X International Biennial of Contemporary Textile Art
25 Years WTA
October 2022 – February 2023

X International Biennial of Contemporary Textile Art 25 Years WTA

People have been practicing the art of designing and creating textiles for thousands of years. First emerging from a necessity to fill basic needs, different cultures worldwide took it to another level by developing artistic, creative, and cloth methods that laid the basis for textile art. Textile-making tradition spans global cultures as one of the earliest human technologies in weaving, knitting, pressing, or knotting together individual pieces of natural or artificial fibers. Apart from providing shelter and warmth or holding goods, textiles also served decorative purposes and had an important place in the arts and crafts of various cultures around the world. Inspired by the ancient traditions with a contemporary style, in 1997, Colombian textile artist Pilar Tobón founded WTA – Women in Textile Art. It later transformed into World Textile Art to include male artists. This year 2022, WTA celebrates its 25th anniversary with the X International Biennial “25 YEARS WTA”, from October through December 2022. For the 10 th Biennial, more than ten countries will be interconnected to celebrate WTA history.

25 YEARS OF TEXTILE HISTORY

The first two WTA biennials, in 2000 and 2002, were held in Coral Gables-Florida after it took a nomadic character from the third Biennial in Venezuela. Henceforth, Costa Rica, Argentina, Mexico, Uruguay, and Madrid followed as venues. In 2021, Chile organized the first WTA virtual biennial (in the context of the global pandemic of COVID-19). The WTA biennials have had the participation of artists from more than 45 countries, with an average of 500 applications per biennial and in-person attendance of more than 1 million visitors.

World Textile Art encompasses textile artists of diverse nationalities and cultures, who affectionately call it the “textile family.” WTA’s nomadic international biennial is the only textile art biennial in the world, with the realization of nine biennials in eight countries. Each country that hosts a WTA Biennial follows the guidelines of the Organization and is chaired by a Local Management Group of leading textile artists, curators, academics, administrators, and cultural managers.

The “25 Years WTA” Silver Jubilee grand celebration in Miami will include exhibitions, lectures, and workshops for adults and kids, to be held in different locations such as the Miami International Fine Arts-MIFA in Doral, the LOWE Art Museum in Coral Gables, Miami Children’s Museum, the Consulate of Colombia also in Coral Gables, Paquita Parodi Fashion Museum in Wynwood, and Mood Designers Fabrics also in Wynwood, from November 3 to December 15.

For the X Biennial, as part of the WTA grand celebration exhibit, WTA has created a space for “25 ARTISTS” to be held in parallel in each of the countries that have hosted a WTA Biennial − having as its main headquarters the city of Miami-Florida under the direction of Luis Valenzuela, and as sub-seats: Buenos Aires-Argentina, Caracas-Venezuela, Madrid-Spain, San José-Costa Rica, Montevideo-Uruguay, Manizales-Colombia, Xalapa-Mexico, and Santiago-Chile as this biennial’s Guest Country. Although Brazil, India, Italy, Korea, and Turkey, have not previously hosted a WTA biennial, they will join the grand celebration, holding their national “25 ARTISTS” Salon in their home countries.

Each participating country’s “25 ARTISTS” Salon will open in situ during October and November and will be transmitted via streaming throughout different digital platforms.

More information:

Programm:

WORLD TEXTILE ART ORG
10730 NW 66 Street Suite 20 Doral
FL – 33178 USA
e-mail: info@wta-online.org
 
 

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