TEXTILE NOW: EACH THREAD TELLS A STORY

Textile Now is an exciting and colourful showcase of new commissions from twelve well-known and emerging artists. The TextielLab’s knowledgable technicians and high-tech equipment was used to realise their intentions. It is the Raison d'être of the museum to inspire artists to discover and work with textile materials and for some it was their first experience.


Image: patricia kaersenhout together with weaving expert Stef Miero in the TextielLab, working on 'Our Light Will Outlast Their Flags', photo: Josefina Eikenaar. Image above: 'Tied to the Other Side' in the TextielLab, photo: Willeke Machiels.

The artists translated social themes, including diversity, the environment, power structures and decolonisation, into installations and tapestries rich in poetry and imaginative power. Many artists have first-or second-generation immigrant backgrounds, so there was a rich international influence and inspiration from Africa and South America. Evident in Karo Ak-pokiere’s “drawings” about daily life in Nigeria’s megapolis Lagos. These drawings are part of a series of ten images that take a closer look at every- day concerns in one of the fastest-growing metropolises in the world: from the omnipresent preaching of the gospel to the diesel fumes that cloak the city day and night. Both drawings were transformed into tapestries in the TextielLab. Indeed, the softness of textile material adds a pleasant counterweight to the sometimes weighty issues depicted. It is not always clear what the artist is and the technician’s contributions are. Maybe that is not important, though.



Dutch artist Melanie Bonajo's (they/them) work was shown at the 2022 Venice Biennale. There she presented a sculptured pillow landscape, “Piles of Oxytocin Shape Dreams under Skin.” Bonajo explores experiences of intimacy and sexuality through her work. In the TextielLab, she developed the installation “Piles of Oxytocin Shapes Dreams Under Skin” with designer and scenographer Theo Démans. Immersed in this sensual landscape, reminiscent of exotic plants or reproductive organs, visitors can hear stories of intimacy.



The exhibition also showed Bindweefsel a co-created project in which two groups of fifteen women worked with an artist on a new work in the TextielLab. The starting point was that all participants had a say and learned from each other. The passementerie department turned out to be the perfect match. This department, uses mechanical techniques and machines that date back to the 19th century. Unlike knitting, weaving, and embroidery in the TextielLab, no digital skills are required. Instead participants could work independently as designers and implementers led by Theodorus Johannes (they/them). As a filmmaker, fashion researcher and artist, Theodorus Johannes explores the meaning of fashion and textiles about identity. All the ideas, creativity and intense work ultimately came together in the TextielLab in a Coat of Many Colours, inspired by the song of the same name by country legend Dolly Parton. The song underscores that the value of a textile lies not only in the beauty of the result but also in the love that goes into making it.

Textile Now - each thread tells a story is on show at the Textiel Museum until 1 October 2023.

Find out more:
TextielLab
@textielmuseum