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Multi-sensory Lithuania

I have just returned from a very exciting Textile event in Lithuania, which I would like to share with OCA textile students and tutors.
The European Textile Network holds an International Conference on Textiles in a different country  every two years, the last one being in Austria.  Four years ago, it took place in London hosted by myself and a colleague, Paula Ashbrook at London Metropolitan University.
The aim of these conferences is to give a wider support to those working in the textile field, to raise awareness of what is being achieved in the world, the sharing of knowledge and of course, inspiration.  There were 135 delegates at this conference from 34 different countries, which apart from Europe included USA, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Central America, China, Japan and Russia. Topics ranged from collaborative work between artists, video artists, musicians, dancers, and neuro-scientists, to the outcomes of new technology, work in the community, schools and local ecology issues, reclaiming textile identity, and slow textiles.

Silja Puranen: Finland Digitally manipulated photograph on to a worn out surface, stitched and embroidered.

One of the most inspiring elements of the conference was that it was scheduled to coincide with the Kaunus Textile Biennale. As a result of this, there were numerous satellite  shows. This was the first time, since the Lausanne Biennales in the 1980s and 90s that I had seen so much textile work in one city at the same time. There seemed to be at least four openings every day over the three day period. It was both exciting and stimulating.
The conference and biennale was hosted by Vilnius Academy of Art and the theme was Rewind to the Future,  chosen to represent the buttons on a tape recorder, rewind, play, fast forward.    The Biennale itself was an open competition, artists were asked to submit proposals for projects based on personal stories which would provide the narrative to their work and speak through the textiles. Competition was fierce, there were over 300 hundred applications from 43 countries and 31 projects were chosen. Among the successful British entries,  there was work from Alice Kettle, Ainsley Hillard, Sonja Andrew, and Marion Mitchell.
There was also a category for invited international textile artists. Here, Yinka Shonibare MBE, represented Britain with films where stories are told through textiles and the body. Another exhibition, Rewind into the Future was curated by OCA tutor, Sarah Braddock Clarke which aimed to show the newest scientific achievements in high tech and smart textiles. The satellite exhibitions included collections of artist’s work from Costa Rica, Estonia, Japan featuring Reiko Sudo”s highly innovative work based on traditionally based techniques  but using the latest industrial processes, a small collection from the Lausanne Biennale archives, Experiments with Light, plus numerous side shows from both International artists, Lithuanian artists and tutors and students from the Vilnius Academy of Arts.
My overall  impressions relate to the differences between textile work in the UK compared with this international showing. In the UK the field of textiles is fairly dominated by stitch, embroidery and print, but there has always been a much stronger tradition of weaving in the  European countries. This has been developed to another level with the advent of Digital Jacquard loom and as a weaver I found this fascinating. However, traditional tapestry is still very evident, with large pieces showing superb skill and vitality.  It was noticeable that whatever the media, the artists’ skill and the quality of realization and presentation was highly professional. Because of the theme of Biennale, the conceptual ideas behind the works were largely based on storytelling; embroidery such as the work of Dutch artist, Tilleke Schwarz  explored the theme in a line based stitched drawing, with text incorporated.  There is a strong tradition of cross stitch in Eastern Europe; Lithuanian artist, Inga Liksaite explores this technique, creating stitches that resembled photographic pixels, bringing it from its craft based roots and  combining it with video to create a 21st century aesthetic.
But what really challenged my thinking was the extent to which collaboration with artists using other media had taken place to expand the traditional boundaries of the visual and tactile experience with audio, sound, animation, video  and music.  Such collaborative work resulted in some interesting and innovative processes and uses of technology. I found myself wondering whether the textile work would stand on its own, and and on examination, I felt that it did. The additional enhancements sometimes added atmospheric qualities and  at other times were contemplative, enabling the viewer to engage more readily and understand  the ideas that were being expressed. This often reached a level of multi-sensory involvement, something I had not experienced in this field before, and not seen in the UK.
The ETN conference that I took part in four years ago, was entitled Digital Craft, and we had set out to explore ways of humanising the digital process through intervention with craft and hand techniques.  Some of the Biennale exhibits went way beyond this, and not only was there craft intervention with the technology  but also an added depth with this collaborative approach which was both astounding and inspiring. It exposed possibilities for the future and revealed how textiles as a medium can move in many directions.
For images and videos (most in Lithuanian, but worth looking at) of the Kaunus Textile Biennale go to the website.
Pat Moloney (Textiles Curriculum Leader)


Posted by author: Paul Vincent

4 thoughts on “Multi-sensory Lithuania

  • Wow!
    I think this would take me a week to go through properly, exploring the links 🙂 thanks very much for that. Perhaps I will grant myself one link as a treat after each of these exam scripts I now have to mark!

  • Thanks for the insights into what is happening internationally, Pat. As you say, there are different approaches between the UK and overseas textile artists – maybe we should have our own International conference hosted by OCA and our new degree partners UCA to explore this further!

  • A couple of years ago I backpacked around Poland and the Baltic states and every town I visited had a major textiles exhibition on ranging from traditional Baltic textiles to contemporay techniques, housed in amazing buildings in Tallinn, Vilnius, and Riga. This article was very useful Pat and will be following up on some of the links, Yinka Shonibare is one of my favourite textile artists already and glad his work has been showcased in this way. It’s a pity we don’t have regional exhibitions like this in the UK, London is too far to visit regularly.
    Sarah

  • Hi Pat, I was there too and did enjoy it tremendously. Great event and especially appreciated the combination with the Dance festival. So every evening I went to exciting modern ballet (sometimes very late at night). In two years there will be another biennial and it is well worth going there. There are some cheap flights and the costs of hotels and meals is a lot less than in the UK and my country (Netherlands).

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