With the exhibition Wool. Silk. Resistance., the Museum of Applied Arts is dedicating itself exclusively to the topic of carpets for the first time in 45 years – at a time when the great interest in handmade textiles of all kinds is reflected in a striking number of international exhibitions.

The exhibition presents carpets by international, contemporary artists who address themes of political resistance, individual and collective resilience, and defiance. Their resistance is directed against perceived illegitimate systems of rule and exercises of power, against traditionalism, discrimination, racism, trauma, and environmental destruction. The artists' carpets thus function as striking media for socio-political commentary. With equal radicalism, they sometimes transcend the boundaries of two-dimensionality: they explore the possibilities of three dimensions and unfold as textile sculptures and immersive spaces of experience that, through their affective quality, engage with contemporary life processes.

This exhibition aims to examine carpets not from a stylistic-historical perspective, but rather to present them within the context of a developmental trajectory that lies outside traditional Western carpet studies. The title itself hints at new questions: Can resistance take place in and with textile materials? And if so, in what way do carpets embody an "aesthetics of textile resistance"? In this regard, the exhibition focuses on the perspectives of the international artists represented with recent works from the first quarter of the 21st century, whose work, through the carpet as an open art object, explores various aspects of resistance. But what makes this medium so compelling for artists to contemplate resistance, sometimes exploring intertwined themes through knots, warp and weft threads, or with the tufting gun?

The (transcultural) negotiation processes involved in the creation of the artists' rugs in the exhibition, which resulted from collaborations between the artists and manufacturers of handcrafted rugs, sometimes reveal profound relationships between the artists and communities of knotters or weavers. Thus, the works also reflect an awareness of social standards in textile production. For example, the rugs were produced with consideration for transparent supply chains and fair compensation (understood here globally as a relationship-dependent factor) for the participating artisans – even those works that lack formal certification.