Textiles: Art and the Social Fabric
The Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp
11.09.2009 – 03.01.2010
Curator: Grant Watson
Photography: Christine Clinckx, Christophe Ketels

The exhibition looks at the reasons why artists choose to do this, and finds that it is often to tap this medium’s potential to communicate complex layers of social meaning and address the political as it appears in subjects such as labour, culture, identity, protest and display.

The large sculptural screens are suspended from the ceiling and constructed from two layers of pegboard mounted on white-painted frames. Within the exhibition, the screens also served as display surfaces for other artists' works. The overlapping perforation patterns produce a moiré effect, evoking the optical qualities characteristic of woven textile.

Artists in the exhibition: Anni Albers/Tonico Lemos Auad/John Dugger (Banner Arts)/Alice Creischer/ Enrico David/Luca Frei /Sheela Gowda/Mari –Jo Lafontaine/James Lee Byars /Goshka Macuga/Hélio Oiticica/Joke Robaard/Bojan Sarcevic/Seth Siegelaub (Centre for Social Research on Old Textiles)/Varvara Stepanova /Narcisse Tordoir/Tapta (Maria Wierusz Kowalski)/Rosemarie Trockel