Page - 98 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 01/01

98 | Daria Pezzoli-Olgiati www.jrfm.eu 2015, 1/1, 95–101 the industrial carpet is cut into. The quotation of the Chartres labyrinth is explicit and, accordingly, so is the reference to (medieval) Christianity. labyrinths, found in Chris- tian churches since the 4th century, were associated with the image of the world as a place of sin and of purification as well as a path to salvation.9 The Chartres labyrinth has been reproduced in many parts of the world. in this sense, Proposition de détour reiterates a Christian symbol within an already existing tradition of reproduction of this obligatory path. The design, in contrast, depicts an oriental paradise garden taken from a Persian carpet of the early 16th century (safavid Period, ca. 1520–1530).10 The religious reference is to Islam. This work merges symbols from different religious tra- ditions, a Christian labyrinth and an islamic paradise, combining the oriental carpet tradition with the act of walking a labyrinth in a cathedral. a common thread that reinforces this unique link may be given by references to salvation ideas and concepts of life after death in both the labyrinth of Chartres and the textile representation of a Persian paradise. Through this playful connection, the references to the religious symbol systems in the work of art are materialised, on the one hand, on the level of representation and, on the other hand, on the level of performance: the original use of the labyrinth is in effect reiterated in the white cube atmosphere of the art mu- 9 Cf. Kern 1999, 207–227. 10 fischer 2010, 112–113. Fig.1: Su-Mei Tse, Proposition de détour, 2008, printed wool carpet, diameter 900 cm, here in a exhibition in the Museum of Art Lucerne, Switzerland in 2010 © Kunstmuseum Lucerne, photograph: Andri Stadler.