Balkan Textile Week as part of the 1st Balkan Textile Biennale
March 5–12, 2026
Serbia — Belgrade, Novi Sad, Sremski Karlovci, Subotica
Apply by December 8, 2025
About the Project
Textile Week is a series of exhibitions and events showcasing textile as an independent, contemporary medium. We aim to go beyond the usual perception of fabric not just weaving and embroidery, not just the preservation of ornaments and traditions, but bold experiments, new meanings, and unexpected materials.
We welcome all forms of textile work: tapestry, objects, installations, knitting, crochet, sewing, embroidery, soft sculpture, experimental materials, and more.
The project will bring together:
6 exhibition venues in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Sremski Karlovci and Subotica
6 curatorial projects and a public program: guided tours, performances, artist talks, lectures, and workshops
While our core group features women artists from across the Balkans, we warmly welcome applications from textile artists around the world
Theme 2026: driftlands
We propose to explore “drift” as a way of existing as a material phenomenon and as an inner state.
Topics for exploration:
Waste and remnants: the material traces of civilization
Plastisphere: symbiosis and transformation of waste into new biotopes
Migrations and loss: displacement, rupture, the search for home
Inner drift: personal memory, forgotten or unnecessary objects
Drift as a path: openness to chance, letting go of control, aimless floating
Project Goals
Rethink textile traditions as intangible cultural heritage
Support women artists of the Balkan region and create an international professional network
Show textile as a language to discuss migration, ecology, and inner freedom
Build a platform for dialogue between artists, curators, and audiences
Innovation & Cultural Heritage
We see textile not as a static museum artifact, but as a living, evolving medium:
Combining historical techniques with digital and experimental methods
Using art to support social resilience and intercultural dialogue
Addressing ecology, migration, and collective memory through textile forms
Engaging local communities through open workshops and co-creation
How to Participate
Already have a work? — Send us a photo if it fits the theme.
Want to create a new work? — We will help you apply for a grant and provide a platform for your project or workshop.
Ready to join right now? — Fill out the application form below.
"One day you, as a human, find yourself in this vast world surrounded by the unknown. Was it your intention or just coincidence, like a piece of styrofoam washed ashore?"
Team
What unites us is not only a shared interest in contemporary art but also a personal experience of change. Each of us has gone through migration, loss of familiar landmarks, and the search for a new home. This experience made us stronger and showed us how important it is to create points of support and connection between people.
For us, art is above all exchange, an opportunity to speak, meet, support each other, and only after that, beauty and technique. In every project, we look for ways to bring people together, so that even in drifting, you can find a shore.
