Textile Art Workshop at Velem [Velemi Textilművészeti Alkotóműhely]

The Velem Textile Art Workshop was established in 1975 at Velem, a village in western Hungary near Szombathely, which had hosted the internationally renowned Wall and Spatial Textile Biennale [Fal-és Tértextil Biennale] since 1970.
The workshop was part of the ‘new textile’ movement that emerged in Hungary in the late 1960s. It provided a forum for a new generation of young artists who sought to redefine the medium and expand its boundaries with their experimental methods and conceptual thinking. The marginal position of textile art — considered by the regime an ideologically inconsequential ‘decorative’ genre primarily practiced by women — allowed for greater creative freedom. While some workshop participants produced works focussing on space, others experimented with installation and performance.

The experimental and conceptual approach of the Textile Art Workshop also attracted attention abroad and contributed to Hungary’s international reputation as a centre of the textile art movement. The yearbooks became known worldwide, with their news, photos, and debates. Works created at Velem were also shown abroad, thereby helping ensure the workshop’s success. Starting in 1979, international artists began arriving every year to work there.