Textilfest- Exhibition “Transformation”

TextilFest, the Festival of Contemporary Textile Creation,
was an international event organised by the Association for Textile Creation (ACT) from 18 September to 26 October 2025. The festival aimed to highlight the values of the various fields of textile culture through activities covering artistic and contemporary creativity, textile creation processes and sustainability, the region’s historical textile heritage, and training in the crafts. All this was achieved through a comprehensive programme that included four exhibitions, a fashion show and a significant programme of training and networking activities for attending professionals, as well as collective creation initiatives and public participation.

Exhibition: Transformations. International Textile Art
A group exhibition showcasing the potential of textile art as a medium for contemporary artistic expression, addressing personal, social and environmental themes under the umbrella of the theme‘Transformations’. An international and cross-generational jury comprising Beatrijs Sterk (ETN, TextilForum) see blog for 5th March 2025 , Pilar Tobón (WTA) and the young Spanish curator specialising in contemporary textile art, Irene Aguilar, selected works by 95 artists from 34 countries from among the 212 entries received.

Transformation is synonymous with change, evolution, metamorphosis, transmutation, variation, transition, modification… We live in an era—Bauman’s liquid society—in which nothing is permanent and changes occur at great speed, affecting all areas, from science to the arts, from nature to the beliefs and values of human societies. There seem to be no certainties, and what works today will be obsolete tomorrow.

Some works are self-referential, with artists taking on the role of agents of change by manipulating the material during the production of the work to transform it completely, creating something new and pushing its versatility to the limit.

There are works that speak to us of transformation from an intimate and personal perspective, changes that sometimes bring serenity and sometimes unease. The human body; bodily phenomena associated with the passage of time; the tension of integrating differences in a society that claims to be inclusive; how technology has changed us…

There are works that speak to us from memory, from family affections. Once again, time—the great transformer—shapes memories, transforming those who are no longer with us into something different from what they were when they were here…

Finally there are works that focus on the poetics of nature, the perpetual cycle of the transformation of living matter, the changes brought about by human interaction…

Text by Lala de Dios, president of the ACT Board  presidencia@creaciontextil.org
Festival website: www.textilfest.org  Association website: www.creaciontextil.org – act@creaciontextil.org – Follow us at @actcreaciontextil