Always love seeing our Anomaly OPEN space in Shanghai transform into groundbreaking, thought-provoking exhibits. This time: From Urumqi to Wulumuqi: Woven Wonders, a beautiful exploration of the place and role of carpets within families and communities. This free exhibit is open until November at Anomaly Shanghai. See more below from Partner & CSO Richard Summers.
#NowShowing @Anomaly OPEN: From Urumuqi to Wulumuqi Road: Woven Wonders 🧶🪡🧵 where contemporary art meets traditional craftsmanship Carpets have long served as cultural carriers within families and communities. Traditional designs, with their intricate and radiant patterns, captivate the eye, asserting their presence at the center of a space and providing a platform for social activities. Xinjiang has a rich tradition of handmade wool carpets. Since 2022, the Urumqi-based startup Biye Carpet has initiated an ongoing project inviting contemporary artists from across the country to revitalize the visual language of carpets with their cutting-edge designs. In doing so, these artists transform this ancient craft into a medium for modern ideas and mysterious codes. Advancing their journey from native Urumqi to Shanghai's lifestyle hub, Wulumuqi Road, the artist carpets now take center stage for a novelty-seeking young generation. Cheng Ran is one of the first artists to embark on the collaboration. Drawing inspiration from traditional wave and pomegranate patterns, he reinterprets them as techno music soundwaves and youth culture icons. His creation, titled "The Silk Road" (2022), is stripped of color to convey a sense of emotional detachment and modern gothic aesthetics. Karamay-born artist Liu Xin has embedded her most personal code into her carpet. "When We Were All Flowers" (2022) incorporates 27,047 sets of her own DNA data with 129,600 hand-tied knots. A series of Etles colors, a distinct palette from Xinjiang, is used to represent the genetic sequences AaCcGgTt, making it truly a carpet of life. Other artists have chosen to breathe new life into lost legends. Xu Maomao and Zhang Na's carpets draw inspiration from the lands of Gostana and Yarkent, respectively, using abstract ornaments to celebrate the power of the land and the gifts of nature. Nabuqi takes this concept further, constructing a purely speculative civilization based on impressions passed down through generations of Xinjiang carpet designs. Romantic with a touch of somberness, "Stone and Sky" (2023) connects reality to the transcendence of imagination. Exhibition Duration: OPEN now until November, 2024 Address: Anomaly OPEN Space, 205 South Wulumuqi Road, Xuhui, Shanghai Open Daily | Free Admission #anomaly #shanghai #art #culture