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 begins...
...with Stefan Draschan
In my photographic series "People Matching Artworks," I have almost every single carpet shown in the Museum for Islamic Art matched with visitors and the artwork. The series now contains more than 3,000 photographs.
Please imagine the photograph shown on the screen as a fine art print; I would make it a standard size of 50 x 50 cm.
The Damast blanket you see is one I have used for decades. I grew up with it in Upper Austria, then took it with me for my studies in Vienna, and later for my artistic career in Berlin. We always had carpets at home (I barely remember two silk carpets from Kashmir that my extensively traveling father brought home, probably in the 1960s), which were stolen once. Even as a child, I carefully chose the carpet that lay on the floor of my room. Those other carpets still exist. I am connected to and interested in all of humanity and nature, and there were always years when I extensively studied each continent. Many hours of my school time were spent not following lessons but looking with deep fascination at the school atlas, dreaming myself away from Austria. I knew the capitals and/or the largest ten cities of most nations on earth, if a country was large.
I first visited the Pergamon Museum, Museum for Islamic Art in 2004, when I briefly attended a remembrance service at the Jewish synagogue on Oranienburgerstrasse. My personal background is Roman Catholic, but I became an atheist (non-missionary) as a teenager.
Whenever I'm depressed, I go there and listen to the French audio guide about the "Trajaneum," as it is pronounced exactly like my last name, Draschan—it sounds like "Draschaneum." That always gives me a boost. In the middle of the Trajaneum, which is allowed to be touched, there is a very small alcove, maybe 2 x 4 x 8 cm or smaller. I have been looking into it for years and documenting the little changes inside, such as if a small hand might have touched the ground or the 2 x 2 mm stone inside (a photographic series of 5 to 10 photographs).
The coolest place of all the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin is just a square meter where the cold air from the strong air conditioning comes down, and it can be found in the Museum for Islamic Art.
Weaving and knitting, etc. are for me the most fascinating techniques or artistic practices; I am absolutely fascinated by them. It's an amazing achievement of humanity. I really stare in awe at some of these fabrics or carpets. I only saw them once live in a small village during a school graduation trip to Turkey in the 1990s.
I can almost remember the smell of sulfur, incendiary powder, naphthalene, scorched wool, and other toxic residues from the small machine that provides an artificial sample of these by pressing a button in the museum.
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 online 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?
