XI World Textile Art Biennial

The Four Elements

From the 6th to the 29th of March 2025, at Miami International Fine Arts – MIFA, USA.

The Four Elements

For this new edition, the prestigious XI International Biennial of Contemporary Textile Art 2025 focuses on the elemental thread of our existence: The Four Elements, which activate us, penetrate us, mold us, give us life and sustenance.

What could have more meaning but our relationship with what makes up this world and that penetrates the fiber of our reality?

Earth

Air

Fire

Water

You are invited to reflect on the elements and pour creativity around the preferred element, through a work of textile art / fiber art.

The XI WTA Biennial will be held in the city of Miami, from March 6 to 29, 2025, at the Miami International Fine Arts – MIFA, and the call will have 3 categories: Large, Small and Three-Dimensional Format.

Participation is by call and prior registration. 120 works in total will be selected by a prestigious international jury (50 in Large Format, 50 in Small Format and 20 in Three-Dimensional Format).

Each artist may apply as many times as they wish in any of the thematic elements they choose, but they may only be selected to participate with a single work per salon. Each salon includes the options of the 4 elements to choose from, but each work must be worked around one of the four elements.

The works will be selected by an outstanding International Jury: Kinor Jiang (Hong Kong), Biret Tavman (Turkey), Ewa Latkowska-Żychska (Poland), Ieva Krūmiņa (Latvia), Susan Taber Avila (United States of America) and Paulina Ortiz Stradtmann (Costa Rica).

XI International Biennial of Contemporary Textile Art WTA 2025, is organized and directed by World Textile Art together with the International CuratorShip team (Yosi Anaya and María Ortega).

Crossing borders and combining disciplines, the artists participating in the XI WTA Biennial start from fibers to merge with new technologies and venture into various lines of research, hybridizing searches and questioning categories, but maintaining textiles as an integrative concept.

Previous slide
Next slide

Directors of the XI WTA Biennial

Yosi Anaya

Pilar Tobon

María Ortega

JURY

Biret Tavman

Ewa Latkowska-Żychska

Ieva Krumina

Kinor Jiang

Paulina Ortiz

Susan Taber Avila

SPONSORS

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

The Four Elements

General Calendar:

Credits:

Address:

Download the registration form or each of the elements and formats in which you would like to register, as well the Agreement Form

International Call

Agreement form

Download the registration form for each of the elements and formats in which you would like to register

The Four Elements

Earth

Air

Fire

Water

Yosi Anaya

Yosi Anaya is research-docent at the Arts Institute of Universidad Veracruzana in Mexico, delving into the crossing of textile traditions and the visual arts. She has curated multiple exhibitions and authored publications on perceptions and cultural practices regarding the different voices in textiles. Having organized international conferences as well as being a presenter and lecturing widely, she has been a juror on diverse panels and artistic competitions, and herself has received various awards and distinctions. With 29 solo exhibitions and over 135 group exhibitions, Yosi was the Chair of the VI World Textile Art Biennial- Air held in 3 cities of México, with 35 exhibitions, workshops and cultural tours. She was co-curator of the X WTA Biennial, and currently is co-director of the XI WTA Biennial -The Four Elements. She has been a counselor to WTA from its beginnings, writing about its events in international journals and promoting its biennials.

Pilar Tobon

Colombian textile artist, Pilar Tobón established her residence in Miami as of 1997, where she has developed an ascertained activity in the field of creativity, promotion and management of textile art. Her works explore natural fibers and metals, influenced by the rich aesthetic, symbolic ancestral heritage of the pre-Hispanic indigenous cultures, specially goldsmithing and its production techniques. She developed her continuous, multi-disciplinary project Vestiges, through which she entered into the Muisca myth of El Dorado, as in the series Faces of the Past. Pilar has exhibited in Spain, Japan, USA, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico; and in group shows in USA, Italy, Spain, Brazil, Belgium, Uruguay, Mexico, Austria, Argentina; she represented Colombia in the 11th Tapestry Triennial in Lodz (2004) and in the 10th International Fiber Art Biennial “From Lausanne to Beijing” (China 2018). She has been curator, moderator and juror in international forums.

In 1997, as a Board Member of the Museum of Latin American Art of Florida and the only artist working in textiles in the area, Pilar Tobón founded the Women in Textile Art organization. In the year 2000, she launched the first WTA biennial-“Pre-Columbian Renaissance.” The second WTA biennial happened at the Ara Gallery Cultural Center in Coral Gables-Miami. The following WTA biennials commenced a journey through different countries, where in each site a new committee of organizers accepted the challenge. The change of name to World Textile Art has to do with its growth and relevance as the only major international event born in the Americas. Venezuela, Costa Rica, Argentina, Mexico, Uruguay, Spain, Chile have hosted a WTA biennial, bestowing a unique character to each. In celebration of its 25 years, the WTA Biennial in its 10th edition, returned to Miami, its original city. Also the current XI WTA Biennial takes place in Miami, with a unique character, focused on The Four Elements, bringing together contemporary textile works of different formats, interacting with artists and public. It will be memorable.

María Ortega

María Ortega Gálvez is an artist, curator and cultural manager. Her artistic and professional trajectories are linked to contemporary textile art/fiber art. as she dedicates her efforts to promoting and making this movement known. She has organized and curated more then 25 national ad international exhibitions, together with parallel cultural encounters. In 2019, she received the distinction of the Recognition Night Awards as Ambassador of Madrid from the Madrid Convention Bureau. María has been a lecturer and juror in prestigious panels and artistic competitions. She herself has received various awards and international prizes, participating in more than 100 national and international exhibitions, biennials and triennials. In 2019, María was the General Director of the VII World Textile Art Biennial – Madrid Sustainable City, with 14 exhibitions, workshops, lectures and cultural tours. Director and curator and the X WTA Biennial – 25 Years in Spain. She is a member pf the curatorial team of the 12th “From Lausanne to Beijing” International Fiber Art Biennial 2022/2024, Academic Committee member of the 1st International Biennial of Contemporary Material Art in China and is on the Executive Board of Women in the Visual Arts – MAV. Co-curator of the X World Textile Art Bennial -25 Years (14 countries) held in Miami and currently is Co-Director of the XI WTA Biennial-The Four Elements.

Biret Tavman

A graduate of Marmara University Fine Arts Faculty Textile Arts Department in 1986, Biret obtained her PHD from Manchester University in 1994, where she had earlier obtained her Master’s degree, having studied the Master´s program at the University of Leeds. Named earlier Research Assistant. Biret became Associate Professor in 2001 and Professor in 2007 at Marmara University Fine Arts Faculty. She was the Head of Department from 2009 to 2012. Biret took on the mission of the education of knitting design and improvement of knitting art in Turkey. She is the curator of the group she established in 2011 called Face&Reverse and is also dedicated to promoting Turkish artists on national and international platforms, such as TAP. She has been working as Head of Department at MUFAF Textile Department since 2016 and is WTA (World Textile Art) Representative in Turkey.

Ewa Latkowska-Żychska

Ewa Latkowska-Żychska is Professor at the Academy of Fine Arts Władysław Strzemiński in Łódź, where she has formed many students who are now recognized artists in their own right. A textile and paper artist, Ewa also stands out as juror, author of texts about art and curator. She has participated in many prestigious exhibitions, including the legendary Lausanne Biennial (8th edition 1977), 3,5,7,9,11,13,15 International Triennale of Tapestry Lodz Poland, 6,7.8,9,10 Biennial “From Lausanne to Beijing” China, WTA International Contemporary Textile Art Biennial Mexico 2011 , Montevideo 2017, Madrid 2019, and Miami 2022

Ieva Krumina

Ieva Krūmiņa is Professor at the Art Academy of Latvia and since 2012 has been the Head of the Textile Art Department. She has worked in textile art most of her life, participating in major triennial and biennial exhibitions in many countries around the world. She has had solo exhibitions in Latvia and abroad. Ieva’s work is in museum and private collections, and she has received several awards for both textile and book design in International and national events. Alongside her interest in textile art, Ieva also works in illustration, screen printing, and porcelain painting and is very close to the history of textiles, including the culture of Oriental carpets with an interest in comparing the ornaments of different cultures.

Kinor Jiang

Dr. Kinor Jiang is a Professor at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He is a textile creator and innovative fiber artist. As a pioneer in the field of contemporary art, he not only carries forward Eastern aesthetics in designs, but also injects novel concepts into traditional production processes by exploring the material and techniques. Kinor Jiang has participated in multiple international fiber art biennials and events, and is key organizer of the “New Beat” wearable textile art competition for students.

Paulina Ortiz

Artist, designer and lecturer on textiles. She has been invited to participate in multiple biennials, individual and group exhibitions. She is Coordinator of Textiles at the School of Arts and Communication of the National University of Costa Rica. As a cultural promoter she has encouraged contemporary textile creations, curating and organizing exhibitions, biennials and local and international encounters, besides being a juror of various national and international award panels. She was the Director of the IV World Textile Art Biennial held in San José, Costa Rica.

Susan Taber Avila

Susan Taber Avila is an artist, Professor and former Chair of Design at the University of California, Davis. She was a Chutian Scholar at Wuhan Textile University in Wuhan, China 2000-2015. She has exhibited her textiles, bridging bridging art, design, and fashion, on six continents; and her creative work is included in several books and periodicals including Textiles. The Art of Mankind and Artistry in Fiber. She has written for Fiberarts, Ornament, Selvage, Surface Design Journal, and Textil Forum and has presented her work at numerous conferences. She has curated several exhibitions for the UC Davis Design Museum and has juried exhibitions including Art al Vent (Spain) and From Lausanne to Beijing (China).