British Textile Biennial 2023

British Textile Biennial returns this year with new artist commissions, exhibitions and performances presented against the backdrop of the impressive infrastructure of the cotton industry in Pennine Lancashire. 

From 29 Sep - 29 Oct 2023 venues and spaces in Lancashire will host brilliant exhibitions, events and more by artists and organisations from all over the world. 

BTB23 traces the routes of fibres and fabrics across continents and centuries to and from the north of England, in a series of commissions and exhibitions throughout October in the spaces left behind by the Lancashire textile industry. From the so-called ‘slave cloth’, spun and woven by hand on the Pennine moors, to the bales of used fast fashion that make their way from British high streets to the markets and toxic mountains of waste in West Africa, BTB23 follows that journey.

Highlights of this year’s British Textile Biennial include a keynote by Gus Casely-Hayford, installations by Nest Collective, Victoria Udondian, Tenant of Culture, and Thierry Oussou, a new performance by Common Wealth Theatre, new commissions by Christine Borland, Rebecca Chesney, Nick Jordan and Jacob Cartwright, sculpture by Jeremy Hutchison and a major exhibition by South Asian artists from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Britain and the USA curated by Uthra Rajgopal.

See their website at britishtextilebiennial.co.uk for the full 2023 programme announcement