More than 600 (prayer) flags flying in the Church of St. Joseph                   
Haus der Seidenkultur presents “Grenzenlos – Himmelwärts” there

“Grenzenlos – Himmelwärts” is the title of an exhibition which Haus der Seidenkultur (HdS) is presenting from 3rd. October in the Church of St. Joseph (Roßstraße / Südstraße) in Krefeld. More than 600 (prayer) flags representing different religions are sending their various messages towards heaven: “Flags blowing in the wind which do not move apart but come together as a sea of flags,” says curator Professor Annette Pöllmann.

Pöllmann made a name for herself in Krefeld as a professor for textile design at the Textile Engineering College which subsequently became “Hochschule Niederrhein”.  Since her retirement she has been active as a freelance artist. “Grenzenlos – Himmelwärts” should actually have been exhibited more than three years ago at HdS. However, the sudden closure of the museum where urgent fire prevention measures had to be implemented meant that the project could not go ahead.
A travelling exhibition was therefore arranged at short notice and the flags were displayed in the highly reputed Galerie Smend in Cologne, in the town hall in Medebach and in the Industrial Museum Henrichshütte in Hattingen, before finally returning to their place of origin which now pleases Professor Pöllmann.
Memories of a trip to the Himalayas and her fascination for prayer flags motivated the curator to encourage people to design prayer flags with their own message. Old and young, healthy and ill, beginners and those with more advanced skills, members of different religions and nations, people from all continents came together in their thoughts to become involved in the project. 
True to the creative motto: “It is not the object which is important but what one makes of it,” a golden button was transformed into the flame of a candle, lace braid into angels, an out-of-fashion scarf into flowers, military material into a dove, a summer dress into a dinosaur. One 85-year old lady used her huge fundus of lace, braid and trimmings to produce 106 flags with very diverse characters. A lady artist from Luxembourg decorated her flags with mottos in the languages of Luxembourg, France and Germany.
“The flags come from a wide range of sources – ladies belonging to a senior citizens’ circle, the clothing technology assistants at the Vera Beckers Vocational College and even from internationally acclaimed artists,” says Professor Pöllmann describing the wide differing protagonists: “The youngest were 15years of age, the oldest 95.”

“Grenzenlos – Himmelwärts” opens on Friday, 3rd October at 11.00 hours in the Church of St. Joseph Krefeld. It is open to the public until 28.02.2015 every Saturday from 12.00 to 14.00 hours. Individual viewings can be requested by email under This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Curator Annette Pöllmann holds the prayer flag with a dove of peace flying over the symbols of different religions.

The curator presents a small selection of the prayer flags for “Grenzenlos – Himmelwärts” spread out on her sofa.
HdS photos: Brenner