Silk Road Through the Ages - Past, Present & Future
SILK ROAD THROUGH THE AGES
Art, Photography, Textile Design & Cultural Exhibition
of the Silk Route from the Past, Present and the Future
at Winns Gallery, Lloyds Park, Walthamstow, London E17 5JW
Open to the Public on the 14.7.2018 & 15.7.2018, 12.00 pm to 6.00 pm
& from the 16.7.2018 to 22.7.2018, 10.00 am to 5.30 pm
FREE ADMISSION
This is an exhibition of the art, photography, textile design and culture. The exhibition is a journey that narrates various themes and stories that provides a selected snapshot view from the past through to the present and future. Our silk route journey starts from China and travels through Iran, Turkey, Italy and ends up as an exhibition at the Winns Gallery in Lloyds Park, Walthamstow, London. In each of our selected themes and stories, we exhibit element from the past to the present and the future. To encapsulate the overall future element, the exhibition also offers emerging VR artists on the 18th and 19th of July 2018, to live stream with each other internationally, enabling participants from the Winns Gallery in London to link and connect with the Keeni Kessler Gallery in Penang, Malaysia. Our VR Platforms and Tools include MasterpieceVR and Secondlife.
This exhibition is beginning of our Silk Route Journey. “The reason why the universe is eternal is that it does not live for itself; it gives life to others as it transforms.” “A good traveller has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving” ― Lao Tzu & “Knock. and he’ll open the door” - Rumi.
The Silk Road or Silk Route was an ancient network of trade routes that for centuries were central to cultural interaction through regions of the Asian continent connecting the East and West from China to the Mediterranean Sea. While the term is of modern coinage, the Silk Road derives its name from the lucrative trade in Chinese silk carried out along its length, beginning during the Han dynasty (207 BCE – 220 CE). The Silk Route touched the Chinese, Mongol, Mughal, Byzantine and Ottoman empires. Han dynasty expanded Central Asian sections of the trade routes around 114 BCE, largely through missions and explorations of the Chinese imperial envoy, Zhang Qian. The Chinese took great interest in the safety of their trade products and extended the Great Wall of China to ensure the protection of the trade route. Trade on the Silk Road played a significant role in the development of the civilizations of China, the Indian subcontinent, Persia, Europe, the Horn of Africa and Arabia, opening long-distance political and economic relations between the civilizations. Though silk was certainly the major trade item exported from China, many other goods were traded, and religions, syncretic philosophies, and various technologies, as well as diseases, also spread along the Silk Routes. In addition to economic trade, the Silk Road was a route for cultural trade among the civilizations along its network. The Silk Route covered the Taklamakan Desert, Tian Shan, the Hindu Kush and ancient trading centers and cities like Luoyang to Xian, Dunhuang, Samarkand, Bukhara, Tehran, Istanbul and Venice, one of the starting point of the Maritime Silk Route. The traders included, Chinese, Arabs, Turks, Indians, Persians, Somalis, Greeks, Syrians, Romans, Georgians, Armenians, Bactrians, and (from the 5th to the 8th century) the Sogdians. In the 21st Century China launched the Xi Jinping’s “One Belt One Road” initiative covering the overland and maritime Silk Road linking Asia to Europe, Oceania, East Africa, North Africa, South East Asia, South China Sea, Indian Ocean, South Pacific Ocean, Beyond the 21st Century, we have the Jack Ma’s, Alibaba’s initiative of the E-Silk Road to link all countries in the world.
Artists, Photographers and Textile Designers from Iran, Malaysia and the UK, plus VR Emerging Artists for international exchange between Winns Gallery & KKG in Penang
Dr. Mojgan Jahanara, Aboud Fares, Albert Foo, Vanja Karas, Fion Gunn, Cristina Gatti, Yanire Sylva Delgado, Alan Hudson and Jhy yen Lo. Live streaming, AR & VR consultants: VRE Virtual Reality Experiences Limited
AR & VR Curator: Maureen Kendal, Co-ordinators for Masterpiece: Sean Rodrigo and New Synthetic Theatre: Alan Hudson
Exhibition Curators: Xiaoyi Li, Yanire Sylva Delgado. Workshop Curators: Fion Gunn & Cristina Gatti
Main Organiser of the Exhibition:
PingHub UK, one of our Local Network of PingHubs globally was set up to provide offline platforms for our members to showcase & sell their work. PingHub International is the online platform for the PingHub Network, www.thepinghub.com Our core members consist of Artists, Photographers, Film Makers, Musicians, Fashion & Fashion Accessories Designers, Designer Makers, Performers, including Spoken Words & Technological Innovators.
Overall Co-ordinator: Peng Seng Ong, Founder & Director PingHub UK & PingHub International
E. pinghubinternational@gmail.com W. www.thepinghub.com
The Workshops
1. Monday 16.7.2018 2 PM – 5 PM
Open to Local Waltham Forest Schools & Communities
Fion Gunn, “Pathways” - River of Salt Installation
The workshop participants will be asked to make a boat, or bridge, island or settlement using a range of recycled and other materials, which they can add to the salt river at whatever location feels most appropriate for them. Salt will be poured out to form a pathway through the exhibition and that the mixed media will include fabric, paper, card and plastic waste. The artist (and volunteers hopefully) will provide materials and assistance so the participants can make an artefact, whatever their skill level and ability. During the workshop the artist will lead a discussion and informal story exchange about the history of the silk roads to discover what people understand by the term.
Age range from 8+ years, Maximum 10 students
2. Sunday 22.7.2018 11 AM – 1 PM (11.00 am for 11.30 am start)
Open to Local Waltham Forest Schools & Communities and the Public
ÏTTAG Presents Augusto Gatti’s The Cashmere Road, 55 mins Video
In 1995, Augusto Gatti embarked on a journey from Italy to Japan by car. Running one of the world leading companies producing cashmere fabrics, he had a dream of going through the countries that produce cashmere and map out an ideal itinerary: the cashmere road. The journey took almost 2 months travelling more than 21,000km across six countries almost entirely by land. The journey proved both challenging and fascinating and surely a life changing experience.
Age range from 10+ years students and the public, Maximum 15 people