“Without Museum Objects” is a series of events that invite you to an unusual environment for the museum. Its permanent exhibition cannot be seen during the transitional stage of rehabilitation. This moment is a unique opportunity to concentrate on the exhibition space itself and think about the Silk Museum’s specificity through different works and approaches. Imagining the musealia, feeling the space without objects, or partially filling in the empty spaces also show the significance of observing exhibitions and items in the real world.
Leafeaters
The domestic silkworm (Lat. Bombyx mori) mostly feeds on mulberry leaves so that it can grow and spin a cocoon around itself. Afterward, humans reel the thread, process it, and create textiles. Therefore, an important part of the museum’s collection includes objects concerning mulberry trees (Lat. Morus) – herbarium of different species and hybrids, tree diseases, ethnographic or laboratory photographs, scientific achievements, etc.
The exhibition in the framework of “Without Museum Objects” takes place in the “Mulberry Room” and concerns the relationship between humans, nature, and silk. Inspired by the museum, Nino Eliashvili used watercolor layers in her paintings (2021). Resembling the transparency of silk, these surfaces connect various objects and faceless bodies. Furthermore, the site-specific display highlights the former exhibition, or more specifically its traces in the room. 

Curated by Data Chigholashvili