Unseen Art: Pushing Boundaries of Potential

By Azernews

By Laman Ismayilova

Azerbaijan Carpet Museum (ANCM) and the Russian Hermitage Museum have announced a joint project. 

An inclusive exhibition "Unseen Art: Pushing the Boundaries of Potential" opened at the Russian Hermitage Museum. 

Unseen Art: Pushing the Boundaries of Potential

This exhibition is the result of many years of research on creating replicas of art works for individuals with visual disabilities.

The museum visitors are invited to explore world art heritage through a tactile display.

The exhibition presents the inclusive fragments of the Pazyryk carpet, the oldest carpet in the world preserved in the State Hermitage Museum, newly woven by the Carpet Museum's Traditional Technologies Department.

The project makes it possible for visitors with visual impairments to experience a variety of techniques and feel the ornaments' shapes.?

The exhibition also displays relief replicas of felt products found in the Pazyryk burial mound, bas-reliefs designed based on the famous Panjakent murals and their animated narratives, a relief model of Rembrandt's painting Self-Portrait with Shaded Eyes, and much more.

Partnership with Hermitage Museum 

The ANCM's inclusive project in the State Hermitage Museum is part of the Memorandum of Understanding and Cooperation signed between the two museums in 2020. 

The inclusive program is based on the old carwood technique, which combines a smooth background, made in a lint-free way, and a pile ornament. This convex ornament is good for tactile reading. For the Hermitage exposition, the museum's Traditional Technologies Department created mini-rugs that reflect fragments of the ornament of the Pazyryk rug, known as the world's oldest carpet.

The Hermitage staff determined the original wool colors of the Pazyryk carpet kept in this museum, and our staff developed sketches of carpet fragments and weaved rugs with convex patterns on them from yarn hand-dyed with natural dyes.

Opening ceremony

The Carpet Museum director Shirin Malikova addressed the opening ceremony of the  exhibition. 

In her speech, Shirin Malikova noted that one of the main tasks for museums today is to make museums accessible to all people without exception.

She stressed the importance of creating all necessary conditions for visually impaired and blind people to enjoy masterpieces. 

Shirin Malikova expressed her hope that the exhibition will arouse great interest among other museums.

In conclusion, Mikhail Piatrovsky presented the Carpet Museum with the inclusive fragments of the Pazyryk carpet, the oldest carpet in the world preserved in the State Hermitage Museum.

The exhibition will run until December 12.