The State Silk Museum was built in 1887 as part of the Caucasian Sericulture Station. Initially, with its multiple buildings, it focused primarily on scientific and educational processes. Currently, it functions as a museum. The collections and exhibitions explore all aspects of silk production and its rich history. The Museum uses its historical background to create a new platform for sharing knowledge. It is open to creative experimental approaches involving different groups. Since 2016, the museum has been collaborating with various professionals from local and international art scenes and has been working on many art projects, exhibitions, interventions, and residencies.

Art Prospect Network Residency at the Silk Museum

The museum currently focuses on research-based projects since its building is closed to the public due to renovations. The State Silk Museum invites professionals to work on artistic research projects that explore the museum’s relationship to its surroundings. This topic was initially addressed during the Art Prospect Festival, “Memory Threads: Museum and Neighbourhood,”  conducted by the State Silk Museum in 2018.

While the Festival’s concept accentuated the museum’s role, historical layers, and connections with the surrounding area, it also showed the importance and value of artistic collaborations and creative explorations on these themes. The analysis of the museum’s institutional role and historical links with the neighborhood concerns many topics, including private and public spaces, personal and collective memories, archival and abandoned information, exhibition venues and cities. Reflecting on these ideas, research projects conducted during the residencies can be presented using diverse forms of artistic representation, including but not limited to artist tours, artist’s books, publications, online presentations, public performances, and outside events.