Tapis volants at Villa Medici: Movement in Rugs and Film

The exhibition "Tapis volants" at Villa Medici in Rome (May 30 – October 21, 2012), curated by Philippe-Alain Michaud, juxtaposes antique carpets with experimental films and contemporary artworks to explore movement as a fundamental property of woven textiles. The show includes pieces from Stanley Brakhage, James Whitney, and Zilvinas Kempinas alongside 16th- and 17th-century Persian and Turkish rugs. Michaud argues that the ornamental treatment of surfaces in carpets subverts traditional distinctions between foreground and background, center and periphery, and focused versus floating attention. The exhibition draws on Aby Warburg's anthropological art history to reveal rhythmic sequences in borders and motifs, where movement is pervasive. The repetitive and all-over patterns in antique carpets are compared to the infinite repetition in experimental cinema, undermining narrative and figurative representation. The curatorial hypothesis, initially seeming theoretical, proves convincing in its demonstration of how the interlacing of warp and weft creates structure and motion. The comparison extends to cinematic apparatus: the horizontal editing table and vertical film strip, and the interplay of horizontality and verticality in projection. Dominique Païni's review praises the exhibition's originality and intellectual stimulation.