The multidisciplinary exhibition ARACHNE'S LEGACY takes place in the context of the European Textile Network (ETN) 2026 Athens Conference. The exhibition presents international artists working across the fields of art, design, crafts, photography, photomontage, and science. Through their practice, participants create, use or redefine textiles as a medium, while challenging dominant gender and authority narratives.
ARACHNE'S LEGACY celebrates textiles in many forms, including tapestry, embroidery, jewelry, object, toys, fashion, and collage.
The myth of Arachne reflects how practices found in nature—birds making their nests or spiders weaving their webs—fueled human inventiveness while underlining the bonds between all creatures. The myth also distinguishes profane from sacred textiles and emphasizes archaic concepts, such as the hubris of profaning divine materials.
• A two-day group show as part of the ETN 2026 Athens Conference program
• Photo and video documentation of the exhibition
• A catalogue in SMCK Magazine issue No. 14 (February 2027)
• Professional Press and PR work.
• Social media promotion and networking.
• The exhibition video will also be screened in the next edition of SMCK ON REEL video festival at Munich’s international SCHMUCK Jewelry Week in March 2027.
Visual artists, textile artists, jewelry artists, fashion designers, performers, photographers, interdisciplinary artists, paper artists who feel addressed by the issues the myth of Arachne raises.
Participants may choose between sending us:
A) original object(s) to be presented in the exhibition space
OR
B) a digital photo – composition, collage, photomontage, drawing, assemblage, mixed-media, etc. – of the object(s) with a personal narrative. The photos will be printed and displayed in the exhibition space. Image specifications: The image must be in vertical format. Download the canvas size and technical details >> here.
Send us a cover letter, a weblink and/or 1–6 photos of the work you propose, and your artist statement, until 20 September 2026. Applications will be reviewed immediately!
Include your personal information (name, address, website, instagram and social media links), and send your application via email to magazine@smck.org, or via WeTransfer if the file size exceeds 15 MB.
Object: Selected artists pay a fee of 180,00 EUR in one or two installments.
Photography: Selected artists pay a fee of 120,00 EUR in one or two installments.
SMCK Art Space is SMCK Magazine’s Athens art venue. It is located in downtown Athens, in the emerging artists’ neighborhood of Kolonos, near Kapnergostasio, the former Public Tobacco Factory of the Hellenic Parliament.
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