Max Allen Collection

A selection of the Max Allen Collection of war carpets from the Textile Museum of Canada is currently on show in the exhibition Battleground at University of Philadelphia Art Gallery. Anthropologist Professor Brian Spooner (the back of whom you see here) is one of the foremost authorities on the cultural economy of pre-war carpets in the region.

Penn Museum coverage here. And more here.

Obligatory Iconoclasm. Yawn.

It had to happen. This work by Iranian artist Farhad Moshiri sacrificed a pile of carpets in the name of art. For contemporary art to be iconoclastic (see the work of Ai Weiwei, for example) it has to be original. Not this time! Judge for yourself, here.