Contemporary Art Weaves New Patterns

This month’s article on the Creative Italy blog is dedicated to a theme that intertwines past and present, art and craft: the relationship between contemporary art and textile craftsmanship.
A dialogue that spans eras and languages, where thread, needle, weave, and texture are not merely tools, but poetic means to tell stories.
Textile craftsmanship, once confined to domestic spaces or considered “minor,” is now reaffirmed as a conceptual, spiritual, and social practice.

Contemporary weaves from MoMA

A striking example of this rediscovery is the exhibition “Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abstraction”, hosted at the MoMA in New York (April – September 2025).
The exhibition demonstrates how fabric and fiber techniques contributed to the development of modern abstract language alongside painting and sculpture.
Artists like Anni Albers, Sophie Taeuber-Arp, and Sonia Delaunay paved the way for a vision in which the loom becomes a tool of visual freedom, and the weave a field of formal experimentation.

The journey continues with contemporary figures such as Rosemarie Trockel, Andrea Zittel, and Igshaan Adams, who use threads, nets, and intertwined materials to explore themes of identity, gender, and community.
In this perspective, fabric is not merely decorative; it is a universal language, a bridge between the intimate act of making and the public realm of thought.

The art of connection: Maria Lai, Alighiero Boetti and beyond

Among the most significant Italian voices is Maria Lai, a master at transforming thread into a symbol of connection.
In her famous project Legarsi alla montagna (1981), Lai invited the residents of her hometown Ulassai to link houses with a strip of cloth, turning the act of tying into a gesture of collective art.
Through her “stitched writings” and fabric books, Lai redefined the concept of art as textile storytelling, where each stitch is a word and each knot a memory.

This sensibility is echoed in Alighiero Boetti, who in the 1970s entrusted Afghan embroiderers with the creation of his famous tapestries, where thread becomes a medium for dialogue across cultures and languages.
Similarly, Chiara Vigo, the last master of sea silk, continues to weave with an ancient and sacred fiber, carrying on knowledge that is both technical gesture and spiritual ritual.

Alongside them, many contemporary artists, from Maja Bajevic to Pae White, from Sheila Hicks to Kiki Smith,  use textile weaving as a medium to explore identity, migration, and sustainability.
In this sense, Fiber Art is not a genre but an open territory: a form of art that intertwines material, time, and memory.

From loom to street: The urban lace of NeSpoon

Taking textile language out of museums is Polish street artist NeSpoon, who transforms traditional lace patterns into large-scale murals.
Using stencils and geometric motifs, her works adorn facades, squares, and public spaces worldwide, creating a striking contrast between the delicacy of lace and the roughness of concrete.

Each of NeSpoon’s works is inspired by local embroidery: motifs passed down through generations that become part of the contemporary urban landscape.
Her work returns the handmade dimension to the city, as an act of beauty, connection, and respect for local memory.

Weaving knowledge, building the future

Textile art teaches us that every weave is a form of dialogue: between hands and material, past and present, creator and observer. In the ancient gestures of weaving lies a quiet strength, capable of uniting what modernity tends to separate — time, care, and imagination.

It is from this awareness that the spirit of Creative Italy emerges: preserving and renewing Italian artisanal knowledge, transforming it into contemporary experiences of creativity and learning.
Each course, workshop, or encounter is like a thread added to a collective fabric made of hands, stories, and territories.

Art, like craftsmanship, is above all a relationship: a way to connect people through the beauty of making.
And perhaps, now more than ever, the act of weaving — with a needle, a loom, or an idea — is the most authentic way to continue building the future.