19th of March – 13th of April 2012

There is a vision of art that ignores profane images outside of its own system. Today, innumerable images, as well as the numerous places they occur in (from mass media to applied arts), trigger a new war of images. The question of definition appears more complex and urgent than ever. That a carpet, quite apart from its functionality, can also be a carrier of information, or an image, must be acknowledged as a fact. The abstract forms of a carpet – particularly one hanging on a wall – can be seen from the perspective of abstract or monochrome painting within the meaning of a globalised transfer of arts and culture. Today, more than at any previous time, the context in which visuality is experienced is up to the visual consciousness of the audience.

Günther Holler-Schuster

Up until seventy to a hundred years ago, Nomads – a culture without architecture and the written word – created arresting objects of art. Patterns and motives, but also proportions and colours, were embedded in climate, era, culture and religion, often representing a legible pictogram. These carpets were never geared towards the market or decoration; they were articles of daily use or ritual objects. Some remind us of works of classic modernity and contemporary art, raising the question to what extend these anonymous works of art rank behind famous oil paintings.

Helmut Reinisch