Flying Carpet expo opens in Vienna

By Azernews

By Laman Ismayilova

An exhibition “Flying Carpet” opened in Azerbaijan Cultural Center in Vienna on April 12, bringing together Azerbaijani and Austrian art students.

The exhibition to run until May 10 is organized by the Azerbaijan Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Azerbaijan Carpet Museum, the Azerbaijan Cultural Center in Vienna and the Vienna University of Applied Arts.

The exhibition is held as part of the project "Crossing", where art students from Azerbaijan and Austria worked for seven months.

The event was attended by representatives of the Azerbaijani Embassy in Austria, the Azerbaijan Carpet Museum, the Vienna University of Applied Arts, the Azerbaijan State Academy of Arts, diplomatic missions, cultural and scientific figures.

Addressing the event, the head of Azerbaijan Cultural Center in Vienna Leyla Gasimova, highly appreciated the fruitful cooperation, exchange of students, joint projects and exhibitions between higher educational institutions of the two countries.

The center's activities are not limited only to the promotion of Azerbaijani culture and art in Austria. It also aims to strengthen cooperation between cultural and art workers of two countries, especially young artists and students.

Director of the Azerbaijan Carpet Museum, Chairman of the National Committee of ICOM Azerbaijan, Ph.D. in Art Criticism Shirin Melikova, said that the 5th International Symposium on Azerbaijani carpet on the theme "Traditions and Innovations" was held in Baku last October.

“This event went down in history as a significant event in the cultural life of our country with the participation of experts on carpets and textiles, artists, collectors from different countries. The symposium was held in accordance with President Ilham Aliyev's order of November 14, 2016. The symposium became one of the most important events, occurred after the inclusion of Azerbaijani carpet art in the UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, which was the result of great efforts of the Azerbaijan's First Vice-President Mehriban Aliyeva. To this international event, the Azerbaijan Carpet Museum has timed a number of projects on the theme "Traditions and Innovations", including "Flying Carpet" exhibition,” she said.

The museum director also said that the project aroused great interest. The most important aspect of the project is the experience accumulated by students in the process of teamwork and familiarization with traditions. They got acquainted with the history of ornament, studied carpets in the museum exposition, read books and discussed them, searched for intersection points and found absolutely unexpected solutions.

“The experiment is the basis of development, and we can say with all responsibility that we have achieved the goal. The result of this experiment - the exhibition "Flying Carpet" - was successfully held in the Azerbaijan Carpet Museum until January 2018. Over three months, the exhibition was visited by more than 20,000 guests,” she added.

Vice-rector of the Vienna University of Applied Arts, Dean of the Faculty of Textiles: Free Applied and Experimental Art Design, Barbara Putz-Plesko stressed that the institution she represents is interested in working with international partners and implementing joint projects. She expressed her confidence that the "Flying Carpet" exhibition, which reflects the revolution of intercultural dialogue in the arts and prepared by students for five months, would be met with equally great interest by art lovers in Vienna, as it was in Baku. She also said other joint projects of the Azerbaijan State Academy of Arts and the Vienna University of Applied Artswill be held in future.