Textile is not only a piece of fabric, but also a form of narrative that carries the traces of the past. This year’s Turkey Textile Biennial focuses on the rhythmic relationship between weaving and nature with the theme Wave Fabric. The waves of the Mediterranean, historical textures, and textile heritage reinterpreted by artists form the cornerstones of the multi-layered experience offered to the audience by the biennial. We talked to Nihat Özdal, the curator of the biennial, about the conceptual framework of the biennial, the dynamics in the choice of venues and the story of textiles intersecting with nature.
This year’s Turkey Textile Biennial meets the audience with the theme “Wave Fabric”. Where did the theme “Wave Fabric” take its inspiration from, and how did the idea come about?
When the biennial address is Gazipaşa and Alanya, the Mediterranean waves that accompany the weaving loom become a part of the fabric. Wave Fabric is inspired by the parallelism between the rhythmic movements of nature, seas, rivers and the basic principles of weaving. The processes such as the waves hitting the shore, the wind waving the grasses in nature, and the fabric being shaped knot by knot on the loom contain movements that evoke each other. There has been a deep connection between water and textiles since ancient times; the first civilizations established on the banks of rivers developed the art of weaving together with the cyclical nature of water. Wave Fabric reminds us of this ancient connection and emphasizes that textile is not just an object, but a flow, a process, a place of memory.
You can also read this theme as a metaphor: Cultural heritage, handicrafts, fashion, fabric, social textures change and transform like waves, reshaped with each wave… The biennial aims to create a historical and ecological consciousness through the fluidity of textiles while presenting this fluctuation as an experience to the audience.
The biennial is organized in ancient cities such as Selinus, Lamos and Syedra. How do the works establish a dialog with the spirit of historical places?
Throughout human history, textiles have been not only a necessity but also a form of expression: Linen in ancient Egypt, silk in Rome, wool in Mesopotamia have shaped the identities of societies. The most important data on the history of fabric are often spindle whorls. You can encounter these weaving weights in many ancient cities. In the ancient city of Syedra, there were many times more spindle whorls than I have ever seen in a city. This stop of the biennial is a place where the artists, rather than installing artworks, access information about the textile archaeology of the region and make preparations by wandering through this archaeology: Cultural heritage, handicrafts, fashion, fabric, social textures change and transform like waves, reshaped with each wave… The Biennial aims to create a historical and ecological consciousness through the fluidity of textiles while presenting this fluctuation as an experience to the audience.
The ancient cities of Lamos and Selinus will be used for parallel activities such as open-air meetings and memory walks. Alanya Kızılkule and Tersane are the places where most of the artworks can be seen. The sound, sea, wave relations of the works played an important role in the distribution of the works in these spaces. In addition, a temporary “iron museum” was established on the third floor of Kızılkule with antique irons, referring to the history of flattening. I also wrote a special book for this section.
You can also read this theme as a metaphor: Cultural heritage, handicrafts, fashion, fabric, social textures change and transform like waves, reshaped with each wave… The Biennial aims to create a historical and ecological consciousness through the fluidity of textiles while presenting this fluctuation as an experience to the audience.
The textile industry has a huge ecological footprint in terms of water consumption and waste production. The Biennial builds a narrative centered on the intertwined story of textile production with nature. What would you say?
Textile is one of the most tangible traces of the human relationship with nature. From cotton fields to silkworm cocoons, from flax fibers to wool, the raw material of textiles is nature itself. However, the modern textile industry has become a system that disrupts the circularity of nature; uncontrolled water use, chemical waste and fast consumer culture have transformed textiles from a memory carrier into an object of crisis. I don’t want to use too many numbers in this interview, but unfortunately, 20% of water pollution worldwide is caused by textiles. You can also read this theme as a metaphor: Cultural heritage, handicrafts, fashion, fabric, social textures change and transform like waves, reshaped with each wave… The Biennial aims to create a historical and ecological consciousness through the fluidity of textiles while presenting this fluctuation as an experience to the audience.
By drawing attention to this ecological contradiction, the Biennial wants to remind us of textiles’ ancient relationship with nature. Perhaps one of the most important questions is: Is fabric just a material or an ecological time capsule? When we think about the intertwined history of water and textiles, we read a story from the first fabric washed on the banks of a river to today’s microplastic-containing synthetic fibers. Many of the works in the biennial reconsider textiles not only as an object of consumption but as a site of memory that weaves water, labor, nature and culture into its fabric.
How does the Biennial build a bridge between traditional textile techniques and contemporary art practices?
While traditional textile techniques carry thousands of years of artisanal knowledge, contemporary art has the power to reinterpret this knowledge in a new context. In the biennial, traditional methods such as weaving, natural dyeing, cross-stitching, and felting are revitalized in a wide range of media from video art to installation, performance to new media art.
One of the most powerful aspects of the Biennial is this dialog between artisans and contemporary artists. Textiles, once a collective form of production, has become an individualized industry. By reviving this collective memory, the Biennial ties contemporary art and traditional techniques together in knots.
What can you say about the multifaceted experience the Biennial offers?
The Biennial is more than just an exhibition space, it includes panels, workshops and performances that make the audience an active part of the process. In order to remind this multifaceted structure that textiles are not only a material but also a form of experience, we have planned parallel events that will make visitors rethink their connection with nature, historical sites and human labor. Adnan Memiş’s documentary concentrating on the memory of needlepoint in Anatolia will be screened as part of the biennial. There will be a panel and readings on literary texts on textiles. There will be workshops on topics such as creating fabric with banana fibers, ecological dyes, felting
The 2nd Turkey Textile Biennial, hosted by Alanya and Gazipaşa, will be on view until April 13, 2025.
