Secrets of making #4

8 June 2024 T/M 15 June 2025

In this fourth edition of 'Secrets of making', we once again take you behind the scenes and reveal the creative process of nine new artists. They recently worked in our TextielLab on a wide variety of projects and in this exhibition, they show not just the final product but also the creation process. Discover their sources of inspiration, take a look in their sketchbooks and discover the choices a maker has to make.

Every day, artists and designers come from far and wide to work in the TextielLab; the TextielMuseum's specialist workplace. A unique feature of this lab is that, as a museum visitor, you can look over the shoulders of the creative makers and technical specialists. You see up close how the textile works come off the machines. But how do these projects come about? In 'Secrets of making' you will explore the making process through eight works made by: Doina Kraal & Roger Cremers, Yu-Mei-Huang, Karin van Dam, Hussein Shikha, Fanja Bouts, Ishola Akpo, Susanne Khalil Yusef and Emilie Palle Holm.

Video: Blickfanger

Ishola Akpo - He pays tribute to the power of women, embodied through portraits of famous and forgotten queens from African history. This work was first exhibited at the Venice Biennale, so has yet to make the journey from Italy for this expo.

Susanne Khalil Yusef - Her colourful tufted paradise is not nearly as cheerful as you might expect at first glance. Based on her personal story, she asks critical questions about displacement, identity and socio-geographical power relations.

Emilie Palle Holm - What do you get when you combine origami with textiles? In any case, through textile interactions, Emilie hopes to arouse curiosity in people and break with prevailing expectations of textiles.

Doina Kraal and Roger Cremers - They developed 'Perpetual Light' in our lab, a three-by-three-metre tent that you can see inside and out. Which century do you think they were inspired by?

Fanja Bouts - The metres-long work (with matching long title: 'A Largely Distorted yet Surprisingly Ordered Map of Regular Irregularities: A Dense Description of The Present Day History of The Future') is her graduation project. There is a lot to see and the longer you look at the work, the more messages you will discover.

Hussein Shikha - This multidisciplinary artist explores possible shifts towards a more inclusive and less Eurocentric perception of art and design. For instance, he delves into traditional southern Iraqi carpets and their symbolism, and then develops his own interpretation using innovative techniques.

Yu-Mei-Huang - ‘The prevailing sizing system is not sustainable and also quite unfriendly to the wearer’, from this statement Huang created the 'Soft Sculptures' series.

Karin van Dam - Her installations are like spatial drawings you can walk through. They are full of references to architecture, nature and the environment you find yourself in.