Interview with Moshe Tabibnia

Brief interview with Moshe Tabibnia

co-curator of the Venice exhibition and

curator of the Brescia exhibition

Why an exhibition project like ‘Serenissime Trame’ at Ca’ d’Oro? What is the relationship with the exhibition at the Ridotto del Teatro Grande in Brescia that opens on 13 April?

MT: Because the vocation innate in the appreciation of textile art and the carpet in particular calls for new ways of working with institutions and people that are absolutely sensitive and in harmony, allowing the perception of this ancient art to be broadened. The exhibition at the Ridotto in Brescia arises out of a wish to offer a closer look at the subjects presented in Venice: collecting, carpets and European society.

Why the comparison between a selection of ancient carpets and some rare Italian Renaissance paintings? Why the choice to exhibit the ‘Transylvanian’ carpets?

MT: Because Renaissance painting was a big help in studying the carpets and their significance in the Western society of the time. The dialogue between rare carpets and rare paintings is testimony of this. The ‘Transylvanian’ carpets represent a unique and extraordinary episode in this story.

What did fifteenth- and sixteenth-century carpets represent in the Venice of those centuries? What did the ‘Transylvanian’ carpets represent?

MT: As may be inferred from the paintings, the use of carpets in Venice at the time emphasises their nature as a ‘religious and ceremonial space’, a place for manifesting religious and secular values, and their wide distribution. The precious ‘Transylvanian’ carpets in the Zaleski collection tell the unique story of an Anatolian product that became part of the identifying tradition of Catholic communities in Balkan Europe from the seventeenth century to the present.

What experience may the public share?

MT: The public can relive the extraordinary story of the love of carpets by Venice and painters at the Ca’ d’Oro. In Brescia, thanks to the noble folds of local history, they will be immersed in the continuity of a story that crosses centuries and countries thanks to the passion of the collector who recreates multiform and distant scenarios.