In collaboration with Stazione Arte Contemporary Presents: War Rugs | The Nightmare of Modernism, the Exhibit Project curated by Enrico Mascelloni, Giovanni Busacca, Concessionaria 23 (Book Edition: Skira - War rugs-The nightmare of modernism 2010)

On the occasion of the inauguration of the new multipurpose spaces at Via Maiocchi 23, recovered from a historic 1960s garage while preserving its industrial character and original structural features, Concessionaria23 is proud to host, during Milan Art Week and Fuorisalone 2026, for the first time in Milan in a brand new exhibition layout, the major show WAR RUGS: a one-of-a-kind exhibition with an international flavour, which has been displayed in European galleries and American museums such as the renowned Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The idea, born from the project of the owners Antonio and Vincenzo Donadio, the passion and expertise of Enrico Mascelloni, and the artistic curation of Giovanni Busacca (Owner & Founder of Stazione Arte Contemporary), gives a clear signal of the direction set by Concessionaria23, a dynamic and productive reality that aims to establish itself as a new point of reference for the development of cultural and artistic projects for the community and the city of Milan. The exhibition, with its museum-like character, takes us on a unique journey through an unexpected space, where the rugs — displayed "raw" on the walls — with their strong visual impact and communicative power, blend seamlessly into the raw industrial environment, alternating with works and installations on the same theme by contemporary artists: Ernesto Jannini, Corrado Bonomi, Roberto Staffilano, Federico Marcoaldi, Marc Kalinka, and Francesco Garbelli. The theme of war has, unfortunately, become a highly topical issue once again. The exhibition, curated by Giovanni Busacca and Enrico Mascelloni, will be accompanied by the book “War Rugs—The Nightmare of Modernism” (published by SKIRA in 2010). The volume sparked extensive debate far beyond specialized circles and is considered the most up-to-date and comprehensive account of War Rugs published to date.

War rugs have achieved considerable success in contemporary art museums and galleries, thanks to the originality and innovative tension of their representations and visual languages, as artworks capable of striking the most demanding chords of a contemporary sensibility that needs strong emotional stimuli. The f inest examples have long been sought-after collector's items. The collection was assembled by Enrico Mascelloni after countless trips to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the former Soviet Central Asia, beginning in the mid-1980s and has benefited from the collaboration of numerous researchers, dealers, and specialists active both in the countries of origin and in the West. The rugs were made in Afghanistan and the North-West Frontier of Pakistan between the late 1960s and the present day, spanning the final flourishing of the Hippy Trail, which led many young Westerners towards India, generally overland, and the outbreak (1979) of the unceasing sequence of Afghan wars that continues to this day. Examined in popular articles and specialized essays that now form a vast bibliography, high-quality war rugs are nonetheless rare and seldom seen, since they belong to the initial phase of the period under consideration, as do most of the works on display in this exhibition. However, we found it appropriate to include some of lower technical quality that are nonetheless capable of conveying the "pop" complexity of one of the most astonishing phenomena in contemporary visual culture. Alongside large world maps surrounded by the flags of their respective countries and sequences of military vehicles (so closely related to Alighiero Boetti’s famous Mappe), more recent artifacts will be exhibited, such as the "Dollar Rug." Other pieces depict urban landscapes linked to the areas of origin (such as Sydney or San Francisco) from which young "hippies" arrived in a still-peaceful Afghanistan during their journeys toward India. Another widely represented category is that of "Portraits," featuring both historical figures like Amanullah Khan and protagonists of contemporary history like General Dostum, each surrounded by weapons, which in this context served as potent martial symbolism. Production continued on a massive scale throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Even the obsessive Taliban iconoclasm tolerated its representation. After 2001, a proliferation of pro-American propaganda war rugs emerged, such as the one depicting the Twin Towers in flames. Quality became increasingly poor, yet the "pop" power of the imagery could go so far as to conceive a rug in the shape of a dollar bill, the size of a prayer mat. Whoever sits on it may find it ill-suited to spiritual exercises, but will have no difficulty feeling at home in the global age. "Further discoveries were needed to trace back from that war rug that had surprised me in the Peshawar of the mid-1980s to a genuine modernist tradition rooted in the preceding decades, from which remarkable specimens occasionally surfaced — such as a rug featuring Geishas and a sequence of aeroplanes. I too had come to believe that war rugs were the product of a collective act whose origin had already been swallowed up by the disaster unfolding around it. Yet the discovery of the 'Rugs with the World' and other no less surprising artefacts convinced me that war rugs were merely the most recent act — and in some ways one of 'decadent splendour' — of a modernist production that had preceded them by many years, in which modern weapons appeared across many examples that plausibly pre-dated the Soviet occupation." (Mascelloni)

American Museums that have previously hosted War Rugs. 2021 From Combat to Carpet: The Art of Afghan War Rugs Museum of Interna onal Folk Art 
 Santa Fe, New Mexico January 12, 2020–August 3, 2021 2020 From Combat to Carpet: The Art of Afghan War Rugs Museum of Interna onal Folk Art 
 Santa Fe, New Mexico January 12, 2020–August 3, 2021 2019 Combat to Carpet: Afghan War Rugs South Dakota Art Museum, Brookings, South Dakota August 23–November 24, 2019 Afghan War Rugs: The Modern Art of Central Asia Allen Priebe Gallery, UW-Oshkosh, Oshkosh, Wisconsin February 21 – March 13, 2019 2018 Afghan War Rugs: The Modern Art of Central Asia Masur Museum of Art, Monroe, Louisiana March 14 – June 23, 2018 2017 From Combat to Carpet: The Art of Afghan War Rugs Lyman Allyn Art Museum, New London, Connec cut February 17–May 14, 2017 2016 Afghan War Rugs: The Modern Art of Central Asia Memorial Art Gallery, University of Rochester, New York August 20–October 16, 2016 2015 Afghan War Rugs: The Modern Art of Central Asia Sco sdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Sco sdale, Arizona February 6–April 26, 2015 2014 Afghan War Rugs: The Modern Art of Central Asia Lawton Gallery, University of Wisconsin, Green Bay, Wisconsin September 11–October 2, 2014 Afghan Rugs: The Modern Art of Central Asia Boca Museum of Art, Boca Raton, Florida May 3–July 22, 2014 2013 Afghan War Rugs: The Modern Art of Central Asia Villa Terrace Decora ve Arts Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin September 20, 2013–January 6, 2014