Två dagars program av presentationer och workshops om silke och hem-serikultur – småskalig uppfödning av silkeslarver i hemmet – med konstnärer och forskare som undersöker relationer mellan silkeslarver, mullbärsträd och människor.
Morus is an international silk community, practicing home-sericulture – meaning the breeding of silk worms in a small scale in one’s home – in order to engage local communities in historical processes regarding future silk production. The aim of the project is to raise awareness of the intertwined relationships between silkworms, mulberry trees and humans, as well as to ask questions about these relationships from artistic, social, ecological and ethical perspectives.
The first Morus Silk Symposium takes place in parallel to an exhibition in Super Ö, where artworks and research by 7 members of the community is presented. The symposium program offers presentations, readings, workshops and film screenings.
The artists Hanna Norrna, Irini Gonou and Kleopatra Tsali are the founders of the Morus project, and responsible for the curation of the Silk Symposium in collaboration with the Röhsska museum.
Program 6/9
11:00-11:20 – Introduction to Morus project: Artists Hanna Norrna, Irini Gonou, and Kleopatra Tsali introduce the project Morus and the concept of home-sericulture, as the starting point for a two-day Silk Symposium in Super Ö.
11:20-11:50 – A green silk thread tied to the bone: Hanna Norrna’s research presents the early presence of mulberry trees and traces of silk production on Gotland, with links to the parallel events of the Visby Witch trials in 1705-1707.
12:00-12:30 – What the Tree Heard: Kleopatra Tsali explores the silkworm’s metamorphosis as a metaphor for identities shaped in states of transition – personal, cultural and material. Drawing from the borderlands of Thrace and the Pomak village of Roussa, where a centuries-old mulberry tree once nourished silkworms, her work traces ancestral links between land, labor, and transformation.
12:30-13:00 – The hand tool: From silk breeding at school, to research and work in the museum of an old spinning mill – the French artist Giulia Zanvit tells the story of her reconnection with the history of silk in the region of Cévennes in southern France.
14:00-14:30: – The bird, the seed, Naxos, ritual cloths and talismanic threads: Sparked by childhood stories of her grandmother’s silkworm farming in Peloponnese, and the unexpected growth of a mulberry tree in her garden, Irini Gonou’s participation in the Morus project emerged as an artistic inquiry into the intertwined lives of silkworms, mulberry trees, and humans, drawing material from local narratives in Greece and beyond.
14:30-15:00 – Spinning Whorls: Spinning Whorls explores the space where material and living cultural heritage overlap and where scientific, expert-led official cultural heritage management is allowed to run parallel to the everyday and the living.
15:00-15:30 – Threads of Life: Threads of Life explores symbiotic relationships between humans, plants and silk worms. The work is centered around the life of former Danish princess Leonora Christina, Countess Ulfeldt (1621–1698), who was imprisoned for many years.
15:45-16:30 – Guided tour of the exhibition Morus: The exhibition Morus in Super-Ö presents artworks and research by seven members of the international silk community. The room is filled with stories from women in silk processes – industrial, private, ceremonial, mythological – in the past, today and for the future.
Before your visit
Booking soon available.
The number of seats is limited. A booking confirmation must be shown upon attendance. The program is included in the museum admission ticket. Please remember to cancel your spot if you are unable to attend. Cancellations should be made via email to: bokningar.rohsska@kultur.goteborg.se
Drop-in available subject to space.
The activity is in english.
Image: Hanna Norrna.
