NORDIC TEXTILE ART - MAKING LOOPS - NORDIC/BALTIC 2026
Nordic Textile Art is making a loop – Stockholm – Tallin – Stockholm.
Dates: 23.4 – 27.4 2026
A Nordic/Baltic textile conference with filled program that starts in Stockholm, continues on the boat over to Tallinn, where it is filled up for three days and ends on the boat back to Stockholm.
Annual meetings are organized circulating in the Nordic countries with thematic program content with activities to create mobility with new forums for textile art. We call it Nordic Textile Meeting because we think the meeting is the most important aspect. In 2026, it is time for Sweden to host the event. We have established good contacts with artists from Estonia and the Estonian Textile Artists' Association. This year, we therefore want to strengthen and expand our networks and make a loop to Estonia.
Our program is fantastic and we are really looking forward to experiencing these days in April together. The registration will soon open and more information will be filled in. Stay tuned!
Conference language: English and Skandinaviska.
In our project – Making Loops – we want to deepen, strengthen and expand our Nordic-Baltic networks. As a part of this, we make an art loop, Stockholm-Tallinn, with a thematic program to create mobility and new forums for textile art. Loop, a common term in textile techniques: loop, stitch, sling, noose, interlace. Loop becomes in our project a symbol for our aim to strengthen our network, where we by boat make a loop over the Baltic Sea.
Elisabeth Brenner Remberg "Network"
Making Loops
We see the boat trip as a connection that spans several dimensions. Shipping has, at all times, brought people together, and the life at sea carries much of the textile knowledge with its nets, knots, ropes, and hawsers. Being together on a boat provides the time and opportunity to bring people together both in knowledge, creativity, intergenerational meetings, and across national borders. In today's art, especially among younger artists, we see a newly discovered interest in thread as a material that creates a modern expression in combination with older techniques such as macramé, bobbin lace, sculptural weaving, braiding, crochet, and knitting.
Three days in Tallinn will be filled with meetings with our Estonian textile colleagues, workshops, study visits, and other textile-related activities. The project's lecturers will interpret 'making loops' in their presentations and workshops. The goal is to explore the significance of the loop philosophically or physically.
Program
(updated 14.1 2026)
Thursday 23 April in Stockholm
9.30 – 10.00 Registration. K.A Almgren's silk weaving mill and museum,
10.00 –15.00 K.A Almgren's silk weaving mill and museum, https://www.kasiden.se/
- Guided tour of the museum.
- Textile Talks on the theme of Making loops A loop forward and backward in time, a loop around materials and techniques
16.00 Boarding the boat to Estonia. Departure 17.30.
- Monumental lace-making, collective workshop and performance
- Conference dinner.
- Nordic Championship in Dark Knitting.
Friday 24 April in Tallinn
10.00 Arrival in Tallinn
13.30-14.00 Meeting spot: ARS Art Factory (coffee & snacks) www.arsfactory.ee/?lang=en
14-15.30 Lectures on the theme of Making loops
- Aet Ollisaar (EE) - ETAA, Estonian Textile Students Making New Loops"
- Kadi Pajupu (EE) - "Making Loops: the new weaving technique Multi Weave"
- Karin Sterner (S) "Re-make. Re-loop"
- Elisabeth Brenner Remberg (S) "Network" an artist presentation
15.30-18.00 Optional Workshops or a visit the Open studios at ARS Art Factory
Workshop I - Kadi Pajupu (EE) Multi Weave Workshop
Workshop II - Zane Shumeiko, (L, Ee) Loops in embroidery. Experimental embroidery and the basics of free-motion stitching.
Workshop III - Karin Sterner (S) Re-make, Re-knit, Re-loop
Saturday 25 April - Textile tour to Türi
Estonian Textile Artists Association's Spring Exhibition. Türi Cultural Center: https://www.tyrikultuurikeskus.ee/galerii/hetkel-galeriis/
10.00 The bus departs from Tallinn
11:30 Arrive at the Türi Cultural Center where we visit the exhibition.
14.00 Conference lunchparty and time for Nordic/Baltic/Networking/Connecting people.
17.00-18.30 Bus ride back to Tallinn.
18.30 Free time in Tallin
Sunday 26 April in Tallinn
9.30 -10.30 NTA Annual Meeting
11.00 Time for visits to galleries and craft shops, Art and museums in Tallinn
Study visits to artists' studios: Small exhibition at Gallery Draakon, Gallery Hop (exhibition: Marilin Piirsalu) Kunstiaken, Katariina Gild, Lühikese Jala Galerii. Workshop: Atelier Kirill Safonov. Studio: Ilme Rätsep (Tondil, Ööbiku 15), Mare Kelpman (Telliskivi)
16.30 Boarding the boat to Stockholm. Departure 18.00.
- Discussion time: How do we create visibility and opportunities for textile artists in the Nordic countries?
- Conference dinner.
Monday 27 April
10.00 Arrival in Stockholm. The conference ends on the boat.
For participants who arrive earlier in Stockholm or stay longer, a program will be arranged. Pre-program April 21 – 22 in Stockholm. Post program April 27 in Stockholm.
