Artists:
Ingunn Bakke ∣ Siri Berqvam ∣ Malin Bülow ∣ Tore Magne Gundersen ∣ Anne Knutsen and Karen Lidal ∣ Karin Aurora Lindell ∣ Åse Ljones ∣ Cato Løland ∣ Åsne Kummeneje Mellem ∣ Sidsel Palmstrøm ∣ Liilian Saksi ∣ Linn Rebekka Åmo

For its 10th anniversary, Contextile – an international biennial for textile and fibre art – invited Norway to be its ‘invited country’. The Norwegian Textile Artists’ Association (NTK), in collaboration with Norwegian Crafts, presented an exhibition of textile art from Norway.

The Norwegian presence at the biennale is spread out over three important cultural sites within the historic city of Guimarães: Museu de Alberto de Alberto Sampaio, Palacete Santiago and Museu da Sociedade Martins Sarmento, exhibiting projects by thirteen Norwegian contemporary textile artists including a variety of perspectives that together represents some of the concerns significant in Norwegian contemporary textile art. The exhibition was curated by Norwegian textile artist Málfriður Aðalsteinsdottir and the curator of Contextile 2022, Cláudia Melo, in collaboration with Janis Jefferies and Kiyoshi Yamamoto.

Press folder with photos here
More photos from Contextile here

NTK is a democratic members organization for professional textile artists, and the curators have been particularly concerned with showing a wide range of Norwegian contemporary textile art, showing its vast activity and strong position in the art scene. The artists selected come from many different parts of the country, and with their different generational voices both newly graduated and experienced older artists are represented, with works of art in different disciplines.

Málfriður Aðalsteinsdottir described the exhibition’s scope: Thematically, the works span a larger field broadly dealing with the body, nature, ecology and the environment. Some of the works explore identity and belonging, while other works revolve around our place in time, and our close but complex relationship to nature. Several of the artists convey poetic and dreamy works and facilitate meditative and sensory experiences. Some work with elaborate mathematical pattern construction, some with the sculptural potential in textiles, while others map out and document. There is a spotlight directed onto the polluting textile industry and the difficult working conditions of the seamstress and textile worker, on over-consumption and the political landscape of our time.

The Norwegian Textile Artists Exhibition at Contextile 2022 is a collaboration between Norwegian Textile Artists and Contextile - Contemporary Textile Art Biennial and supported by Norwegian Crafts through part-financing and advisory role.