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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...
...AND ON WE GO...
...with Monika Garrelt-Wutschka
Landed!
Fragment #81 was recieved with joy and excitement by Monika Garrelt-Wuschka in Datteln-Horneburg.
At first, the dogs in our house sniffed out the tracks from Croatia.
'Smells interesting, but nothing to eat!'
'We link to each other, we link to each other, Shalom, a net of peace...'
Song by Peter Janssens
We are continuing the project by Alexandra Skific from Ližnjan near Pula in Croatia, who had the idea of designing a hundred new carpet pieces based on fragment #81. In this way, we want to continue linking past and present and many different people with different stories, techniques and diverse, creative ideas.
Horneburg is a small, village-like district of the town of Datteln, between the Ruhr area and Münsterland.
East and West -
about 400 years back in time -
4000 km and more away:
Somewhere in the Caucasus, the original dragon carpet is created -
At about the same time, Horneburg and the village belong to the Electorate of Cologne. In the aftermath of the Thirty Years' War, Horneburg Castle is burnt down and the nearby church, which dates back to the 14th century, is severely damaged. In the second half of the 17th century, the outer bailey was rebuilt in the style of a castle and the church was restored.
Today, children and young people who need help in their families live here during the week. Children and young people have lived here since 1965, for example as refugees from Vietnam or as ethnic German repatriates from Eastern Europe. A place of diversity, of human interaction, of learning and experiencing together....
Poppies, forget-me-nots and cornflowers - symbols of peace and signs of remembrance for all victims of war and violence
29/100
There are still several ‘one-man bunkers’ from the Second World War at Horneburg Castle. Are there perhaps historical parallels to the fire caused by incendiary bombs in the museum in Berlin? Perhaps at the same time as the original dragon carpet was almost destroyed in Berlin, a forestry worker, an employee or a walker saved themselves in one of the ‘one-man bunkers’ here with us because of a bomb alarm.
With this in mind, I designed the new carpet fragment 29/100 with flames on one side and poppies on the other, which are a symbol of peace in English-speaking countries in particular and, like forget-me-nots in Germany and cornflowers in France, commemorate the victims of war.
The new carpet section is made of canvas, painted and embroidered, with an incorporated reprint of the knotted fragment.
How did a dragon end up on great-grandma's embroidery?
I've been rummaging through great-grandma's old treasures again. Why did she embroider dragon motifs on her tablecloth (ca. 1930-1960)? And how did dragons end up on her embroidered kitchen towel, which used to hang above a tea towel shelf?
Back then, there were mail-order catalogs and sample papers with embroidery motifs. Were the embroidery patterns based on an old carpet motif? When did dragon motifs become fashionable again here in the Ruhr area?
An idea for the new carpet piece 30/100?
The dragons on great-grandmother's embroidery meet the dragon carpet fragment
30/100
I transferred fragment #81 to fabric using transfer paper and rubbed the old embroidery motifs onto the fabric using the frottage technique with fabric crayons. I then cut and sewed the fabric pieces together.
A little spring greeting...
31/100
Ludger Tigges
Especially in more recent carpets with hunting motifs, but also in woven soumaks, I have discovered animals in highly stylized form as a filling motif. Hares are not the typical carpet motif, unlike peacocks, lions, deer, snakes or dragons. During my research, however, I was amazed to learn that the hare, like the dragon, also traveled from China to Europe via the Silk Road as a symbolic motif.
Now the hare stands for fertility, spring and rebirth, there is the "Easter hare" and in Christian churches also the "three hares" motif.
32/100
A view into a mirror foil, prints of the dragon carpet and the doppelganger, a black pen, and a few thoughts:
The many sheep farmers, weavers, artists, traders, buyers, the long journey of the dragon carpet from the Caucasus via Paris to Berlin... the many people involved in the creation of the doppelganger, the many people who now encounter one of the 100 carpet fragments... So many people on the move, so many inventions, discoveries, terrible events, new beginnings...
Dragon Carpet and Doppelganger Mirrored
A long journey through time and space,
countless people before us, with us, and after us,
Look in the mirror
unique and valuable
each one
with all their wounds and flaws
amidst the crowd full of diversity
today, on the ground of the past,
with the future in sight...
Scenes from the creation and trading period of the original dragon carpet are drawn below in the white gaps, in the middle the shape of fragment #81 made of mirror foil, and more recent scenes in the doppelganger carpet are drawn above.
Photo prints, mirror foil, and acrylic pens
33/100
An "AI Carpet" digitally created and printed in fragment size
When the knotting pattern for the original dragon carpet was designed in the 17th century, original ideas were creatively blended with knowledge and developments from various cultures to create something new.
Today, I simply used AI to create various designs using the prompt "Caucasian dragon carpet, like from the 17th century." I could have obtained countless different results very quickly – but I would always have generated them from existing sources. AI-supported tools can indeed promote cultural exchange, for example, this project "CulturalxCollabs - Weaving the Future," this immersion in different cultures and the preservation and exchange of cultural heritage. But artificial intelligence doesn't understand the emotions involved, creativity and human ingenuity, life experiences, and intuition – we humans must hold the threads for weaving the future in our hands and spin and weave them together as effectively as possible.
34/100
Fragment #81 at the Maypole...
A "carpet of sound" with live music and a fragment-sized collage of fabric, sheet music, and metal foils
With currently over 30 members, the Horneburg Wind Orchestra plays concert music from rock, pop, musicals, film, and television, and accompanies festive events in and around Horneburg.
Under the direction of Kerstin Göthert, the musicians traditionally also played at the May Festival – and Fragment #81 was there.
Fragment 81 was present at the erection of the traditional Maypole on the festival grounds in Datteln-Horneburg. Every year, the village community meets here with members of the volunteer fire department, soccer club, citizen's rifle club, brass band, Kolping family, kindergarten, and church congregations for music, food, and drinks, as the wreath and the club emblems are hung on the trunk.
35/100
Every year, many different people and different art forms, cultures and languages come together at the Ruhrfestspiele in Recklinghausen - a lively exchange of stories, ideas and people in the form of theatre, dance, readings, exhibitions and accompanying discussions in a variety of forms.
Theme Carpet for the Ruhr Festival 2025
The artistic director of the Ruhr Festival, Olaf Kröck, explains this year's motto for the Ruhr Festival, "Doubt and Solidarity":
"In our motto, we contrasted doubt with the solidarity that is indispensable in a democracy. Solidarity does not mean that everyone has to agree. Rather, it requires the ability to recognize differences and cooperate despite tensions and disagreements. Democracy thrives on the diversity of perspectives and opinions, but also on the obligation to find a way to live together within this diversity."
Fragment #81 at Bernd Scholz
Beautiful feel - the replaced piece is so soft with a fine pile and the new "old" piece is so tightly knotted next to it. It's a mystery to me how the original continued to look all around and what it experienced on its journey through time until it came to me ...
Teppich-Teile 36/100 und 37/100
Pouring Art
"Im Wirbel der Geschichte
im Lauf der Welt
in den Wirren des Lebens
im Fluss der Zeit...
in eine aufblühende Zukunft?"
Carpet parts 36/100 and 37/100
Pouring Art (English translation)
"In the whirl of history
in the course of the world
in the turmoil of life
in the flow of time...
into a flourishing future?"
38/100
Caucasian dragon carpet meets Christian Orthodox dragon depictions
Why is the dragon carpet fragment from the Caucasus visiting the Icon Museum Recklinghausen? The Recklinghausen Icon Museum is the world's most important museum of Eastern Church art outside the Orthodox countries. The museum has almost 5000 icons, embroideries, miniatures, wood and metal works from Russia, Greece and other Balkan states.
Museum director Dr Lutz Rickelt explains that these include various depictions of St George, who fought victoriously against an animal- and man-eating dragon. According to legend, St George came from Cappadocia and is still revered today in many countries in Europe and the Near East. The works with the motif of St George show how Eastern and Western concepts of dragons differ. Eastern dragons, as depicted in Chinese dragon carpets and adapted in Caucasian dragon carpets, symbolise luck, positive energy, power and success.
Western dragons, on the other hand, symbolised evil, which must be fought. In Orthodox Christian tradition, the dragon symbolises the devil.
Further depictions of the dragon fight of St George in the Recklinghausen Icon Museum:
Top left: Reverse glass painting from the 19th century, probably from Transylvania
Bottom left: Russian metal icon from the 17th century/ Russia
Centre top: Wood carving from the Balkans, around 1800
Bottom centre: Icon from Russia from the 19th century
Top right: Fragment 81 encounters a Russian icon from the beginning of the 16th century with student and intern Ms Pack
Bottom right: Museum director Dr Rickelt with a Russian icon from the 18th century and intern Emma Pack with fragment 81 of the dragon carpet in front of an icon from Ethiopia from the 20th century
39/100
Fragment #81 visits Borkum
Why is there a carpet on the beach promenade?" Many people on Borkum wondered and asked us to tell them the story of the dragon carpet and the "CulturalxCollabs - Weaving the Future" project and scanned the QR code. We had many interesting encounters. At the end, it was really atmospheric with the warm saxophone sound of the nature-loving loop artist, saxophonist and producer from Sylt. Fragment #81 and the audience were thrilled!
Memories linked by Jürgen and Moni
Impressions of sun, beach and sea, music and good-humoured people interwoven with dune grass blown on the beach, feathers, shells and other finds.
40/100
A visit to the sheepfold with Anne K.
Is that thing to eat? Is there anything of our kind in there? Will our wool turn into something like that?
Initially startled, but then calmly, the sheep accepted Fragment #81's visit to our barn. I wonder what the Caucasian sheep looked like as suppliers of wool for the original dragon rug? How was the wool processed? How did the farmers and craftsmen live back then?
And where does the wool for the new doppelganger rug come from? Directly from India, e.g. from Chokhla sheep? From the Bikanar region near Rajasthan - or imported from where? Our carpet section makes us think about a lot of new things!
Shearing sheep, washing wool, spinning and spinning threads and weaving - weaving thoughts... Who cleaned, spun and dyed the wool for the dragon rug and its doppelganger - then and now, how many hands were involved from people with very different stories? Is it true that men worked in the well-known manufactories for valuable carpets back then? In the photos of the production of the Doppelganger in India, you can see smiling women.
Hopefully they enjoyed working on it and are proud of the result!
Will the doppelganger carpet still be around in 400 years' time? And how many hands will it have passed through by then? Who will have touched, cleaned and cared for it by then?
The journey begins...
...with Alexandra Skific
Welcome to Pula, Croatia. Proud to be part of the projekt.
Dragon carpet meets graffiti - we need some more inspiration.
Korina Bencic, Croatia
1/100
The first new part of the carpet is ready.
The task for each new piece is: get inspired and write a story, sentence or word about the original carpet. Then make, with the written one, a new part of the carpet.
The goal is to make a new carpet from 100 parts.
Romana Rupenović, Croatia
2/100
Second part of the new carpet is ready.
Thank you Mr. Carpet for breezing through Pula, and inspiring us to create new little carpets that will follow you through your journey. We wish you an exciting travel through Europe or the whole world, may your spirit live on through more art and inspirations!
The black and white carpet is a coloring book, waiting on another creative soul to be a part of its creation.
Lea Fabijanic, Croatia
3/100
Third part of the new carpet is ready.
For my birthday, my best friend bought me Lego-sunflowers. I put them in a vase on my desk along with my pink and white Lego-tulips. Ever since I got them, I've been watching them every day while doing homework and other activities on my desk. Therefore, they inspired me to make this drawing. Along with the sunflower and the tulips, I drew daisies and forget-me-not flowers because they're my favorite. I think Lego should make lego versions of those flowers too, so that my bouquet of lego flowers could be complete.
Alexandra Škifić, Croatia
5/100
New life
There was once a factory - Arena Trikotaža. It no longer exists. The machines that made clothes no longer exist. Memories of hard-working hands and the broad smiles of the workers wander through empty halls.
Other people will move into the empty rooms of the factory. Voices and laughter will be heard again.
Once upon a time there was a carpet, made by an infinite number of hands. It no longer exists. Only fragments and memories of the hard-working hands that made it remain.
A new carpet will be made, made of love and imagination. Once again, it will connect people with its warmth.
Filip Dzida, Croatia
6/100
"Love connects"
Leonarda Milat, Croatia
7/100
Lyrics to the song ‘Einem Kinde im Dunkeln’ by Mascha Kaléko
Gib mir deine kleine Hand.
So, nun bist du nicht allein.
Kind, du sollst nicht einsam sein
Mit dem Schatten an der Wand.
Fällt der Abend auf die Welt,
kühlt die Sonne langsam aus.
Schläft die Wolke hinterm Haus,
Nicken Blümlein auf dem Feld.
Sternlein glimmen langsam schon,
Wind nach unserm Fenster zielt.
Und der Abendengel spielt
Mit dem blassen Mondballon.
Leise, leise rauscht der Baum....
Bäumlein sinkt. Nun ruhst du brav.
Segne dich ein guter Schlaf,
Segne dich ein schöner Traum!
Alexandra Skific, Istria
8/100
Eighth part of the new carpet is ready.
An abandoned house in Istria with all its memories.
Sonja Julia Brhanić
9/10
Nineth part of the new carpet is ready.
"PIECE FOR PEACE"
Evangeline Sophia Parsons
10/100
Tenth part of the new carpet is ready.
"Učkarice Fairies Carpet"
Legend says that since ancient times Učka has been home to fairies known as Vile Učkarice. To demonstrate their power, they built a large amphitheatre (the Arena in Pula) in only one night with stones that they had brought from Učka. When they lost their powers at dawn, the remaining stones fell into the sea and formed the Brijuni Islands.
Ana Cvitić
"Moj papir - My paper"
11/100
"Moj papir - My paper"
We are connecting with each other - 100 different views of our shared world:
The carpet piece is knotted from many individual threads. Each thread must be in the right color and in the right place. Only then does the many loose threads become the durable carpet.
100 new carpet pieces with the shape of the original carpet piece are intended to show how people, like the many individual threads with different cultural and historical backgrounds and their individual stories, can tie together the foundation for a safe, colorful, diverse world at their respective places in life.
Part 1
...the making of...
Part 2
...the making of...
Sven Maričić
12/100
Twelth part of the new carpet is ready.
"3D carpet by Sven"
Elena Poropat
13/100
Thirteenth part of the new carpet is ready.
"SkirtCarpet"
A free interpretation of the carpet by Elena. She said that the pattern looks like a dress. The result is a new floral dress on cardboard and a towel.
Mama
14/100
Fourteenth part of the new carpet is ready.
"Threads of love hold the relationship between mother and daughter together across borders. Germany - Croatia."
Dragica Dorić
15/100
Fifteenth part of the new carpet is ready.
Lace making - an old tradition on the island of Cres
Marta Bochenek & Markus Wimmer
16/100
Sixteenth part of the new carpet is ready.
“Carpet with rooster Filip”
Markus: “Base is nettle dyed with onion skins. The fragment is the fragment of a poured image, fabric paint on nettle."
Happy Place Pula
17/100
The seventeenth part of the new carpet is ready.
"Cake carpet- eat the carpet"
Sylvia Öhlenschläger
18/100
Eighteenth part of the new carpet is ready.
"The story of a family. Let us open our hearts to each other and experience love in all its facets together. Hearts are intact, break and are held together."
Sylvia Öhlenschläger
19/100
Nineteenth part of the new carpet is ready.
"This is my home. I love both of my homes."
Marta Bochenek
20/100
Twenteeth part of the new carpet is ready.
"This is Martha's version of Philipp the rooster. The feathers are made of sewn-on pieces of fabric, so they can move."
Jutta and Claus Pauler
21/100
The twenty-first part of the new carpet is ready.
‘The Linen Trail - German linen meets the Caucasian dragon carpet.’
Barbara Skoravic and Andrea
22 & 23/100
Twenty-two and twenty-three parts of the new carpet are ready.
"Istrian and Persian inspirations"
Marta Bochenek
24/100
Twenty-fourth of the new carpet is ready.
"What you can find on a walk through Vodnjan and what you can do with it..."
Nataša Jovanović
26 & 27/100
Twenty-six and twenty-seventh part of the new carpet is ready.
Sylvia Öhlenschläger
28/100
Dvadeseti osmi dio tepiha je gotov.
‘The toxic banquet of the seas or the silent suffering of the Adriatic.’
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?
