Fragment No. 8

On 4 June 2024, I received fragment #8/100 of the replica of the dragon carpet from the CulturalxCollabs project by post. The small carpet is now in my room in Gottsdorf, in the south of the Teltow-Fläming district in Brandenburg.

The origin of the dragon carpet lies in Islamic countries. I have been fascinated by Islamic-influenced art for a long time. Perhaps this has something to do with the diverse and often colourful ornamentation. I also love the music of the Middle East and Central Asia, and I am always fascinated by the various drums, especially the tombak.

The tombak is considered the queen of drums in Persia. I particularly like it because it can be used to play such a variety of sounds. I sit on a stool to play the drums, now the carpet is there and I sit on it when I play the tombak. For me, this combines the kite rug, which comes from Islamic culture, with the Persian drum. That seems to me to be a good place to start.

When I unpacked the carpet, two neighbours were with me. We had practised a little 'chi gong' together in the evening. I tried to tell them the exciting story of the dragon carpet, but they weren't particularly interested. I am a little disappointed and also surprised - conveying my enthusiasm is obviously not quite as easy as I thought. Nevertheless, I will look for other people to talk to.

Let the journey begin!

At the beginning of 2023, when I saw the replica for the first time in the museum's restoration workshop, I had to tell A. about my enthusiasm for the project. And yes, she was also skeptical about the whole project at first. Now we are sitting together and the carpet is in front of us. Looking at it and touching it, probably also to find out a little about what fascinates me so much about it, together we deepen what we know about the carpet, see pictures of the replica and the original in the Museum for Islamic Art.

But what should happen now, what do I intend to do with it? Actually, what we are doing right now: talking about it, I try cautiously. We go round in circles asking who would be involved in this project, who would be interested, what would come out of it, ... But yes: it fits in strangely and yet harmoniously on A.'s living room carpet. Fascination and fantasy are now becoming more and more part of our conversation.

Where the dragon actually is - no, you can't see it on this fragment, but you could ‘paint on’ the patterns all around it, how the pattern came from China to Central Asia, how the carpet came to Europe - suddenly the fascination is palpable: this exotic visual language, the great craftsmanship - not least the sheer size... We experience it - thanks to cultural exchange across Eurasia and across different religious backgrounds.

There is a couple living in A.'s village - an art historian and a teacher. He could perhaps take his pupils there ... and she would certainly be interested, the history would be exciting.

I leave the ‘flying carpet’ on A.'s living room carpet for her to get used to. We'll meet again shortly and she'll give it back to me.

After a few days, A. tells me on the phone that she had dreamt that she was imagining dancing on the carpet - she was just missing the image of the shoes that fit the historical situation she had dreamt of. We make use of familiar clichés about lavish celebrations in the ‘former Orient’ - it's a shame how little we really know about them. We wander off into Central European castles and palaces, the times blur ...

The couple in question had been with her and she had initially experienced fierce rejection. Gradually, however, her curiosity gradually awoke. The flying carpet is like a mirror, says A.: it shows people as they are right now. We think about how we can build on this. But they don't have any time at the moment anyway ... How good that the project has a long duration.

On Friday evening, A. was sitting in her village in a circle of ‘old women’ who meet regularly to knit. It feels like the women have always knitted on Friday evenings. Today it is hot and stuffy, their hands are sweating from the wool. I wonder if someone could tell a nice story, it doesn't have to be true.

A. talks about the dragon carpet, about the damage in the vault during the war, about the replica and the whole project. The women knit and listen. Why didn't she bring the piece with her?

‘I thought you'd think I was daft anyway if I told you that.’

‘No-one here thinks anyone is daft.’