In the carpet work Pattern and Traces by Baltensperger + Siepert which accompanies their book project Ways to Escape One’s Former Country the informal migratory routes towards Europe are made visible as traces. The travel routes, which are also described as procedural instructions in the eponymous book, have been knotted into an antique oriental carpet through 600 hours of manual work upon Baltensperger + Siepert’s instructions.
The travel routes overlay the formal patterns of the oriental carpet, which was once brought to Europe as a colonial commodity.
With this aesthetic overlaying, Baltensperger + Siepert articulate the clear link between the flow of migration and Europe’s former colonial politics, which have continued up to today in a modified form.
Baltensperger + Siepert, 2017
Carpet, 2.65 x 3.3 m, Wool, Cotton
Collaboration with Lernwerk Baden, Switzerland
Credits: Silvia Converso
Exhibition Anders.Wo.
Burgmuseum Zug, Switzerland
24 November 2017 - 8 July 2018