Alajacquard
Alajaquard Logo
By connecting art and handcrafts as well as the past and the present, Alajacquard ties together two regions, Ennepe-Ruhr county and Görlitz in eastern Germany. The exhibition shows traditional artisanry, technological triumphs and social tragedies, as interpreted by contemporary and period artists.
In 1805 the Frenchman Joseph-Marie Jacquard invented the world's first programmable machine, in a way the great-grandfather of today's computers: A loom that used punch cards to control operations. It was responsible for the rise of the textile industry in today's Ruhr region, well before coal and steel started shaping the area. Jacquard's machine was an
engine of progress, enthusiastically embraced by cities and entrepreneurs whom it made rich. But this technological revolution also had a darker side and was soon followed by violent unrest: The Jacquard Loon led to widespread poverty and robbed countless artisans of their livelihood. Weavers rose in revolt in different parts of the country.
The early 19th century thus is interlaced with today's world, which is similarly shaken by globalization, in more ways than one. In 2010, this will be illustrated in two former centres of the weaving industry, Ennepe-Ruhr county and Görlitz, which had also been a candidate to become the European Capital of Culture 2010. Led by Professor Bernd Mattes, artists from the two regions are developing an exhibition that looks at the weaving industry in the Ruhr metropolis and Lower Silesia - where Görlitz is located - from a historic and artistic perspective, thereby drawing textile, thematic and geographic threads across Germany.
Alajaquard can be seen from May to mid-June 2010 at the Annenkapelle in Görlitz county and from September 3 to October 15 2010 at the Industriemuseum (Industrial Museum) Ennepetal.
Opening: September 4, 2010, 17:00