TEXTILE'05 | IDEA

The first international biennial exhibition in 1997 appeared at a time when a tradition of specialised exhibitions, being organised through national and regional associations, had ended. A new curatorial format of organising and selecting has started. Even though the traditions of textiles were very strong both in terms of practice and practitioners, its manifestation through exhibition had to change to be relevant in the new situation. The Kaunas textile community met this challenge by organising a dedicated exhibition for textile art which could (i) create an arena for artists to exhibit works, (ii) support artists in their practice, and (iii) raise the profile of textile art by inviting national and international artists. Gradually the confidence of the biennial exhibition increased because it was (i) meeting needs beyond its national border, (ii) contributing to the significance of textiles as an art form in Europe and further afield and (iii) serving as a cultural access and educational process. Our last presentation in 2003 - with an international jury, selection process, exhibition and awards - attracted two-hundred applicants of which sixty-two were selected. Over ten thousand people visited the exhibition from Kaunas and beyond.

Textile 05 attempts to analize expressions of textile in the context of contemporary art. It will give the power to site specific, new artistic technologies and conceptual ideas – Place, Technology and Concept.

‘Place' is going to explore textile in relation to living as well as open spaces. The works that were commissioned for specific places or created for a particular location are the centre of interest.

‘Technology' is going to explore technologies as a base and reason for the artistic ideas and expressions. It will investigate the impact and value of technology (industrial and individual) in the field of textile art. We are looking for innovative original technologies and new materials in relation to textile art.

‘Concept' is going to explore textile as a media in a conceptual art field. We want to trace the position of textile as means and values in forming the conceptual art. Textile in relation to interdisciplinary art and site specific is in the field of interest.

VISION

The vision of the exhibition comprises of two parts.
1. Curatorial
This part is guided by three international curators:
Keiko Kawashima, Kyoto International Contemporary Textile Art Center , Director (Japan),
Silja Puranen, Textile artist, President for the Association of textile artists TEXO (Finland)
Jon Eric Riis, textile artist (USA).
Each of the curators will propose the collection of approximately twelve art works. The three collections will represent contemporary textile art form Japan , Europe and USA . The art works created since 2001 and reflecting the idea of ‘TEXTILE 05' will reflect the idea of exhibition.

2. Competitive
All artists whose works reflect textile art in relation to Place, Technology and Concept can participate in the competition. It is expected to host from 100 to 200 art works at the exhibition. Jury will award prizes for the outstanding works in three different categories.

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