What does a museum do when it has to close for three and a half years for renovation work? The Museum of Islamic Art is using the closure of the Pergamon Museum due to renovation work for a participatory project: the re-knotting of a Caucasian dragon carpet from the 17th century, which was partially burnt during the Second World War, will be cut up on 23 September 2023 as part of a public celebration and travel around the world until the Pergamon Museum reopens in 2027.
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Projektbeteiligte auf dem CulturalxCollabs-Projekt-Teppich, Rajastan, Indien 2022, Foto Rug Star
The fragments will be accompanied by social media and stories on the Museum of Islamic Art's online portal. The aim of the project is to visualise ways of cultural exchange, promote transregional participation and make social connections tangible.
"Cultural x Collabs. Weaving the Future" starts with a public vernissage on Saturday, 23 September 2023, at 12 noon in the Neuer Hof next to the James-Simon-Galerie, where the reinterpretation of the dragon carpet will be cut up and handed over to various actors.
A stage programme will introduce the project and the first owners. Some of these are visitors drawn from the audience or individuals and groups who will creatively engage with the project themes. With the kind support of DHL, the fragments will be sent to people all over the world. After a certain period of time, the pieces will be sent on to new owners with other creative ideas. In their temporary home, the fragments spark and strengthen relationships between different people and cultures, which they can share and actively shape under the hashtag #CulturalxCollabs.
A label on the back of each fragment allows owners to share the story(s) and themes that connect them to their fragment. Selected stories will be published on the Museum of Islamic Art's online portal islamic-art.smb.museum. In addition, background information is provided on examples of cultural links, artworks travelling around the world and the museum's collection.
"The carpet fragments are representative of our history: only transregional exchange made cultural progress possible. The migration of ideas, objects and people worldwide is the driving force behind our development. We need exchange!" says Stefan Weber, Director of the Museum of Islamic Art. "With this project, we want to use our objects to demonstrate the opportunity of togetherness: they connect actors and creatively stimulate the power of storytelling across borders. With #CulturalxCollabs, you become part of a transnational network that learns from the stories of our past, celebrates the present and creates a future! [...]."
For the planned partial opening of the Pergamonmuseum in 2027, the fragments will return to the newly designed exhibition areas of the Museum of Islamic Art, and with them their stories and their temporary owners.
Together with the dragon carpet from the 17th century, old and new will once again enter into a dialogue. The circle of carpet stories closes. Based on the traces of use of the fragments, the stories in the social media and the narratives of the owners, the carpet becomes a tangible mediator of new object history(ies) and human involvement.
The project is supported by DHL
