Flying carpets
16 November 2012–27 January 2013
Opening:
Wednesday–Friday 10–6pm;
Saturday–Sunday 11–7pm
les Abattoirs
76 allées Charles-de-Fitte
Toulouse, France
T +33 (0)5 62 48 58 00
What is a flying carpet if not a metaphor for writing, music, war, wandering and travelling, nomadism, dreaming—all the journeys that manage to take us far away from the world? It is nonetheless and first of all a metaphor for carpets themselves and for their ability to transform surface into movement and movement into surface. Between past and present, Oriental and Western worlds, ornament and abstraction, carpets travel through times, cultures and trends—they can be found in Renaissance paintings, contemporary installations or even films, until they turn exhibition spaces themselves into travelling and transformation places.
Created in collaboration with Centre Pompidou in Paris and Villa Medici, the French Academy in Rome, this exhibition was conceived by Philippe-Alain Michaud, curator at the former. It seizes the figure of ”flying carpets” to offer a journey through centuries, countries and techniques. Garden, Levitation or Geometry—a few of the different steps along the course confront the Orient’s ornamental tradition with contemporary graphic, cinematographic and musical experiences. Thanks to nearly 100 works lent by Centre Pompidou and also by Musée des Tissus et des Arts décoratifs in Lyon, Musée du Quai Branly in Paris, Museum of Modern Art in New York and many other public and private contributors, this exhibition allows us to revive the link between East and West, here and faraway, past and present.
Olivier Michelon, Director, les Abattoirs – Frac Midi-Pyrénées, Toulouse – France
P.A.Michaud, Curator, Centre Pompidou, Paris – France
