Vienna | Dust and Silk exhibition

The exhibition Dust & Silk opens at the Weltmuseum in Vienna (16 December 2021 - 3 May 2022) takes visitors on a fascinating journey through the past and the present, exploring connections between these historical routes and the New Silk Road.

Silk textiles and ikat fabrics, tea, and wild apples made their way to Europe along these legendary historical trade routes. Today, these transport and trade links are of interest for different reasons. Large-scale infrastructure projects dominate the regions along the old steppe and silk roads, producing not only dust but also mining raw materials. But rarely have the places, people and paths between the eastern and western ends of the Eurasian continent been the focus of attention. The exhibition Dust & Silk directs our focus to these spaces in between.

The exhibition juxtaposes more than 200 historical objects, artworks and photographs with contemporary artistic positions and multi-voiced commentaries. The exhibits include outstanding collection pieces from the Weltmuseum Wien as well as outstanding international loans.

We have invited artists to create works that focus on subjects including infrastructure, speed, distance and connectedness, globalization, colonialism, nomadism, and the mining of resources. Connecting modern perspectives with historical material allows us to tell surprising and often overlooked stories.