TILBURG.- Haus of fibre invites everyone to ‘come in’ and immerse themselves in a warm, vibrant and unconventional home where all identities are embraced. On view until 15 March 2026, the exhibition explores the powerful role of textiles in queer art, identity and activism. Featured artists include melanie bonajo, Marcos Kueh and Walter Van Beirendonck, alongside previously unseen work by Ada Maricia Patterson.

Unique co-creation

Haus of fibre is the result of a unique co-creation process. After an open call, four queer artists were selected to collaborate with the museum to develop the exhibition – from concept and design to the public programme. These artists are Nixie Van Laere, Célio Braga, Chathuri Nissansala and Yamuna Forzani. Drawing inspiration from the museum’s collection as well as the work of queer artists past and present, the team together created an exhibition in which textiles function as both medium and metaphor, expressing connection, loss and resilience.

A place to call home

The exhibition is laid out like a house, complete with a hall, living room, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom and garden. According to the co-creation team, the link between queerness and textile art lies largely in the self-made component. Textiles are made by hand with intention and care, much like how many LGBTQIA+ people actively create safe and loving homes for themselves beyond traditional family structures.

Each room in the exhibition features a video portrait, made by film collective De Transketeers, introducing a member of the co-creation team. In these videos, team members not only present their own work but also reflect on the various queer themes explored in the different rooms. In the bedroom, for instance, topics such as love and death come together in an imposing quilt from 1997 made by the Brabant HIV Association. In the living room, Célio Braga discusses friendship and community, while artist Damien Ajavon brings a vision of queer utopia to life in the garden.

Haus of fibre provides space for a wide range of LGBTQIA+ stories. 'Silent Secrets', a rug by fashion designer Walter Van Beirendonck, uses self-portraits to explore the tension of not always being able to be openly gay. The exhibition concludes with Ada Maricia Patterson’s ‘Might this dead end be liveable?’, an installation which the TextielMuseum commissioned the artist to make in the TextielLab in 2023. A tangle of knitted starfish symbolises how transness and queerness intersect with broader global changes such as climate change.

Soft ally

Besides contemporary works, Haus of fibre also offers a historical perspective. Through the centuries, textiles have simultaneously been a soft and powerful ally in the search for personal identity, community building and resistance to dominant social norms related to gender, sexuality and cultural identity. The title, Haus of fibre, is itself a reference to the underground ballroom scene and the ‘houses’ that emerged around it in 1970s New York where queer people formed alternative families. Other references to queer culture appear throughout the exhibition. Wallpaper displaying symbols such as IKEA’s BLÅHAJ shark, a colourful handkerchief peeking from a back pocket in the 1970s to discreetly flag sexual preference, and the classic carabiner all represent inside jokes. For visitors less familiar with queer culture, a large, free ‘Queer ABC’ explains the LGBTQIA+ terms used. The wallpaper and explainer were designed by Renée Mes and Laura Schurink, who developed the exhibition’s spatial design with input from the co-creation team.

Haus of fibre invites everyone to discover the story of queerness and textiles. The exhibition is a celebration of queer expression, of the power of soft materials and of the people who stitch themselves into history with needle and thread.

Haus of fibre features work by: Damien Ajavon, Walter Van Beirendonck, Harry Boom, melanie bonajo and Théo Demans, Célio Braga, Emmanuel Cortes, Afra Eisma, Angelica Falkeling, Yamuna Forzani, Bart Hess, Brabant HIV Association, Ton of Holland, Theodorus Johannes X Bindweefsel gemeenschap, Marcos Kueh, Nixie Van Laere, Lize Maekelberg, Dakota Magdalena Mokhammad, Regula Maria Müller, Chathuri Nissansala, Ada Maricia Patterson, Aimée Phillips, Maria Roosen, Pedro Sequeira, Studio Paul & Haiko, Anneke Wildeman, Baha Görkem Yalım and Christine and Adrianus van Zeegen.