{"id":8977,"date":"2026-02-12T13:29:51","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T13:29:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/textirama.be\/subtle-textile-when-an-exhibition-teaches-you-to-look-differentlysubtiel\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T11:19:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T11:19:10","slug":"subtle-textile-when-an-exhibition-teaches-you-to-look-differentlysubtiel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/textirama.be\/en\/subtle-textile-when-an-exhibition-teaches-you-to-look-differentlysubtiel\/","title":{"rendered":"Subtle Textile \u2013 when an exhibition teaches you to look differently"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Textiles have a front and a back.
At least\u2026 that\u2019s what we think.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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In the exhibition Subtiel Textiel \u2013 voorbij de keerzijde<\/em> at De Weverij in Evergem, that self-evident idea was thoroughly dismantled. Not only literally \u2014 by presenting works that can be viewed from multiple sides \u2014 but also mentally: how do we actually look at textiles, at art, at materials, at one another? <\/p>

Curator and textile artist Lieve Vanmaele started from a simple yet sharp observation: we are used to looking at things from one side only. A painting has a front, a carpet has a \u201cright\u201d side, a room has a direction. But textiles resist that logic. They have structure, depth, permeability and tactility. They exist by virtue of layers. <\/p>

And that became the starting point of this exhibition.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Space as fabric<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Instead of opting for a classical display, Vanmaele chose a spatial intervention. Fine threads connected the works of six artists \u2014 Katrien Everaert, Trui Demarcke, Janne Gistelinck, Ina Hillewig, Mileen Malbrain and Hilde Windels \u2014 into a single whole. Not as decoration, but as a kind of architecture made of lines. <\/p>

She described her role aptly as \u201csubtly absent.\u201d<\/em><\/p>

The curator did not act as a director positioning artworks, but rather as a weaver making relationships visible. The exhibition was therefore not a collection of objects, but a field of tensions: light versus heavy, soft versus hard, nature versus technology, visible versus hidden. <\/p>

Even sound had its place. Sound artist Eline Vanduyver (E_Mousai) created a soundscape built from recordings of weaving machines. The rhythm of labour, once purely functional, became audible as poetry \u2014 and at the same time as industry. Once again: two sides of the same reality. <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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(c) Lieve Vanmaele<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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(c) Lieve Vanmaele<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Textile as thought, not technique<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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What stood out most was that none of the artists used textiles in a traditional way. It was hardly about clothing or decoration. It was about perception. <\/p>