BTB 10 – 29 May – 31 August 2027

British Textile Biennial will celebrate a decade of commissioning with a major retrospective at The Harris, bringing together a selection of its headline commissions from the past ten years. The Festival is taking a pause in 2027 to mark its tenth anniversary with this survey show and will return with a bold new programme across East Lancashire in October 2028.

British Textile Biennial is a free festival of contemporary art that commissions contemporary artists and designers from around the world to make work inspired by the context and legacy of the textile industry in Pennine Lancashire and its global impact, often in the places that industry created. Central to its programme is a commitment to site-specific commissioning, with artists developing new work in direct response to Lancashire’s landscape, history and communities.

This exhibition reflects that approach. Drawn from commissions made between 2017 and 2025, it brings together works by artists including Suzanne Lacy, Rebecca Chesney, Jamie Holman, Azraa Motala, Lucy + Jorge Orta, Bharti Parmar, åbäke & Le Cercle du Serpent Bleu, Thierry Oussou, James Fox, Christine Borland, Masimba Hwati, and artist duo Nick Jordan and Jacob Cartwright.

Celebrating a decade of commissions rooted in East Lancashire featured works span sculpture, moving image, and textiles—including Chesney’s upcycled festival-tent windsocks, Holman’s protest banners and football tapestry, Lacy’s astonishing film, The Circle & The Square, Motala’s portrait series of young British South Asian women and Borland’s moving exploration of women and textile production.

Jenny Rutter, Director, British Textile Biennial said: “Ten years on, this exhibition is a chance to look back at what British Textile Biennial has been built on: artists working closely with the people, places and histories of East Lancashire. Many of these works were made with communities and in response to particular buildings and landscapes, so it feels right to bring them together at The Harris, in the heart of Lancashire. We’re pausing for a year to mark this anniversary, and we’re excited to return in October 2028 with a bold new programme across the region.”

As part of a landmark year for Lancashire culture in 2027, BTB10 sits alongside key celebrations like the Festival of Making’s 10th anniversary and the Burnley Year of Culture, showcasing a thriving regional creative sector.