Changing Landscapes Symposium

Exploring How Technology Has Changed Contemporary Textile Art at Hamilton’s Cotton Factory

North Baltica Contemporary Arts (NoBa) is hosting multiple avant-garde international textile and fibre art exhibitions at the Cotton Factory until December 7, including a special one-day hands-on Symposium on November 22: Changing Landscapes.

Changing Landscapes

November 22, 2025 | 9:30am – 6:00pm
The Cotton Factory | 3rd Floor

Changing Landscapes is an immersive ticketed event bringing together renowned artists, academics, and innovators from across Canada, Europe, and the Americas to explore the convergence of art, craft, technology, science and the evolving human experience. The Changing Landscapes Symposium invites us to consider how technology is not only transforming the way we create, but also the way we connect to our history, our identities, and each other.

The symposium will feature presentations, roundtable discussions, and a hands-on workshop, all of which will allow participants to explore the knowledge profoundly embedded in this arts practice. The event will include a Baltic-style catered lunch and conclude with cocktails, with access to the featured exhibitions on all floors

Schedule:

9:30am
Doors open, coffee/tea are served, audience takes seats

10:00am
Introduction of Changing Landscapes Symposium, by host/moderator Ilze Godlevskis

10:10am
Short Form 10-minute presentations by contemporary textile artists: Fuzzy Mall Art (CA), Vita Plume (LV/CA), Kadi Pajupuu (EE), Kristina Austi (LT), Jacobo Alonzo (MX)

11:40am
Round Table #1: How textile arts has evolved in relation to technology
Moderator: Ilze Godlevskis
Panel: Beatrijs Sterk (NL), Maja Gecić (SRB), Jonatan E. Jurkowski (PL)

12:20pm
Round Table #2: The place of textile arts in galleries and institutions, relating to curation and academia.
Moderator: Ilze Godlevskis
Panel: Suzanne Carte | Senior Curator, Burlington Art Gallery, Nithikul Nimqulrat | Artist/Author of Crafting Textiles in the Digital Age, Deborah Wang | Artistic Director & Curator, DesignTO.

1:30pm
Lunch will be provided and catered by Zupa Zupa, a Latvian-inspired artisan catering company designed by Elizabete Ludviks, who combines natural & delicious ingredients in a contemporary Baltic style.

3:00pm
Textile/Fibre Arts workshop will encourage participants to explore their own relationship with technology using fibre, textiles and technological recycled materials to materially express their ideas of arts and the digital world. This workshop will be hosted and facilitated by Ilze Godlevskis with introduction from Ieva Krumina.

5:30pm
Closing with cocktails in the Main Gallery with the opportunity to spend time viewing the Egils Rozenbergs exhibition and group exhibitions Nature, Being & Technology and FUTURES.

Learn about the presenters on our website, and purchase tickets here via EventBrite.

Ongoing Contemporary Textile Exhibitions at the Cotton Factory:

Nature, Being & Technology

November 7 – December 7, 2025
The Cotton Factory | 2nd Floor Hall Gallery

The Nature, Being & Technology exhibition is a collection of international textile works that reflect on how digital innovation is reshaping both the aesthetics and societal perceptions of textile and fibre art. Through the lens of 29 artists working at the intersection of materiality and innovation, the exhibition highlights how handmade practices are being reimagined by technology to envision the future of human expression, storytelling, and identity. For instance, Kristina Austi (LT/NOR) takes us through a woven landscape merging hand and algorithm, exploring tension between memory and dissolution, organic nature and digital grids. Nithikul Nimquarat’s (TH/CAN) knotted forms explore persistence and fragility; the use of paper string expresses a decade of research integrating craft traditions with mathematical tiling theory, marking a moment when technology reshaped human connection.

“What makes Nature, Being & Technology so compelling is how it examines the shifting societal perceptions of technology—not through machines or screens, but through the tactile language of contemporary textile arts,” says Ilze Godlevskis, co-founder & artistic director of NoBa. “It’s fascinating to see how textiles have become a space where the handmade, the mind-made, and the digitally-made converge.”

Get a sneak peek of the artwork and learn about the artists on Instagram.

FUTURES

November 7 – December 7, 2025
The Cotton Factory | 3rd Floor Hall Gallery

Parallel to the International Nature, Being & Technology, NoBa & The Cotton Factory have collaborated to create FUTURES: A Cross-National Student Contemporary Textile and Fibre Art Exhibition.

FUTURES brings together exceptional student work from four leading Canadian institutions: Alberta University of the Arts, OCAD University, Toronto Metropolitan University and Concordia University.

This unique exhibition celebrates the skills and creative vision of Canada’s next generation of textile and fashion artists. Through the work of 20 emerging talents, visitors will witness how these artists are redefining the future of textile and fashion arts in Canada.

The diverse pieces on display demonstrate the depth and breadth of contemporary textile and fibre arts education, showcasing expertise in material science, technical innovation, sustainable design practices, creative problem-solving, and rigorous research methodologies. Each work reflects the intersection of traditional craft knowledge and forward-thinking design that defines this dynamic field.

This exhibition is free and open to the public. More information about this event is available on our website.

For additional details about these events and exhibitions, please contact:
North Baltica Contemporary Art via email nobacontemporary@gmail.com

Follow along before and during the events on our Instagram, and learn more about the featured artists and presenters at our website www.nobacontemporary.com

Exhibition & Symposium Location:
The Cotton Factory
270 Sherman Avenue North
Hamilton, ON L8L 6N4
www.cottonfactory.ca