Contextile 2026

CONTEXTILE 2026 establishes itself as the 8th edition of the Guimarães Contemporary Textile Art Biennial and takes place under the theme "By a Thread / Por um fio". The proposal brings together artistic creation and critical thought from the image of the thread, understood here as a sign of fragility, but also as a place of repair, invention and reconfiguration of the future.

This edition brings together practices that question the effects of the fashion industry, accelerated consumption and the extractivist logics of textile production, opening space to ecological, sensitive and relational materials and approaches. The reflection does not stop at denouncing and instead proposes other possibilities for artistic making, centred on an ethic of care and sustainability.

Chinese artist Ai Weiwei is the featured guest of this edition and will produce new works to be presented in several spaces across the city. The biennial takes place at the José de Guimarães International Centre for the Arts and in other venues in Guimarães.