WHAT THE RUG?

“Where do all these carpets come from?” – We can pose this question as the object that was formerly considered home decor now seems omnipresent: it shows up in coffeehouses, on social media and, not least, in contemporary art galleries. Carpet making partly owes its renaissance to artists and designers who recognize the hidden possibilities of carpets as a medium in greater and greater numbers.

WHAT THE RUG?, the first group exhibition of the reopening 1111 gallery, takes a closer look at this tendency. We analyze the motivations behind the new wave carpet making: the trend of neo-craftsmanship that roots in traditional artistic attitudes but is combined with contemporary production technologies; the need for compensating digital artistic creation; the meditative nature of handcrafting; and the joy of experimenting with a new medium.

WHAT THE RUG? is not a thematically strict selection, the artists are connected by the carpet as a medium: some started out on their artistic journey by the tufting method, while others expanded their already well-known practice with carpet making. Here and there, familiar motives and topics come alive, in a completely fresh spatial form. The works demonstrate the narrative possibilities of carpet making, from the expression of personal experiences through rethinking digital iconographies ‘till the speculative analysis of ecological systems.

The title of the exhibition is inspired by Anna Katalin Lovrity’s carpet collection.

Artists: Judit Fischer, Fuzzy Earth, Kamilla Hornyai / KATMA studio, Emese Kádár, Anna Katalin Lovrity, Péter Puklus

Curator: Vanda Sárai

Graphic design: Rebeka Orosz

Opening: April 5th, 2023, 6 pm

The exhibition can be visited between April 6th and May 17th, 2023, opening hours:

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday: 2 pm – 6 pm