The City of West Hollywood through its Arts and Cultural Affairs Commission presents ‘A Thousand Threads of Knowledge,’ an exhibition by Italian artist Dado Schapira. The exhibition will be on display from Friday, February 7, 2014 until Thursday, May 1, 2014 at West Hollywood Library, 625 N. San Vicente Boulevard. It is free and open to the public during regular library operating hours — currently Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.; and Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

An opening reception will be held on Friday, February 7, 2014 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Dado Schapira has developed a site-specific project for the City of West Hollywood. He has chosen books and colored threads of silk and cotton as his artistic media to express a concept of a globalized culture connected by thin lines among nations. Visitors to the exhibition can expect to see letters of the alphabet, syllables, words, sentences, stories, and images all created by multicolored threads, anchored from a book, which is serving as the canvas. Schapira’s artwork represents the spirit and function of the library: to spread culture and knowledge among people and nations without differences of race, sex, religion, and faith.

This collection of artwork is inspired by the symbolism of threads throughout history including: the ancient Greek Fates who controlled the metaphorical thread of life of every mortal from birth to death; the quipu, knotted cords which recorded census and other information used to manage the Incan empire; the Upanayana, a Hindu practice that uses a sacred thread to symbolize the transference of spiritual knowledge; and, finally, the invisible social threads of today’s “Web-society.” Schapira notes that “the whole history of humanity and knowledge seems to unfold through threads.”

‘A Thousand Threads of Knowledge’ was curated by Cynthia Penna of ART 1307. For more information, visit www.art1307.com

The opening reception on Friday, February 7, 2014 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. is free and open to the public. RSVP on the Facebook page for ARTbeat West Hollywood at www.facebook.com/artbeatwesthollywood

For more information regarding this exhibit or about other exhibitions in the City of West Hollywood, visit www.weho.org/arts or call (323) 848-6883. For people who are deaf or hard of hearing, please call, TTY: (323) 848-6496.