Spinning threads and weaving them together is one of humankind’s earliest cultural technologies. Just as old is the use of textiles as a form of artistic expression. In particular, colourful tapestries were highly valued for centuries due to their representative character. Woven according to designs of renowned artists, they were used to decorate church interiors, princely residences, public buildings and town houses. When modern classics are translated into this textile medium, what surprising effects emerge? And specifically what kind of potential, even controversial, does this medium open up for contemporary art production?
With a selection of more than fifty tapestries, the exhibition demonstrates the astonishing aesthetic spectrum of this world of threads, offers insight into the historical development of the medium and inquires into its artistic relevance today. The loans include traditional baroque tapestries as well as works based on designs by renowned representatives of the 20th-century avant-garde. Included are important productions of post-war modernism up to international positions of the present. In this way, the colourful threads come together to form unique visual worlds.
The varied exhibition layout leads through all four storeys of the MdbK, linking different artistic epochs. The spacious architecture of the building with its characteristic terraces and wide vistas forms an effective frame of reference for monumental wall hangings and textile installations. Within the galleries, too, the tapestries set numerous accents and enter into an exciting dialogue with works from the museum’s own collection – from medieval panels to digital photography.
The exhibition is organized in cooperation with the collection of the Mobilier national in Paris. It shows works based on designs by Fanja Bouts, Louise Bourgeois, Sonia Delaunay, Max Ernst, Francisco de Goya, Hans Hartung, Wassily Kandinsky, Henri Matisse, Tania Mouraud, Pablo Picasso and many others.
PARTNERS
The exhibition is sponsored by the Karin and Uwe Hollweg Foundation and the Peter and Irene Ludwig Foundation.
MEDIATION
The Faden Atelier in the exhibition offers plenty of space for creating, playing, and learning. Here, visitors can braid bracelets and weave paper. A small literature corner, equipped by the city library and the lokaltextil network, offers in-depth information on the topics covered in the exhibition. Every Thursday, regional handicraft groups of various kinds introduce themselves and invite visitors to join in.
A Millefleurs carpet is being created for the studio, which will be used for sitting, working and relaxing. It is being made by the Ost-Passage Theatre's neighbourhood stage's handicraft salon.
Millefleurs. Ein Teil von mir sprießt (Millefleurs. A part of me is sprouting) is a large, continuously growing activity wall with plants created from crochet yarn in the Faden Atelier. Many of these plants were created in the run-up to the exhibition by cooperating individuals and groups. During the exhibition period, everyone is invited to contribute to Millefleurs.
Verbindet Euch! (Connect!) is a project by elementary school students from Groitzsch Elementary School and forum thomum in Leipzig. The connection between pupils from small towns and cities and with the MdbK is made publicly visible through textile connections at all three locations: using upcycled fabrics that they collect and process into textile yarn, the children will decorate public places such as the bicycle racks at the school and museum or the fence at a bus stop from mid-November onwards.
