THE STORY
Weaving was once one of the highest forms of artistic creation, winding its thread through western literary imagination. In Book 2 of Homer’s Odyssey, Penelope, wife of
the wandering hero Odysseus, lives in mourning in Ithaca,
besieged by potential suitors convinced that her husband
has died in the Trojan War. Penelope is faced with a dilemma: does she accept her husband’s presumed death
and marry again, or does she consign herself to perpetual
mourning. She is pressured to remarry, but devises a plan
to postpone her dreaded fate. Her suitors agree to let her
finish weaving a shroud in honor of her husband’s father.
During the day, she weaves on her loom, but every night
she secretly unweaves her work, beginning again in the
morning. After four years of weaving, Penelope is betrayed
by her servants, and her suitors demand she complete her
labor and choose among them. Over the next ten books of
the Odyssey, Penelope’s labor mirrors the travels of her
husband. The completion of the tapestry is subsumed into
the larger narrative of Odysseus’s homecoming, the slaying of the suitors and the reunion with his faithful wife.
— Extracted from catalogue text by Jerry Brotton
The Exhibition
Penelope’s Labour invites a reappraisal of the art of weaving. It is part of an ongoing historical reassessment of
early tapestries, which in Medieval and Renaissance
times weaved a distinct figurative story, related to but
distinct from painting. As artists like Raphael, Rubens and
Le Brun redirected the medium towards a mechanical reproduction of painting, its unique luster faded, repelling
innovative collaboration and consigning tapestry to what
William Morris, leader of the 19th century Arts and Crafts
Movement, called “the lesser art” of craftwork.
This exhibition puts that characterization to rest
with its comparison of antique and contemporary
tapestries and carpets, some monumental in size.
Curated by Adam Lowe and Jerry Brotton, the exhibition was produced and organized by the Giorgio Cini
Foundation in Venice and Factum Arte in Madrid for
the Venice Biennale, where it received outstanding
international acclaim.
The traveling exhibition focuses on the ability of contemporary artists to use the medium of tapestry to tell
varied, compelling stories from present-day life. Ranging from the significant 15th­-century tapestry, The
Siege of Jerusalem, after the Master of Coëtivy, to
Azra Aksamija’s collective weaving on ethnic cleansing
in Bosnia Herzegovina, to Grayson Perry’s vast allegory
of contemporary life and Marc Quinn’s hyper-real flowers; this exhibition brings the woven image back into
the heart of contemporary artistic practice. Among others, contemporary artists in the exhibition include Lara
Baladi, Alighiero Boetti, Manuel Franquelo, Carlos Garaicoa, Craigie Horsfield and Simon Peers.
Brotton and Lowe have woven together an exciting new
understanding of the relationship between the Jacquard
loom and the computer. They demonstrate that digital
weaving and innovations in new technology are allowing a wide range of contemporary artists to discover
the medium in completely new ways. The artists in the
exhibition are using the latest technological innovations
in weaving to create a novel figurative and conceptual
language of expression capable of bridging painting,
performance and installation art.
Exhibition Includes
Twenty-five tapestries from the late 15th century and contemporary works using the latest
technological innovations in weaving
Exhibition catalogue available for reprint
Requirements for
Hosting Institution
Gallery space: 10,000 square feet /
930 square meters
Ceiling height: at least 13 feet / 4 meters
Wall length: at least 50 feet / 15.5 meters
Venue Length
12 – 24 weeks
Tour Schedule
Available as early as spring 2014
For Exhibition Bookings
& CUratorial Questions
Please contact our sales team at
+1 651 222 1121
info@exhibitsdevelopment.com
The Response
Tapestries ancient and modern are the toast of Venice. . . “ Penelope’s Labour” is highly intelligent and beautifully displayed
by the artist Adam Lowe for the Fondazione Cini. . . Don’t miss it.
-- Anna Somers Cocks, The Art Newspaper
A number of contemporary artists have been rediscovering weaving with amazing results, as shown by an enchanting exhibition, “Penelope’s Labor: Weaving Words and Images,” of pieces ancient and modern.
-- Roderick Conway Morris, The New York Times
Beautifully installed, with a poetic Arabian Nights mood to it, the show makes ancient exhibits look fresh and fresh exhibits
feel ancient. Craigie Horsfield has created a dark and turbulent wall hanging that actually shows an anarchist pop concert,
but feels, I swear, like a biblical crowd scene painted by Caravaggio. And Carlos Garaicoa, my favourite discovery perhaps
of the entire biennale, gives us a set of brilliantly effective trompe l’oeil carpets modelled on the crumbling pavements of
Havana. And to think I didn’t believe in magic carpets.
-- Waldemar Januszczak, The Sunday Times
e woven web. Trial 1. 2009, 160 x 60,5 cm, golden orb spider silk.
nd-woven by simon peers in his workshop in madagascar.
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