From intricate pieces in embroidery appliqué, to sculpture and immersive video installations, this sweeping survey of the Ortas’ work crosses continents from the Antarctic to the Amazon, reflecting onhumanity’s impact and relationship with the planet.
Inspired by the futuristic inventiveness of Brian Mercer, artist Jamie Holman, worked with young people at Blackburn Youth Zone to create a film which is presented on the state-of-the-art screen built into the new extension of the building, The Fusebox.
Somali artists and producers, Ayan Cilmi and Fozia Ismail, known as the Dhaqan Collective, present a participatory soundscape using Somali nomadic weaving traditions to connect us to ancient cultural practices that can inspire us to build new futures.
Salford Slow Fashion (UK) have worked with Godfrey Katende of IGC Fashion (Uganda) to create a distinctive fashion collection that celebrates bark cloth – an ancient and culturally significant Ugandan fabric.
The Materials Library explores the origins of fibres that have long clothed and connected us.
Fashion Promotion students in their final year at University of Lancashire present the future of fashion retail.
From Lancashire to Northern France, åbäke & Le Cercle du S226erpent Bleu from Roubaix, trace the story of a vanished football team in a fictional story that shows the enduring power of collective action in the sport, rather than bitter rivalry.
Christian Jeffery creates beautiful, hand-painted football shirts. Taking inspiration from cult players, iconic kits, fan culture, local traditions and historical artefacts, his paintings often incorporate plants, flowers and architecture associated with a certain team or city.
This exhibition explores how innovative football supporters have subverted textiles to express their individuality and undying dedication.
Based in California, Zapotec artist Porfirio Gutiérrez creates work that explores the contemporary and evolving experience of Native Americans.
In this collaboration, the two artists spent time with a Mixtec community in Oaxaca following an age-old, seasonal ritual.
Based in Los Angeles, Sarah Rosalena works between traditional craft traditions and emerging technology, breaking boundaries through her hybrid forms rooted in Indigenous cosmologies, re-interpreted through digital tools and her hand.
Based in Mexico City and rooted in specific geographies and territorial histories, Tania Candiani creates work in which body, land, labour and ancestral knowledge are inextricable.
Mehrotra’s site-specific installation celebrates mycelium networks that are the circulatory systems of earth.
Emelia Hewitt undertook a summer residency at the Whitaker to develop work within her photographic and image making practice.
Sally Hirst presents a solo exhibition at Helmshore Mill exploring histories of disability within mill worker communities & the Luddite movement, contrasted with contemporary relationships with AI technologies.
Future Past is an online exhibition via Instagram presented by Textile Culture Net (TCN) that brings together artists from across the globe whose work explores the often conflicted relationship between humans and the universe through textiles, along a sliding scale of power and resistance TCN is an international network of four textile institutions
Curated by academic and artist Claire Wellesley-Smith and fashion historian and broadcaster Amber Butchart, The Synthetic Revolution explores the origins of this story, tracing it back to 1941 when the drawing of a polymer into the first polyester fibre went on to position it at the heart of the modern textile industry.
Aligned with textile company Bionic Yarn’s repurposing of plastic waste from coastal communities and marine ecosystems to create high performance textiles, artist Ivan Forde uses this material to depict new poetic visions of fictional and real bodies of water across the world.
Produced by The Clayton Creatives, a group of local residents in Clayton-le-Moors, this exhibition celebrates and explores their shared stories, personal triumphs and losses, journeys and explorations.
The exhibition shows how performance clothing that emerged at the beginning of the last century for survival in the most extreme environments, clothing pioneers from Amelia Earhart to Edmund Hillary, from the Antarctic to the Himalayas, was later redefined by northern climbers, giving rise to brands like Berghaus and Rab, all rooted in northern ingenuity and material expertise.
Internationally renowned artist/designer, Aitor Throup, presents an immersive multi-media event on the Biennial’s final weekend,
Artist and games designer, Ninon Ardisson, speculates how textile production in the 20th century might have developed differently if informed by local environments rather than military and industrial demands and how biological materials could shape a different trajectory for innovation.
The idea of creating Utopia fuelled the future visions of the last century, feeding the realms of science fiction and, in turn, being inspired by its creations.
Sarah Lee presents an epic embroidery work exploring histories of manufacturing companies in Lancashire who produced high performance fabrics using innovative techniques.
Rosalena works between traditional craft traditions and emerging technology, breaking boundaries through her hybrid forms rooted in Indigenous cosmologies, re-interpreted through digital tools and her hand.
These four woven pieces were developed from a residency at CERN (the European Organisation for Nuclear Research), the home of the Large Hadron Collider.
This multi-media installation, by photographer and filmmaker Tim Smith, explores how the innovative spirit that powered the textile industry over the last three centuries is driving a new revolution in the 21st century.
An immersive, sci-fi-inspired multimedia installation based on an imagined fabric that holds the memories of local people and the land around Pendle.
Future Fashion Landscapes is a collaboration between Centre for Sustainable Fashion, University of the Arts London and the South East England and South West England Fibresheds, focusing on fibre production and biodiversity enhancement.
Anna Clough’s outdoor sculpture, based on the traditional sheep fold, celebrates sheep farming and fleece that have a long legacy in Lancashire.
Are You Lost? Is a multimedia installation from artists Kate O’Farrell and Rob St John.
Hannah Robson presents a monumental work that responds to the Harris’s archive of the Courtauld Factory in Preston in the impressive newly opened spaces of the museum.
A new group exhibition from the Textile Study Group a group of nationally and internationally recognised textile artists and tutors.
BTB reaches Lancaster for the first time with Margo Selby’s beautiful textile hanging, Breathing Colour, a celebratory textile installation, immersive in colour, form and sound, joyful and uplifting.
Come and explore our North West history by trying your hand at weaving, with artist and heritage machinery technician Caitlin Binks.
Join artists at The Bureau every Saturday in October to experiment with creating new fabrics from different combinations of discarded materials.
Inspired by Lucy Orta’s artwork, join Bev Lamey to create handmade flowers
Inspired by Lucy Orta’s artwork, join Bev Lamey to create handmade flowers
Join knitting artist, Helen Davies for a fun filled workshop creating woven woollen bracelets.
In the amazing, industrial setting of Queen Street Mill, students will learn about different hand-powered looms and make their own coaster or wall hanging using their own cardboard loom that they can take home.
Re-Cut the Future is a drop-in collage workshop where visitors creatively reimagine iconic garments from the Pioneers of the Material World exhibition.
Come and learn how to make Cyanotypes, one of the oldest photographic printmaking processes.
Join artists at The Bureau every Saturday in October to experiment with creating new fabrics from different combinations of discarded materials.
Come and experience stitching into Lubugo (bark cloth) during BTB25.
Join Heritage Textile Specialist, Kirsteen McGregor and experiment with natural dyes and botanical pigments on a range of fibres and material mediums
Join artists at The Bureau every Saturday in October to experiment with creating new fabrics from different combinations of discarded materials.
A colourful origami butterfly workshop taking inspiration from the work of British Textile Biennial artist Margo Selby.
A colourful origami butterfly workshop taking inspiration from the work of British Textile Biennial artist Margo Selby.
Inspired by the curated artwork on display, participants will be guided to identify shapes and patterns that resonate with them, culminating in the creation of a primary motif stamp, cut from a foam sheet to create a stamp effect.
Join artists at The Bureau every Saturday in October to experiment with creating new fabrics from different combinations of discarded materials.
Join willow weaving artist, Cherry Chung for a willow workshop at Darwen Market.
Join willow weaving artist, Cherry Chung for a basket making workshop at Darwen Market.
Discover 19th century innovations in textile production, with the chance to study antique costume, lace, patchwork, embroidery and more.
A colourful origami butterfly workshop taking inspiration from the work of British Textile Biennial artist Margo Selby.
Come and explore our North West history by trying your hand at weaving, with artist and heritage machinery technician Caitlin Binks.
Join Heritage Textile Specialist, Kirsteen McGregor and experiment with natural dyes and botanical pigments on a range of fibres and material mediums
Step into the future of fashion at this groundbreaking two-day workshop where creativity meets cutting-edge AI technology. Join us for an immersive, hands-on experience that explores how artificial intelligence is reshaping the fashion landscape.
A colourful origami butterfly workshop taking inspiration from the work of British Textile Biennial artist Margo Selby.
Step into the future of fashion at this groundbreaking two-day workshop where creativity meets cutting-edge AI technology. Join us for an immersive, hands-on experience that explores how artificial intelligence is reshaping the fashion landscape.
Join Fozia and Ayan of the Dhaqan Collective for a weaving workshop creating Somali tapestries.
Yarn windings are mini textile artworks created by wrapping and placing thread around card. Through the process, you enjoy the feeling of the materials in your hands and appreciate the colours, textures and magic of yarns.
Join artists at The Bureau every Saturday in October to experiment with creating new fabrics from different combinations of discarded materials.
Inspired by the British Textile Biennial exhibition of work by 4 Mexican artists, we celebrate ‘Dia de Muertos’ by creating ‘La Catrina’ inspired skeleton masks.