Audio recordings from the opening event for The Art of Ikat: A Cambodian Renaissance exhibition

<p>The Art of Ikat: A Cambodian Renaissance is an exhibition, which took place from 22 February to 31 May 2024 at the Royal Danish Library / University of Copenhagen Library S&oslash;ndre Campus, Karen Blixens Plads 7, 2300 Copenhagen S.</p> <p>This exhibition sheds light on the formation and subsequent loss of this textile collection and the devastating effects of the Cambodian civil war and Khmer Rouge regime on textiles as material culture and heritage. To this end, the exhibition explores the art and practice of ikat, hol (ហូល) in Khmer, a resist-dyed weaving technique mastered in Cambodia, and the significance of figurative and auspicious motifs used in Buddhist pidan ikat hangings. To exemplify the vitality of Cambodian arts, three artists are invited to create new pieces echoing this lost collection, based on the missing objects&rsquo; pictures and descriptions found in the cataloguing records recovered post-conflict at the National Museum of Cambodia. Facing this history of conflict which has led to the tremendous loss of artefacts and ancestral know-how, these creators embrace the vitality and resilience of Cambodian arts relying on the power of making, memory, and imagination.</p> <p>Two talks were recorded during the event:<br>- Opening address by Prof. Eva Andersson Strand, Director of the Centre for Textile Research, University of Copenhagen<br>- Keynote presentation by Dr. Magali An Berthon, postdoctoral fellow at the Centre for Textile Research and curator of The Art of Ikat: A Cambodian Renaissance</p> <p>This event received additional support from the Asian Dynamics Initiative at the University of Copenhagen, the David Fond og Samling and the Design History Society.</p>