Fifth International Textile Art Triennial
The unique textile art exhibition is running from 23 February until 27 March in Vigadó Gallery, Budapest. The full display of 202 works of 168 artists from 18 countries has been presented in Budapest for the first time thanks to the support of the Hungarian Academy of Arts.
The 5th International Textile Art Triennial – organised by the Board of Trustees of the Cultural Foundation for Textile Arts and the Gallery of Szombathely and supported mainly by the National Cultural Fund of Hungary – has been devised to focus on the inspiring call of the motto Imago, which – according to the conception of the organizers – means individual image making. Works of textile art has entered in five categories and a professional jury has made the selection.
At the opening ceremony György Fekete, President of MMA said that Vigado is the only venue in Hungary where the exhibitions of six branches of art can be organized and this time textile art has been presented.
The categories: "mini textile", "band textile" and "flag textile" include both Hungarian and international works, altogether 110 pieces. In the "mini textile" category, the Nagano Goro Award, founded by multiple Triennial award-winning Japanese textile artist, was first conferred in 2015. The awards were personally presented to Hungarian and international artists by Nagano Goro. The categories "wall and space textile" and "design" only feature works by Hungarian artists, a total of 100 works.
At the Triennial professionally outstanding works were recognised by the bestowal of not fewer than 14 awards by the supporters of the event including the Hungarian Academy of Arts, the Ministry of Human Recources, the Association of Hungarian Fine and Applied Artists, the Hungarian Design Council, the Town of Szombathely with County Rights, Nagano Goro and Rózsa Anna Foundation.
MESSAGE
The quality and breadth of Hungarian textile art has been of European significance for decades. Witness to this are not only the pursuits of individual artists and their regular shows, but especially the International Textile Triennials at Szombathely. These occasions also serve as decisive assessment opportunities of paramount importance among similar international events. Each Triennial reveals an almost limitless range of textiles and attitudes from traditional approaches to soaring visions of futuristic philosophies. At these occasions the material–the textile–starts speaking, as it were, about topics ranging from lowly service in everyday life to our innermost dreams and visions, always embracing the human user and lifting the manual skills of the working hand to festive solemnities. As nothing of value comes into being by itself, there is a tremendous amount of work behind each Triennial, from the welcoming hospitality of the host city through the persistent work of organizing artists to the impressively powerful collegiality of hundreds of exhibitors. Thanks to all of you for extending, for the first time in the history of these Triennials, your glamorous presence to the Hungarian Academy of Arts in Budapest. May the works exhibited adorn the 150-year old Pest Vigadó and serve the edification of visitors. I certainly believe this will not be the last time for us to gather at an occasion like this.
Brochure of the 5th Triennial of Textile Art is here.
At the opening ceremony György Fekete, President of MMA said that Vigado is the only venue in Hungary where the exhibitions of six branches of art can be organized and this time textile art has been presented.
The categories: "mini textile", "band textile" and "flag textile" include both Hungarian and international works, altogether 110 pieces. In the "mini textile" category, the Nagano Goro Award, founded by multiple Triennial award-winning Japanese textile artist, was first conferred in 2015. The awards were personally presented to Hungarian and international artists by Nagano Goro. The categories "wall and space textile" and "design" only feature works by Hungarian artists, a total of 100 works.
At the Triennial professionally outstanding works were recognised by the bestowal of not fewer than 14 awards by the supporters of the event including the Hungarian Academy of Arts, the Ministry of Human Recources, the Association of Hungarian Fine and Applied Artists, the Hungarian Design Council, the Town of Szombathely with County Rights, Nagano Goro and Rózsa Anna Foundation.
The theme of the 5th Triennial of Textile Art is imago
The Latin word imago – still very much alive today, as demonstrated by the several hundred thousand hits when entered in Google – generally means depiction, visage or figure but its semantic scope also includes the meaning of picture and image. In medical terminology it denotes hypochondria, in depth psychology it refers to the idealised mental image of someone, or someone's behaviour, while in biology it means the final stage of an insect's development, its emergence from the pupa, i.e. the completion of its metamorphosis.
Arriving from imago to its most important aspect for us, pictorial depiction, it is important to establish that an image is a depiction of someone or something, perhaps even of someone or something that does not exist in concrete form, and that imago is the act of creation – the creation of an image – which might be linked to the reality we can see and experience and can come into being through the process of a seeming separation from that reality, hence a complete pictorial metamorphosis. In its traditional meaning imago is a two-dimensional representation; however, modern imaging has reinterpreted and questioned the concept of plane and space so radically that the borders between these two spheres have become blurred. Imaging,
or depiction, has by now been liberated from its previous constraints in regard to content, formalmaterial aspects and modes of representation, but how successfully this freedom is used is shown by what actually is seen today as important, total and authentic, i.e. what constitutes an imago in the noblest sense of the word.
Tibor Wehner
The quality and breadth of Hungarian textile art has been of European significance for decades. Witness to this are not only the pursuits of individual artists and their regular shows, but especially the International Textile Triennials at Szombathely. These occasions also serve as decisive assessment opportunities of paramount importance among similar international events. Each Triennial reveals an almost limitless range of textiles and attitudes from traditional approaches to soaring visions of futuristic philosophies. At these occasions the material–the textile–starts speaking, as it were, about topics ranging from lowly service in everyday life to our innermost dreams and visions, always embracing the human user and lifting the manual skills of the working hand to festive solemnities. As nothing of value comes into being by itself, there is a tremendous amount of work behind each Triennial, from the welcoming hospitality of the host city through the persistent work of organizing artists to the impressively powerful collegiality of hundreds of exhibitors. Thanks to all of you for extending, for the first time in the history of these Triennials, your glamorous presence to the Hungarian Academy of Arts in Budapest. May the works exhibited adorn the 150-year old Pest Vigadó and serve the edification of visitors. I certainly believe this will not be the last time for us to gather at an occasion like this.
Professor Emeritus György Fekete, President of the MMA
Brochure of the 5th Triennial of Textile Art is here.
