GOBELIN
Work by Veerle Michiels & Jonas Vansteenkiste
2015
The work "Gobelin" by Veerle Michiels & Jonas Vansteenkiste plays with the idea:
that war is slumbering in our history and even in our life more so in the historic and everyday objects. They use the tapestry fabric to make bags out of them and fill them up with sand, making them into sandbags.
A sandbag is a bag or sack made of hessian (burlap), polypropylene or other sturdy materials that's filled with sand or soil and used for such purposes as flood control, military fortification, shielding glass windows in war zones, ballast, and in other applications requiring mobile fortification.
The titel "Gobelin" makes reference to Gobelin tapestry in general, but more specifically refers to the origins of the tapestry from the manufacture des Gobelins in Paris.
In a way they play with the value of these "sandbags" by using a more precious material they suggest the priceless value of this object.
On the other hand the suggestion that war is always home by using domestic tapestry.