Penelope's Labour

On show at the Fondazione Giorgio Cini is the work of numerous contemporary and historic artists working within the materials and concepts of rug and tapestry.

The exhibition Penelope's Labour: Weaving Words and Images, curated by Adam Lowe and Jerry Brotton, features tapestries, embroidery and rugs antique and contemporary. Although all the pieces on display are worthy in themselves, the cross-reference between old and new seems more an impression than an actual dialogue between the pieces. It was, however, the Foundation's stated intention to take this opportunity to exhibit pieces from its founder's collection.

An Afghan war rug and one of Alighiero Boetti's famous maps might be deemed the most successful combination, in which you can sense the link. Boetti's maps were a conceptual rereading of the world's political organisation, entrusted to the hands of Afghan embroiderers. The war rugs, first woven after the 1979 Russian invasion to narrate its events, marked a break away from classical design patterns. Both produced in the same country with traditional craft methods, they are examples of creative innovation. In those years, Afghanistan was a draw for young hippies and Boetti opened the One Hotel in Kabul. Who knows, perhaps those very exchanges between East and West—between young people looking for new ways to approach the world and a society that although backward was more open than the one seen later when the Taliban rose to power—were behind that break.

Top: Alighiero Boetti, <i>Mappa,</i> 1978. 169x230cm, embroidered silk, made in Afghanistan. Collection Matteo Boetti.<br />
Above: Carlos Garaicoa, <i>Fin de Silencio,</i> 2010. Installation of 5 tapestries and 2 video projections, variable dimensions, wool, cotton and metallic thread. Woven by Flanders Tapestries from files prepared by Factum Arte. Lent by the artist and Galeria Continua. — Top: Alighiero Boetti, *Mappa,* 1978. 169x230cm, embroidered silk, made in Afghanistan. Collection Matteo Boetti.
Above: Carlos Garaicoa, *Fin de Silencio,* 2010. Installation of 5 tapestries and 2 video projections, variable dimensions, wool, cotton and metallic thread. Woven by Flanders Tapestries from files prepared by Factum Arte. Lent by the artist and Galeria Continua.

Marc Quinn's tapestry is a classic example of his work, embodying all his essence in a manner fitting with the medium. The still and deadly life of his flowers appears clearly, the black/white and colour taking on duller tones than in his works produced with other techniques. The effect is that of an object that contains the themes of his exploration, but less violently and so perhaps more acceptably. It could almost be described as a Pop tapestry. The large tapestry by Britain's Craigie Horsfield, At 99 Posse Concert Via Gianturco, Napoli. Settembre 2008, shows the crowd at a rock concert in perfect imitation of Mannerist painting. The young people in hoodies look like friars, a figure in a white t-shirt flooded with light resembles a Christ and the moving bodies are as if in battle. Perhaps they are—the battle of life today.

Marc Quinn, <i>Pixelation of the Hearth,</i> 2011. 280x436cm, wool and silk, woven by Flanders Tapestries. Published by the artist and Factum Arte, lent by the artist. — Marc Quinn, *Pixelation of the Hearth,* 2011. 280x436cm, wool and silk, woven by Flanders Tapestries. Published by the artist and Factum Arte, lent by the artist.

Fin de silencio is the title of Carlos Garaicoa's early 2006 trompe-l'oeil carpets, centred on a revamp of the words found on the pavements in front of old shops in Havana. Here, there is a sort of dual deception, that of Garaicoa's semantic shift and that of the technique. The carpets—with video projections to double the effect—were made to be laid on the floor but imitate the 'outside' and are installed in an all-black interior to heighten the trompe-l'oeil effect. When exhibited in exactly the same way at Madrid's Matadero in 2010, in what is a far more powerful space—the former cold store of the abattoir—the deception was perfect. Once the trick has been revealed, you can focus on the hyper-realistic details e.g. the chipped pavement edge, the chippings and cigarette butt, and the cracks running through the words. The spirit of Flemish tapestries raises its head...These carpets and, indeed, Horsfield's tapestries and others on show, were created on digitally controlled Jacquard looms.

Although all the pieces on display are worthy in themselves, the cross-reference between old and new seems more an impression than an actual dialogue between the pieces.

Craigie Horsfield, <i>At 99 Posse Concert. Via Gianturco, Naples. September 2008,</i> 2010. 375x855cm, wool and cotton, woven by Flanders Tapestries Lent by the artist. — Craigie Horsfield, *At 99 Posse Concert. Via Gianturco, Naples. September 2008,* 2010. 375x855cm, wool and cotton, woven by Flanders Tapestries Lent by the artist.

The mechanical loom presented by Joseph-Marie Jacquard at the height of the industrial revolution in 1801 was a crucial invention that gave rise to more than and a different textile design and a new work organisation in a sector that was flourishing at the time. This loom made it possible, for the first time, to mechanically weave the most complex designs but it also marked the beginning of the application of digital technology, i.e. our contemporary world.

Simon Peers and Nicholas Godley, <i>The woven web (trial 1),</i> 2009. 160x60.5cm, golden orb spider silk, woven in Madagascar. Lent by the artists. — Simon Peers and Nicholas Godley, *The woven web (trial 1),* 2009. 160x60.5cm, golden orb spider silk, woven in Madagascar. Lent by the artists.

There is also a true curiosity for the real enthusiast, a piece not seen in Europe for more than 100 years. The Woven Web (Trial 1), by Simon Peers & Nicholas Godley, is a handcrafted shawl in a fabric similar to silk, it is the product of the experimental weaving, in Madagascar, of silk threads gathered from approximately 50,000 spiders of the Golden Orb species. Each yarn used in the warp and woof of the fabric comprises twenty-four silk threads produced by these spiders. It was produced with methods developed hundreds of years ago and executed by local labour force.

It is, perhaps, the piece that refers most clearly to the matrix of all those in this exhibition which is the cloth, embodied always in our minds by that of the astute Penelope, that people have woven for thousands of years for a whole array of purposes, the first being the elementary need to cover the body of the 'naked ape'.

The beautiful and serene venue is also one of the merits of this exhibition.
Simona Bordone

Penelope's Labour: Weaving Words and Images
through 18.09.11
Fondazione Giorgio Cini
Isola di San Giorgio Maggiore
Venice

Penelope's Labour

On show at the Fondazione Giorgio Cini is the work of numerous contemporary and historic artists working within the materials and concepts of rug and tapestry.

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