First Hangzhou Triennial:Fiber Art

The first Hangzhou International Triennial of Fibre Art will have ‘Fibre Visions’ as its theme.

‘Fibre Visions’ will elaborate on ‘fibre’, an ancient, historical yet indispensable material with profound implications for our society, life and spiritual world.

As a cultural vision, Fibre exists not only in the category of art, but also in human culture. Fibre is inextricably linked to human civilisation as the earliest expression of written word. The words ‘text’ and ‘textile’ in English are both derived from the Latin word ‘textus’, meaning ‘weave’. Fibre accompanies humanity from their birth and comes into intimate contact with human skin, which then becomes transformed into a poetry that runs through human history. Fibre offers us security and materiality, yet we supply fibre with artistry and poetry. The embroidered portraits of the Buddha and Thang-ga in Chinese Buddhist art and the Biblical tapestry and embroideries produced in Middle-age Europe are all crystallised labour and wisdom of humanity. In the age of technology, artists may express and explore with the language of fibre not only a call to traditional culture and nature, but also a quest for natural harmony and at-one-ness so that we can regain the meaning of life that we seem to be losing.