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CulturalxCollabs: Participatory Project of the Museum für Islamische Kunst Starts on 23 September 2023

15.09.2023
Museum für Islamische Kunst

The Museum für Islamische Kunst (Museum for Islamic Art) is using the closure of the Pergamonmuseum for major renovations for a participatory project: A woven replica of a 17th-century Caucasian dragon carpet, which suffered fire damage during the Second World War, will be cut into sections at a public event on 23 September 2023. These pieces will travel around the world until the Pergamonmuseum reopens in 2027. Social media, histories and stories on the online portal of the Museum für Islamische Kunst will accompany the fragments. The project aims to foster pathways to cultural exchange, promote transregional participation, and reveal societal connections.

CulturalxCollabs. Weaving the Future” launches with a public event on Saturday, 23 September 2023, at 12 pm in the New Courtyard, next to the James-Simon-Galerie, where the new interpretation (replica) of the dragon carpet will lead to its being cut up and handed over to various parties. A stage programme introduces the project and the first people to take possession of fragments. These are, in part, visitors drawn from the audience, as well as individuals and groups who will creatively engage with the project’s underlying ideas. The fragments will be sent to people all over the world with the kind support of DHL. After a while, the pieces will be sent on to new project participants with other creative ideas. In their temporary homes, the fragments activate and strengthen relationships between diverse people and cultures, experiences they can actively shape and share under the hashtag #CulturalxCollabs.

Transregional Exchange, Intercultural Connections and Cross-Border Stories

A label on the back of each fragment allows those possessing them to share the history (or stories) and themes connecting them to their fragment. Selected accounts will be published on the Online Portal of the Museum für Islamische Kunst. In addition, background information is available about examples of cultural ties, artworks travelling worldwide and the museum collection.

Planned Return of the Carpet Fragments in 2027

The fragments will return to the newly designed exhibition spaces of the Museum für Islamische Kunst for the planned partial reopening of the Pergamonmuseum in 2027, accompanied by their stories and temporary owners. Together with the dragon carpet from the 17th century, old and new will again enter into a dialogue – the carpet stories come full circle. Based on the fragments’ signs of use, the social media stories, and the temporary owners’ narratives, the carpet becomes a tangible mediator of new object histories, stories and human engagement.


The project is supported by DHL and the association Freunde des Museums für Islamische Kunst im Pergamonmuseum e. V.