AKU-2024-066

Textile Collective, Brussels

The Great Layoffs (Tapestry after the Bayeux Tapestry)

2024

Hand-woven tapestry, wool on linen

200 × 500 cm

Acquisition

Purchased, 2024

Curator’s Note

The tapestry documents the technology sector layoffs of 2022–23: Twitter (7,500 employees, October–November 2022), Meta (11,000, November 2022), Amazon (18,000, January 2023), Google (12,000, January 2023), and Microsoft (10,000, January 2023). The Bayeux Tapestry format — narrative frieze with Latin caption band above and decorative border below — has been reproduced at full original height. The border depicts the Twitter replies of laid-off employees, woven in legible 4mm lettering.