For the British Textile Biennial 2025, artists and makers filled spaces – which previously, directly or indirectly, powered Lancashire’s cotton industry – with stories of innovation in textile production. 

On the day I go, first stop is Queen Street Mill Textile Museum, the last surviving 19th century steam powered mill in the world. In its vast weaving shed, which you may recognise it from Life on Mars, Peterloo and more, Tim Smith’s Weaving the Future huge photographs, printed on cloth and hanging above the looms, depict 21st century innovations in the textile industry. In a film projected onto muslin, Smith collaborates with musicians and performers from the Balbir Singh Dance Company to explore the link between analogue and digital worlds.    

Next to Towneley Hall to see Pioneers of the Material World where we learn how textile innovation in Burnley played a huge part in the success of everyone from Edmund Hillary and Amelia Earhart right through to, as artist and designer Aitor Throup called them, the well-dressed Burnley FC hooligans. Eric Taylor’s granddaughter told us how he had silenced naysayers when, in 1923, he created a wind and water resistant textile known as Grenfell cloth. So much to take in.  

Then to Haworth Art Gallery. This remarkable Arts & Crafts building was the home of cotton manufacturer William Haworth. The gallery is best known for its exceptional collection of Tiffany Glass, bequeathed by a son of Accrington who immigrated to the States and ended up managing the glass works. But we’re here to see The Synthetic Revolution, co-curated by Claire Wellesley-Smith and Amber Butchart, which tells the story of polyester from its development in Accrington in 1941 – initially seeming like sci-fi – to its emergence post-war as a wonder cloth. There is a lot to unpick here as these were the days when oil was king and any by-product, by definition, was welcomed. Butchart looks at this in the light of 21st century’s more sustainable developments in new textile techniques and innovation.   

Then to Rossendale’s Whitaker Museum for a range of fascinating work including Dhara Mehrotra’s Filamentous, a site-specific piece celebrating mycelium networks using locally sourced jute to weave her web. There’s also a wonderful series of works called Agency by Californian-based Zapotec artist Porfirio Gutierrez where he employs the vivid hues of cochineal in his ancestral practice of processing and dyeing the woven works.   

Next stop Turton Tower, a unique historic house more than 600-years-old. And, for 2025’s British Textile Biennial, it has gone football crazy. The top floor is curated by Oof Gallery and, ironically for a gallery that sits inside a Premier League Club’s merch shop, the show is called 100% UNOFFICIAL: The Fabric of Fandom. Celebrating fan-created football art and fashion, there are some wonderful pieces from Henry/Bragg’s hand-knitted football cardigans to Jacqui McAssey’s touchline England coat. A treat. On a floor below is Christian Jeffery’s exquisite hand-painted England shirt inspired by wallpaper and a chair from the Tower’s collection. In another room, åbäke & Le Cercle du S226erpent Bleu trace the story of a fictional football team and the very real emotions of the fans of neighbouring teams. It’s a scream.  

The biennial’s pièce de résistance is a survey show by Lucy + Jorge Orta, Home Mondialis, meticulously exhibited and lit in Blackburn Cathedral’s crypt. Their work has taken them from the Antarctic to the Amazon working with scientists and indigenous communities to reflect on humanity’s impact and relationship with the planet. Work spanning more than three decades seems incredibly prescient in our rapidly changing world.  

By Susan Ferguson

Main image: Dhara Mehotra, Filamentous, Whitaker Museum. Credit Matt Savage.

 

British Textile Biennial 2025 runs until November 2, 2025. See BTB25 for more information including opening times, links to an excellent podcast series and information about bus tours (highly recommended if you’re travelling by public transport).