This summer, the Amsterdam Museum shows a special 40 meter carpet runner in the Schutters Gallery; a gallery of the Amsterdam Museum that shows large 17th century paintings of marksmen. The carpet is designed by Barbara Broekman and produced by Desso, and is a part of Barbara's exhibition 'My City: a celebration of diversity'. The exhibition includes this carpet, Jacquard woven wall panels and embroidery panels. Yesterday, Thursday 28 June, the carpet installation was presented and opened by Jan-Jaap van der Wal, a well-known stand-up comedian in the Netherlands.
What is special about this work of art, is that it represents all 179 nationalities that live in Amsterdam. Textile artist Barbara Broekman has researched the nationalities of Amsterdam and the textiles of their countries of origin for ten years. She brought a variety of characteristic details from clothing, carpet, flags and table-cloths together in a 3.2x40 meter Axminster woven carpet runner, which Desso produced and sponsored.
The carpet supports the permanent exhibition of the museum called 'Amsterdam DNA', which presents Amsterdam and its diversity in demographics throughout the centuries. It is intended to draw the attention in the public debate away from the 'us' versus 'them' discussion. It shows that there is not one 'them' and that all nationalities in Amsterdam together represent a diverse and versatile world which should be celebrated.
'My City: a celebration of diversity' in the Schutters Gallery of the Amsterdam Museum can be visited free of charge until 1 February 2013. For more information, please visit www.amsterdammuseum.nl or www.barbarabroekman.nl.
- Share this page:
