Decorum: Carpets and tapestries by artists

Curator: Anne Dressen, Gong Yan
Venue: Power Station of Art
Organizer: Power Station of Art, Musée d'Art moderne de la Ville de Paris

From April 26th until July 13th 2014, the Power Station of Art presents, together with the Musée d'Art moderne de la Ville de Paris Decorum, an exhibition highlighting textile, and showcasing more than a hundred carpets and tapestries from Europe, America, Africa and Asia from the 6th century to the present day.

 Before the invention of writing, the use of ropes, used for record-keeping gave birth to the earliest technique of weavings. Throughout the following centuries, artists were tightly involved with carpets and tapestries. Designing tapestries, cartoons, representing them in their paintings, or collecting them. Ancient oriental or primitive carpets can even be seen as pioneer non figurative masterpieces which anticipated modern abstraction. Carpets and tapestries have therefore strong yet still overlooked connections with both modern and contemporary art. This exhibition also pays a tribute to all the anonymous weaving masters from the past since many ancient carpets are included in the show.

 Carpets and tapestries are closely interwoven with the Western living experience and history. From the Middle Ages up until the 18th century was a golden age for European tapestries, synonyms of royalness and nobleness (see the Mobilier National treasures). By the 19th century, they became however squeezed by the fast pace of the industrial city, and have gradually been neglected and marginalized in favor of the mechanization and non-human made products. Carpets lost their former lofty status, to the point of becoming relics of history, seen as minor in all senses (crafty, feminine, primitive). It was only with the advent of the Arts and Crafts Movement headed by artists like William Morris, that handcrafts and everyday design gained in value and recognition. This signaled the advent of modernism and of a new era for Western art. By the mid 20th century, artists such as Jean Lurçat, Picasso, and Le Corbusier renewed focus on carpets and tapestries ( with the complicity of Aubusson workshops ) and saw then as a third option between art and design, or painting and sculpture.

 The flexibility and softness of textiles attracted major abstract artists such as Vassily Kandinsky, Sonia Delaunay, and later, Joan Miró. The 1960s New Tapestry Movement, saw fiber art as a tool of political or feminist expression; many women artists, such as Jagoda Bui, Olga de Amaral, and followed by Annette Messager, dared to return to the craft and the decorative. Then, carpets and tapestries freed from the domestic floor and from the wall, to become three-dimensional.

 In the 1980s, carpets continued to be featured in installations by artists such as John M Armleder, Mike Kelley and Marc Camille Chaimowicz, while contemporary artists like Grayson Perry, Pae White, Dewar & Gicquel and Michael Beutler embody today's "Neo-Craft Movement".

 Coupled with their nomadic roots and ability to absorb sound, carpets have provided many sound artists with fertile ground for creation. In designated parts of this exhibition visitors will hear the sound project selection originally compiled by Paris 8 University Professor Jean Philippe Antoine is mixed here with Chinese sound art and music.

 As the starting point of the Silk Route, China's rich textile heritage is on a par with that of the West, including ancient Egypt and Greece. In this exhibition, on display, will be an exquisite Ming dynasty silk tapestry, as well as great Qing woolen carpets from the Xinjiang. These are not just valuable artifacts, the modernity of their patterns and colors is striking.

 In China, the widespread use of carpets was almost exclusively confined to the traditionally nomadic areas of the North-West. Elsewhere, the tremendous human capital and resources required to manufacture carpets meant that they serve exclusively as symbols of power and wealth. This exhibition features a beautiful Shanghaiese Art Deco sample, but also two large revolutionary tapestries of Chairman Mao. Photographs documented by Feng Yan and Li Nan show the role of carpets in administrative and daily life, will no doubt stir the memories of the visitors.

 It was until the 1980s that carpets and tapestries were finally granted access to the modern and contemporary art in China. The Bulgarian artist Maryn Varanov, a figure of the New Tapestry Movement of the 1960s, had a critical role on this process. The Varbanov Tapestry Research Center, founded by the artist in 1986 at the China Academy of Art, was the first institute devoted to contemporary fiber art in China. This exhibition will showcase some of his iconic large fiber installations from the 1970s as well as from his students Shi Hui, Zhu Wei, Liang Shaoji and Lu Rulai.

 Just like the movements which shaped the development of Western art, artistic expression has now come full circle, returning to crafts and textures as a reaction to virtual and too demateralized world. The artists Aniwar Mamat, Yin Xiuzhen, Chen Tianzhuo, Cheng Ran, Hu Xiaoyuan and  China residents Heidi Voet and Thonik are approaching fabric in freer and more experimental ways.  

 Of course, fabric has an obvious connection to the body. In this exhibition, four designers, namely Vivienne Westwood, Maison Martin Margiela, Bless and Qiu Hao - will reveal their own interpretations of patterns and materials.

 More than just freeing carpets from the constraints of etiquette, to only place them on an artistic pedestal, the Shanghai Power Station of Art aims to unveil the specificities of woven art and hopes to provide visitors with a symbolic riddle.