CONTEXTILE invites all artists (national and international) to present artworks to the competition for the International Exhibition (competitive), as part of the programme of its 8th Edition, Contextile 2026 – Contemporary Textile Art Biennial, to be held in the city of Guimarães, Portugal, from the 5th September to the 29th November 2026.        

In 2026, the Contextile biennial focuses its activities on the thematic concept BY A THREAD, transversal to all the rubrics of its programmatic contents. 

The International Competitive Exhibition will be composed by 50 artworks from 50 artists, selected by an international jury, composed by Lala de Dios (curator, textile artist), Magda Soboń (artist and teacher), Magali Junet (chief curator of Fondation Toms Pauli), Susana Pires (visual artist and teacher), Lewis Biggs (consultant and curator) and Cláudia Melo (artistic director of Contextile 2026).

The Contextile 2026 jury will also award an Acquisition Prize of €8.000,00 (eight thousand Euros) and two Honourable Mentions of €2.500,00 (two thousand five hundred euros) and €1.000,00 (one thousand euros) each, with the awarding of prizes (see selection process of the Regulations), at the moment of the biennial’s opening, on September 5th 2026.                                                                                                            

All interested artists may apply with new creations or recent artworks, until the 7th March 2026, being accepted all artistic expressions in the visual arts disciplines. The proposals and artworks submitted for the competition will have to be around the textile element, through its concept, theme, techniques or materials. 

The artworks will have to be highly creative, original, technically competent and relate to the theme and concept of this 8th edition.

To submit an application, it is necessary the payment of a registration fee of €20,00 (euros).