Overview - The 11th International Conference on
Oriental Carpets in Istanbul 2007
Ivan Soenderholm 12 May 2007
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The 11th International Conference on Oriental
Carpets took place 19-22 April 2007 in Istanbul - the "Carpet City"
with nearly 600 participants. This
conference will especially be remembered for the impressing numbers of
outstanding exhibitions in the program, the great atmosphere and the many
activities and interesting sites in the city, and of course for the
conference it self - with lectures, dealer's fair, poster presentations
and social activity. It will be hard to achieve such a level on forthcoming
conferences. |
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The opening ceremony of the conference took
place Thursday 19 April at the luxurious and expensive Swiss-hotel where
ICOC General Secretary Dennis Dodds held the first speech of welcome.
Mehmet Cetinkaya, chair of the local ICOC committee held a speech and Turkish officials spoke about the importance of
the ancient
Turkish weaving tradition. The first lecture was held by Walter B. Denny
who spoke about
important carpet collections in Istanbul. |
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The preview opening of the Dealers' Fair,
exclusively for ICOC participants, took place Thursday evening and lasted
till 23.30. Around 36 dealers participated with stands.
Several dealers reported about good sales.
Read more about the Dealers' Fair
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The academic program 20-22 April included more than 50
lectures arranged in parallel sessions, so it was possible to attend ca.
25 lectures. The sessions were organized in themes: Turkish Carpets, Textiles, Archaeology, Costumes, Europe & Oriental Carpets, Technical Features, Caucasian Carpets, Modern Production, Daghestan Kilims, Technical Investigations, Indian Carpets, Egyptian Carpets, Persian Carpets and Collecting & Collections. See
a list of all lectures |
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Poster presentations were a part of the
academic program. Around 19 interesting presentations were on display. See
a list of all poster
presentations
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The private collections exhibited at the
conference hotel included Anatolian yastiks, Anatolian kilims and Ottoman
embroideries & Uzbek suzanis.
Read more about the exhibited private collections
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The highly interesting Josephine Powell Collection
was on display at Yildiz Palace and the exhibition lasted till 2 May. The
exhibition was well attended and admired by many ICOC participants.
Read Raoul Tschebulls' review
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The first reception and exhibition Friday
evening 20 April was at the Dolmabahce Palace. The palace is a symbol of
The Ottoman Empires magnificence and decadence and the 20th century palace
style carpets on display
were far away from most ruggies taste. |
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The reception and exhibition later Friday
evening at the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art was the
highlight for most ICOC participants. Around 1000 visitors made the
reception very cheerful and the exhibition of ancient and antique rugs was
an outstanding and unforgettable experience.
Read more about the Turkish and Islamic Museum of Art |
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The exhibitions and receptions at Vakiflar Carpet
Museum, Vakiflar Kilim Museum and Topkapi Palace took place Saturday 21
April. Many of the rugs have never been shown for the public before.
Read more about the Vakiflar
and Topkapi exhibitions
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Outside the ICOC program, but visited by
many ICOC participants, there were two very interesting exhibitions at the
Sakip Sabanci Museum. "In Praise of God - Anatolian Rugs in
Transylvanian Churches" and "Kaitag Embroideries, Textile
Art from Daghestan". Read more about
Anatolian Rugs in Transylvanian Churches
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