloluwa: Call it heritage.
Both: Call it flame woven into forever.
Obaloluwa (slowly): Because beneath your feet…
Vanessa: …is not fabric.
Both: It is a kingdom.
A second voice came from the perspective of the fragment itself. In the poem Until Every Thread Returns, the carpet speaks in the first person: of its origins "where mountains cradle Earth and sky," of destruction by bombs, of being cut apart into fragments scattered across the world and of the longing to one day be whole again: "Until the tapestry returns, I will stretch and strain … and when I am whole again, I will feel it all too much." War, loss, and displacement are addressed here not in the abstract, but from the object's own point of view an unusual and moving way of approaching the carpet's history.
UNTIL EVERY THREAD RETURNS
A Poem form fragment #4
I laid where mountains cradle Earth and sky,
All fibers bound, no thread would yet untie,
A dragon wound at center, whole and bright,
Warmly glowing red, beneath the morning light.
I bore the weight of lives that brushed my face,
Then bombs tore halls apart, unmaking the place,
Each footstep pressing, leaving heat and scent,
And every edge I knew, cracked, torn and bent.
They tore me, careless, urgent, foreign, cold,
Gold dainty shimmered where my stories were retold,
Sending my red into rooms that smelled of dust,
And every corner shivered, pressed by rust.
From Berlin's ruin to distant, strange terrain,
Each touch is sorrow, each gaze a pulse of pain,
I travelled through hands that could not understand,
My fibers whispered fire, across uncharted land.
I felt the tremors of a world at war,
Gusts of smoke seeping through the door,
The regrets of a life I could never achieve,
The shadow of a past, no eye could fully perceive.
Cold air drifted me through empty halls,
The chills of forgotten cries and calls,
I carried secrets, left as seeds sown,
And held the weight of empires overthrown.
I ache for all my scattered limbs to meet,
When threads converge, my heart will drum complete,
To hum the melody, I was born to hold,
And rise as one, a voice fierce and bold.
Until the tapestry returns, I will stretch and strain,
Through time and distance, through loss and pain,
I am the fabric that remembers every touch,
And when I am whole again, I will feel it all too much.
...AND ON WE GO...
...with Dexter Ang
Carpets… have always moved with us. Ancient nomads carry them for comfort in their journey…
And the culture woven into them shaped the places where they came to call home.
From the Museum for Islamic Art in Berlin I received a culturalxcollabs fragment of a 17th-century Caucasus carpet.
I turned it into art…
The ant, always on the move, carrying this tiny carpet.
It asks: what do we choose to carry as we journey through life?
And how do these objects shape each chapter as we settle?
Every journey leaves its mark.
...and on we go...
...with Markus Voigt
For the old school eye, trained for decades on antique rugs, the pointillistic arrangement of knots is the first thing I see after opening the purpose made packaging. Even in full sunlight I notice the muted colours and appreciate the modern interpretation of the Dragon carpet, which I find much more satisfying than any attempt to get close to the original. The holes in the original rug are replaced with white silky pile that is left higher than the rest, creating the total opposite effect than the losses from the fire.
The Revenant
Blumberg 28.5.
Whenever you hold a carpet fragment in your hands, you try to imagine where it might have been placed in the original. It is no different with the newly created piece. Since all the borders except the top one are burned, it is quickly located, but I suddenly have the fragment that my wife Lucy Upward received months ago in front of my eyes. In fact, out of 100 fragments, our two have found their way together.
Wiesbaden 31.5.
The new fragment will one day also be antique. When the dragon carpet was bought in 1881, it was already a few hundred years old. In contrast, the antique pieces exhibited here, in the renowned Rippon Boswell auction house, were new or had not yet been created.
A customer at Rippon Boswell wonders whether all the fragments will be returned voluntarily or whether DHL might lose one? This would mean that the new carpet would also become a fragment.
Eimeldingen 15.6.
I was kindly invited to give a lecture for the Forum for Textiles and Textile Art Basel. Afterwards I had the opportunity to present the project of the (revenant) carpet. That is the name I use for the re-weaving for myself. According to legend, a revenant is someone who returns after death to offend, annoy and frighten the living. Here, past and present wars close in a recurring destructive circle.
Munich 7.7.
20 years ago, the Islamic Museum in Berlin celebrated its 100th birthday. For this occasion, the fragments of the dragon carpet were also preserved in proportion to the size of the original. Christian Erber reported on the event in Hali 138 page 104 and noted: ‘At first glance you are reminded of the work of a contemporary artist, but slowly, forms and colours become discernible.’
The fragment at the Carpet Diem event at the Museum Fünf Kontinente with Professor Borkop-Restle and Dr. Michael Buddeberg, the organizer of the quarterly lecture series.
The Hali Team in London 10.7.
The revenant sneaks into the library of Hali, the magazine for antique carpets, textiles and Islamic art. In 4 years it will be the 50th anniversary of the most important publication in this field. Full discloser: I also write for them.
Blumberg 22.9.
The ICOC (International Conference on Oriental Carpets) concludes its Switzerland tour with a visit to my exhibition 500 Years of European Textile Art.
Blumberg 16.10.
Zelda (the blessed one, Jewish) is not happy to be disturbed by the fragment.
26.11
Professor Helmut Eberhart, long-time director of the TKF (Textile Art Research) Austria, thought the fragment, before I handed it to him, was a greatly enlarged photograph, which corresponds to the pixel-like coloring of the individual knots.
Stefan Schekira, who has accomplished the enormous task of writing the best bibliography on oriental carpet literature and making it available online for free.
A visitor who is representative of a visit to the Abegg-Stiftung in my exhibition European Textile Art.
Rainer Grünzner, now retired after more than 40 years in the carpet trade, visits...
The circle of Baluch friends gathers for a symposium over the weekend and I present the "CulturalxCollabs - Weaving the Future" project.
The journey begins...
...with Christina Klessmann
As handweaver, weaving is part of my life and I am deeply impressed by the history of the Caucasian dragon carpet and am in awe in front of this amazing art work. It’s history about being saved during World War II is touching. I am very impressed by the great idea of the project CulturalxCollabs to create an ongoing attention during the closure of the Museum for Islamic Art by weaving this doppelgänger carpet and sending 100 fragments into the world. Carpets always have been part of everyday life, they have different functions in different cultures. I think this will be more obvious during the different journeys of the carpet fragments. As I know the story about this dragon carpet and it’s Doppelgänger, I see a unique handwoven piece with a lot of emotions. For me, a knotted carpet in this quality would be used on the floor. As it’s a small carpet fragment, I will use it as a seat pad - but will use it carefully!
I am textile designer and handweaver in Berlin. I took this carpet fragment #4/100 from Berlin / Germany to my house in Sweden where I will use it in my weaving workshop as seat pad for a while before sending it to the next owner! Here is the history how I got involved with the project CuluralxCollabs: In summer 2023 I gave a weaving workshop to the textile students of the Kunsthochschule Berlin in Weißensee ( KHB) in cooperation with the museum of Islamic Art Berlin and the theme was the history, the techniques and the colours of this famous Caucasian dragon carpet. We visited the Museum of Islamic Art and saw the original dragon carpet and learnt a lot about its history. We also visited the carpet workshop at the Archäologisches Zentrum in Berlin and could see and touch the Doppelgänger carpet and look at the carpet archives. I teached the students different rug weaving techniques like kelim technique, different knotting techniques, soumak. In the end there was a presentation of the many weaving samples during the Open Days at KHB in July 2023. It was a great opportunity to get to know this exciting project CulturalxCollabs. I am so happy to be part of these 100 carpet fragments and am excited to follow their journeys!
I find it amazing how the colours of the Caucasian dragon carpet and the colours of the red houses and the nature and the snow here are matching: it shows that the natural colours of the dragon carpet are timeless, classy and connecting together different cultures!
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.
Creating a carpet
A 17th-century Caucasian carpet, burned by an incendiary bomb during the Second World War, serves as the model for a replica, woven in 2022 by a family in Rajasthan, India. Over 2.3 million knots later, it is being sent out into the world in 100 fragments. This is the story of how it came to be.
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?
